Did you know Jerome Bettis is from Detroit? And the Super Bowl is in Detroit? So, a great running back has a chance to end his career on top, in his home city, no less? I can’t believe this isn’t getting more media attention. This would be really compelling.
Okay, so the Bus’s return to Motor City has become the most overexposed story line of Super Bowl XL. Still, it’s a nice sentimental touch for a Super Bowl without much else to compel the vast numbers of Americans who aren’t from Seattle or Pittsburgh. Seeing if a balding QB (Matt Hasselbeck) can bring home the Lombardi Trophy is a distant, distant second.
What most people are missing, however, is that the Bus’s story could be great even if the game were in San Diego. He’s on the road to becoming one of the few great athletes to finish the way everyone hopes to—on top.
John Elway did it, in by far the most epic example in recent memory. Michael Jordan should have. One comeback even worked out for him, and our last taste of His Airness should have been that classic picture of his final shot sinking the Jazz—the biggest shot of the biggest sports career ever. But MJ had to come back, as a Wizard no less, and give us all the image of a slowing, aging great not quite hacking it with a new generation. Space Jam didn’t help his legacy much, either.
Superstars have a habit of going out with a whimper. For some, it’s the love of the game. For some, it’s just that they have no idea what else to do with themselves. For whatever reason, they linger—their careers continue after their bodies quit. They remain fun to watch for a while, and the competitiveness never leaves them, but then it slowly becomes more and more brutal to watch another interception, another strikeout, another time they are dunked on because they can’t keep up.
Then it even becomes brutal for the fans who loved these guys because, well, we all love our heroes, but what have you done for me lately? For example, I’m not from Green Bay, but if I were, I’d be praying to the god of retirement to whisk Brett Favre away to the land of perpetual golf so maybe I could see a championship-caliber team again.
Since it appeared the Bus was headed that direction too, it’s kind of amazing to see his name in headlines for all the right reasons. And after things almost broke down in the AFC Championship, with a late-game fumble nearly casting Bettis into the realm of saddest retirement stories ever, his chance at sweet, sweet redemption deserves to be one of the bigger story lines of football’s biggest game.
It will be hard for those of us without some direct interest in the Seahawks not to take one last (emotional) ride on the Bus this Sunday. He might not lead the charge like John Elway did during his ride out on the glory wave, but—I’ll bet he cries if they win.
And that’s what big sporting events are really all about, isn’t it? Being able to watch grown men cry?
Good luck, Jerome.
