BUS FINALLY STOPS HERE - AT HOME DETROIT NATIVE BETTIS HOPES TO SHOWCASE CITY.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

DETROIT - Jerome Bettis has made a career out of moving piles, but he hadn't seen anything like this: about 100 reporters, cameramen and sound technicians - some packed elbow-to-elbow, others balancing cameras and boom mikes from atop chairs and stepstools - all waiting for Bettis to take a seat behind a microphone on the small raised platform.

As Bettis, dressed in a white polo shirt and a blue-and-orange Detroit Tigers cap, eased around the crowd and lowered himself into a chair, he did so with a smile.

``Hello, everybody,'' he said. ``Welcome to Detroit.''

And to the rest of the planet, welcome to Jerome Bettis' world.

When Bettis arrived in his hometown Monday with the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers, it didn't take long to realize that the return of The Bus will be driving storylines all week.

And given the looks of things, even a Super Bowl dubbed XL may not be big enough to contain it.

When the Steelers stepped off the plane, most of them were wearing the green No. 6 jersey Bettis wore at Notre Dame, a tip of the cap from linebacker Joey Porter, who bought them for his teammates.

Today, Bettis will be awarded the key to the city by Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and film a soup commercial with his mother. Wednesday has been declared Jerome Bettis Day in the state of Michigan by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, which is also the day his uniform number at MacKenzie High will be retired. He'll host a charity bowling tournament Thursday at the Majestic Theater.

Oh, and this game on Sunday?

``After 13 years, I figure my shoulders are big enough to carry a little pressure,'' said Bettis, who is making the first Super Bowl appearance of his career.

If others might consider all the attention a distraction, Bettis views it as his duty. While he has homes in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, he's using this week to be a champion for a city that needs one.

``I'm willing to carry that flag because I love the city,'' said Bettis, whose charitable foundation, The Bus Stops Here, is based in Detroit.

Another venture, Bettis Betters, LLC., is involved in a joint venture to convert a 44-acre former Uniroyal tire plant along the Detroit River into a residential, retail and hotel complex.

``(The Super Bowl) gives the country an opportunity to see the city in a different light, and that we're trying to rebuild the city,'' said Bettis, whose community work earned him the NFL's Man of the Year Award in 2001.

``For years, it hadn't been looked at as a place you would want to go. From a corporate standpoint, you didn't want to have your headquarters here. ... It needed to get this boost for people to see that Detroit is on the rise. I'm committed to this city, not only speaking about it, but I'm willing to put my resources into the city to try and make it the city it can be.''

One reason Bettis is using his platform is he doesn't know how long he'll have it. At 33, and reduced to a part-time role the past two seasons, there's a strong chance he'll retire.

Bettis gave strong consideration to retiring a year ago when the Steelers lost in the AFC Championship game - the third time he'd been stopped one game shy of the Super Bowl.

His decision to return was influenced by this year's game being in Detroit. But when the Steelers were 7-5, it looked impossible. When they snuck into the playoffs as the lowest seed, it seemed remote.

``There were a couple of points in the season where I thought it didn't look like it was going to happen,'' Bettis said.

Then it looked like something worse might happen. Bettis' fumble, his first of the season, while trying for the clinching score in a playoff game at Indianapolis looked for a moment as if it would be returned for a go-ahead touchdown.

But quarterback Ben Roethlisberger made a touchdown-saving tackle, Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt missed the tying field goal and Bettis was spared the ignominy of being remembered as Bill Buckner in shoulder pads.

A win over Denver and the Bus was headed home.

``I'm living a dream right now,'' he said.

Which is why his parents, John and Gladys, who haven't missed a single game of his NFL career, and his brother and sister have hired a public-relations firm to set up interviews and tours of the neighborhood where Jerome grew up.

It is why his business manager Jahmal Dokes, a childhood friend of Bettis, suddenly found himself surrounded by about two dozen reporters. It is why, during a 30-minute session with reporters Monday, not a single question was asked about the Seahawks.

It's a story that doesn't come along every day.

``I don't think it could have been written any better, as far as the storyline, the plot, the happy ending,'' Steelers receiver Hines Ward said as he sat across the ballroom from Bettis.

``We are a game away from giving him that happy ending.''

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Photo:

Wearing a green Notre Dame jersey, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis arrives Monday at Detroit Metro Airport for the Super Bowl.

Elaine Thompson/Associated Press