Sure enough, when linebacker Joey Porter spotted her and threw his arms open to wrap her in a hug, her fears were realised. "We did it, " Porter gurgled. "We're bringing Jerome home and we're coming over to eat."

The Bettises are from Detroit, see, and the theme of the Steelers' season has been to get their 19-stone runningback into the Super Bowl so he can play the last game of his 13-year career on the field he grew up a couple of miles away from. And on Tuesday, he brought 63 players, officials and waterboys over to the house he bought his parents with his first professional contract to feast on the turkey, ham, roast beef, potato salad, candied yams, steamed broccoli, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato pie, carrot cake and apple cobbler Gladys and an army of helpers had prepared. Big menu. Big boys.

That Jerome Bettis has consumed Super Bowl week whole is your classic rags-toroyalty tale, the kind that calls for a rousing string accompaniment, the works. The Emerald City Detroit ain't . . . it has a smaller population than Dublin, yet the murder rate stands at one a day . . . and Bettis spent his childhood in one of its more lamentable innercity neighbourhoods. The house he grew up in became a brothel after he moved his parents out of it, and was gutted in a fire just over a year ago. Nobody died, nobody cared.

Bettis's ticket out of there was the happy marriage of an unsubtle frame and surprisingly nimble feet. He's far from the classic darting, spinning running-back, preferring the barging, rampaging style that has earned him the nickname The Bus. He's only ever called upon to pick up gains of four yards or less but so unstoppable is he, that he lies fifth on the all-time rushing list, every yard a hard yard. He's not spectacular, he's not showy but he's generally good for a touchdown a game.

Naturally, given the way these stories tend to work themselves out, the first Super Bowl to be played in Detroit during his career is also the first one he's managed to reach. Hence two Sports Illustrated covers in three weeks. Hence the key to the city being awarded to him last Tuesday. Hence the Mayor of Detroit, in a breathtaking display of political opportunism, officially declaring last week Jerome Bettis Week in the city. And hence, in the most-covered single sports event in America, press attention has focused on one man and one story.

"It's been great, " he said on Wednesday. "From people on the freeway honking their horns to people wishing me luck in the hotel, it's been great. I'm living a dream right now. If the media put the pressure on me, that's even better because it gives my teammates an opportunity to get ready for the game.

After 13 years, I figure my shoulders are big enough to carry a little bit of pressure.

"People say I'm not going to be able to focus on the game because of the distractions but there aren't really any distractions. One could be my family but my family comes to every game anyway.

If that's the case, then I'm distracted every week. The biggest distraction is obviously the media requests but we all have that to deal with so I don't think that's too big of a problem."

When Bettis says his family comes to every game, he means literally every game.

Ever since he was seven years old, whatever the sport, wherever the game, Gladys and Johnnie Bettis have been sitting in the stands. In the beginning, it was because Gladys couldn't bear the possibility of her asthmatic son having an attack without her nearby (she still keeps an inhaler in her pocket, for luck more than anything). But after a while they got into a habit they've never tried to get out of. Tonight, they reckon, will be in the region of their 350th time on the sidelines.

A nice round number to finish on.

SUPER BOWL XL PITTSBURGH STEELERS v SEATTLE SEAHAWKS Tonight, Ford Field, 11.20 Live, Sky Sports 1, 10.00;

UTV, 11.15