Bettis book riveting, brutally honest

By Joe Starkey
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, August 26, 2007

OK, so Jerome Bettis throws some folks under The Bus in his soon-to-be-released book.

So what?

That is part of what makes for a riveting read, and those who feel the need to defend themselves -- perhaps including Bill Cowher, whom Bettis says lied to him more than once -- will have ample opportunity.

"The Bus: My Life in and Out of a Helmet," co-written with Gene Wojciechowski, is chock full of controversial opinion, and judging by the reaction to excerpts published this past week, it should enjoy a lengthy shelf life.

Let's pluck some passages for further review:

• In training camp of 2000, Bettis, fearing he would be cut, faked a knee injury in a goal-line drill. He'd come to camp with an injured knee, so he knew the Steelers would find something on an MRI. "Man, did I do a nice job of acting," he writes.

Review: Teams can tear up a contract any time they want. Bettis was simply protecting himself. No shame there. It's not as if he quit on his teammates in the middle of a game.

• Bettis aggravated a groin injury early in the 2001 AFC Championship against New England. "I knew I couldn't run, but I gutted it out," he writes.

Review: If he knew he couldn't run, he was selfish to stay on the field.

• Bettis admits to selling drugs when he was 16, growing up in a rough neighborhood in Detroit. "Not a lot of drugs, and not for long, but I did sell them."

Review: Credit him for having the courage to tell the sordid parts of his story.

• Bettis says the Steelers set up Kordell Stewart to fail in 2002 because they did not want to have to lavish him with a second consecutive mega contract. "I can't prove it, but in my heart I really believe Kordell was set up for failure that season."

Review: One could argue Stewart was set up for failure in multiple years, given his multiple coordinators and lack of firepower at receiver, but 2002 was not one of them. He was plain bad early that year, presiding over a team that was about to go 0-3, and backup Tommy Maddox played well in his place.

• Bettis describes going from "a high school that had barely any white students" to "prestigious, world-renowned, predominantly white, Catholic, affluent Notre Dame." His first roommate was white and had a habit of hanging his shorts and underwear on his bed. Bettis, accustomed to using "street tactics" to solve disputes, did not know how to broach the subject. "I was so conditioned to confront people that I didn't know how to just talk to somebody about a situation."

Review: The most poignant section of the book, aside from Bettis' tribute to his late father, Johnnie.

• Bettis says the Steelers pushed his close friend and blocking back, Tim Lester, aside in 1999 because running backs coach Dick Hoak, a Penn State grad, wanted Penn State product Jon Witman at the position.

Review: Ridiculous. Witman was a good player. Lester was five games from the end of his career.

• On the play call that resulted in Bettis' infamous fumble against the Indianapolis Colts, offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt is quoted as saying to Cowher, "You give the ball to Jerome because Jerome doesn't fumble."

Review: The notion that Bettis rarely fumbled is one of the great frauds perpetrated on mankind. In fact, he'd lost fumbles in two of his previous three playoff games, including one that nearly led to a loss against the Jets.

• In describing the fumble against the Colts, Bettis subtly mentions that guard Alan Faneca went off script and thus contributed to the big hit by Gary Brackett. Bettis also claims he was adequately protecting the ball.

Review: It's terrible form to implicate anyone but himself on that play -- and he should've been protecting the ball with two hands, not one.

Joe Starkey is a sports writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jstarkey@tribweb.com