perfidy

Pittsburgh Steelers FB Jerome Bettis is a class-A gentleman.

Check out what he said when asked what he felt about being benched to start the season (via Balloon Juice):

"I was surprised," Bettis said, shortly after Coach Bill Cowher announced Amos Zereoue would open the season as the Steelers' starting halfback. "I wasn't mad, but I was disappointed. As a competitor, all you want is for it to be a decision on the field and it wasn't a decision on the field." Citing a "gut feeling," Cowher revealed his decision yesterday at a news conference as training camp concluded at St. Vincent College in Latrobe. It's the first time Bettis was benched to start a season with the Steelers. . . ."He just said it was a decision he came to," Bettis said. "I've been on the better side of most of Coach Cowher's gut decisions and this is the first time it has not gone in my favor. I can deal with it, having been on the better side of most of them."

Hats off to that! No grandstanding, no pouting, just acceptance that Amos Zereoue looks like lightning in the preseason. I wonder if he's come to terms with the fact that he's lost a couple steps?

As a Cleveland Browns fan, I should by rights gibber, spit, and hurl feces at the very mention of the hated Steelers, but Jerome Bettis has always been a class act, a great competitor, and a terrifying running back. I hope he gets to play in the coming season and can rack up enough yards to tie Jim Brown in the record books. Tie. Not beat. I couldn't handle that.

Hopefully Bettis will handle the end of his career in Pittsburgh better than Rod Woodson did. Both are/were beloved in that town, and Woodson did nothing to make his leaving the city easy to take. Jerk.

[update] To be fair, I should point out my particular situation.

First, I married a Pittsburgh gal and vastly prefer the Steel City over Cleveland as a place to spend time. In fact, when the Browns and Steelers are NOT playing each other, I can even root for the Steelers to win a game. Bill Cowher is the perfect coach for that city.

Second, as far as I'm concerned, the Steelers are merely ancestral rivals rather than sworn enemies. My football enemies are two: the Broncos, especially Horse-Face (John Elway to the rest of the country), and of course Art Modell. My formative years were spent watching Elway and the Broncos steal playoff after playoff from the Browns, and the images of the Fumble and the Drive are tattoed somewhere deep in my reptile brain forever, right down next to the bits that keep me breathing and my heart beating. As for Art... let's just say it's a good thing he doesn't go back to Cleveland much.