Jerome Bettis

A power running game was the cornerstone of the storied Pittsburgh Steelers teams. Too often this season, though, the Steelers had cornerstones for cleats. They were a couldn't-run team heading for also-ran status. In seven games against teams that wound up in the playoffs, Pittsburgh lost all but one of the rushing battles. Simply put, that's not Steelers football.

Eight years after being inducted at Canton, Lynn Swann is Hall of Fame-bound again. Today at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Swann will be inducted into the Bowling Hall of Fame. Swann has done promotional work for the game and bowls with his family about twice a month. "I'm just an all-right bowler," Swann says. "Never had a 300 game. I'm usually in the mid-to-upper 100s." Swann is the third recipient to make the Hall's Celebrity Wing -- and surprisingly, not the first football player.

Guess which athletic accomplishment Pittsburgh Steeler running back Jerome Bettis considers his greatest. His 102 yards rushing and two touchdowns Sunday in his first playoff game, a 42-14 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, leading the Steelers into Sunday's second-round playoff matchup against the New England Patriots at Foxboro, Mass.? Nope.

What's the first thing to come to mind when I mention Carrot Top, other than he might be Mr. Right for the Daughter Who Can't Get a Date? He's King of the Props, all right, holding up the doorbell at the president's new house during his Friday act at the Luxor, pushing it and in return getting the theme music from "The Jeffersons": "We're moving on up." So who better to tackle the 100 or so prop bets available here for the Super Bowl than the King of the Props?

Jerome Bettis was a toddler when Ram Coach Chuck Knox turned second-year running back Lawrence McCutcheon loose in 1973. When Knox's Buffalo offense featured rookie tailbacks Terry Miller and Joe Cribbs in 1978 and '80, Bettis was tearing up Detroit-area youth bowling. But by 1983, when Seattle running back Curt Warner starred as a rookie under Knox, Bettis finally took notice. Warner plowed through defenses, knocking linemen over as Bettis did to pins every Sunday. Bettis liked that.

He's a snorting, smiling, 240-pound road hog who likes to hear his victims grunt and groan as they crumble. And then, as the opposition takes inventory of bumps and bruises, Ram running back Jerome Bettis delivers the really bad news. "I'll be back," he says with a grin. "Bettis was talking a lot of trash out there," New Orleans linebacker Rickey Jackson said of last Sunday's game in the Superdome. "He was having fun, like a kid in a candy store. He kept getting up and telling us he'd be back.

Chris Miller has settled the quarterback pecking order for now, so the Rams can turn their attention to other pressing needs, such as opening some holes for Jerome Bettis and winning a close game. They haven't done much of either lately. The Rams are 4-7 and have lost five of their past seven games by an average of 4.6 points. Bettis, their star tailback who talked bravely before the season about gaining 2,000 yards, might not see 1,000 if his pace continues.

Nathan Uy, do you know where your red 10-speed bike is? At the moment, it's trying desperately to support 248-pound Notre Dame fullback Jerome Bettis, who borrows his roommate's two-wheeler whenever duty calls. In this case, Bettis, the Irish's leading rusher, has a cross-campus appointment with team trainers. Watching Bettis pedal the bike, its tires smooshed nearly flat against the pavement, is a sight to behold.

What do you think? He's like the 40th-paid wide receiver in the league.' Jerome Bettis, Pittsburgh Steeler running back, when asked whether teammate Hines Ward -- a four-time Pro Bowl selection -- deserves a new contract

Up Close guests, at ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney: Monday, noon, Carmen Policy; Tuesday, noon, Jerome Bettis; Wednesday, 4 p.m., Dikembe Mutombo, Rick Mahorn and Lon Kruger.

A power running game was the cornerstone of the storied Pittsburgh Steelers teams. Too often this season, though, the Steelers had cornerstones for cleats. They were a couldn't-run team heading for also-ran status. In seven games against teams that wound up in the playoffs, Pittsburgh lost all but one of the rushing battles. Simply put, that's not Steelers football.

As Jerome Bettis walked out of the NBC studios in Burbank where Jay Leno tapes his show, four youngsters thrust football cards at the former Pittsburgh Steelers running back, begging for his autograph. The youngest, about 6 years old, was holding four Bettis cards. "Pick one," Bettis said. It was nearly a minute before the small hand gave one to the imposing 5-foot-11, 255-pound Bettis, who signed, paused, then grabbed the other three cards and signed them as well.

When Salvador Torres, 14, of Cypress returns to school this fall, he can tell his friends he beat Kobe Bryant in a game of H-O-R-S-E. And he has proof -- a feature segment that has been televised on several editions of ESPN's "SportsCenter" this week. The game took place because Torres, a leukemia patient, was granted his wish by ESPN and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The leukemia is in remission, according to Torres' uncle, Tony Morales.

If you can't pass the Bettis family's three-for-10 test, don't bother trying to get on The Bus. Jerome Bettis, the Pittsburgh Steeler running back who's coming home to Detroit for his first Super Bowl, has devised a system for distributing his 15 tickets to the game. Only the family members and friends who attended at least three of his games for each of the last 10 seasons are eligible. Everyone else need not apply. Already on the list are his parents, John and Gladys; his brother, John Jr.

I hope the top supporters of the BCS were watching the NFL games Sunday. Nobody gave the Steelers a snowball's chance in you know where on the road against what many thought was one of the best teams ever. In the college system, the Steelers would have been playing the Panthers in some meaningless dot-com or other corporate-named bowl game on Dec. 30. CHRIS POLING Agoura Hills It's refreshing to see someone else see through the Manning Family Facade [J.A. Adande column, Jan. 16]

After seeing her son, Jerome, fumble near the Indianapolis goal line Sunday -- a turnover that nearly cost the Pittsburgh Steelers a chance at the Super Bowl -- Gladys Bettis left her seat and headed for a less-than-immaculate reception area. The women's room at the RCA Dome. "When it happened, my daughter and I left our seats," she said in a phone interview Tuesday from her Detroit home. "I said, 'I can't sit here. I can't watch this.'

Thirty-something tailbacks Jerome Bettis (32) of Pittsburgh and Curtis Martin (31) of the New York Jets are closing in on Tony Dorsett and Eric Dickerson on the NFL's all-time rushing list: active players shaded *--* Player Yards EMMITT SMITH 18,050 WALTER PAYTON 16,726 BARRY SANDERS 15,269 ERIC DICKERSON 13,259 TONY DORSETT 12,739 JEROME BETTIS 12,734 CURTIS MARTIN 12,653 JIM BROWN 12,312 MARCUS ALLEN 12,243 FRANCO HARRIS 12,120 THURMAN THOMAS 12,074 MARSHALL FAULK 11,883 JOHN RIGGINS 11,352 O.

Jerome Bettis acted like a man ready to retire. He received two standing ovations, signed dozens of jerseys and footballs for his teammates, and posed for pictures on the field for half-an-hour after the game had ended. Bettis matched his career high with three touchdown runs in what probably was his final home game, and the Pittsburgh Steelers overcame some sloppy defense to beat the Detroit Lions, 35-21, on Sunday, securing their 10th playoff appearance in 14 seasons under Coach Bill Cowher.

What do you think? He's like the 40th-paid wide receiver in the league.' Jerome Bettis, Pittsburgh Steeler running back, when asked whether teammate Hines Ward -- a four-time Pro Bowl selection -- deserves a new contract