Like Bettis, Ledger a deserving winner

Like most good Pittsburghers, I spent Sunday night glued to the TV in anticipation, fingers… Like most good Pittsburghers, I spent Sunday night glued to the TV in anticipation, fingers crossed and heart a-flutter — because the Golden Globes were on, of course.

The first two months of the year are a special time indeed for both football fans and film nerds — months of speculation and anticipation pay off in a few choice evenings of our favorite celebrities dressing up and hoping to win an award or two. With the Golden Globes come and gone, movie buffs can look forward to next Thursday’s Oscar nominees’ announcement. And if the Globes were any indication (and they often are), every fanatic who pores over the weekend box office returns instead of playing Monday morning quarterback can breathe a sigh of nerd relief — Heath Ledger posthumously won a supporting actor award for his role in ‘The Dark Knight.’

I think he deserved to win, but like any good little sycophant, I have long worshipped at the altar of ‘The Dark Knight.’ So while I agree that Hollywood awarded an unparalleled performance, I must also acknowledge that it accomplished that most basic task that has always been at the heart of its existence: It told a story.

Just like audiences find a thrill watching Batman save Gotham City, they love a story of triumph that takes place in the real world — one without theatrics like vigilantes in capes and cowls. People like a story of a person working hard, making great sacrifices and earning the respect of his peers. It sounds contrived, but it’s a familiar and convenient story model that is universally appealing.

Think back to the 2005-06 football season. Odds are good that you’re a Steelers fan and were therefore too busy killing brain cells and lighting things on fire to remember just what happened, but it’s a simple story. After a devastating finish to the season prior, running back Jerome Bettis almost walked away from football without a Super Bowl ring.

Some say that with a twinkle in his eye, Ben Roethlisberger looked Bettis in the face and promised that if he stayed one more season, he would get him that Super Bowl victory. One might assume that he followed up with a bromantic booty slap.

Over the course of the next season, the Steelers continually beat the odds on the road to the Super Bowl, and on a cold February night, they beat the Seattle Seahawks in Bettis’s hometown of Detroit, and he finally retired, his distinguished career finally complete.

And then we all lit things on fire. Happy ending, right?

Mostly. The officiating of Super Bowl XL was hotly debated, with many arguing that the referees favored the Steelers — in part because a Pittsburgh win was too storybook-perfect for them to resist. The Steelers got their victory, though, and now in the entertainment world, Ledger has his. Naturally, there will be naysayers posturing that he only won out of some sense of sentimentality or regret. And it’s true — maybe the Hollywood Foreign Press Association really did want to show everyone just how sensitive and relevant it could be by not only honoring a lost young talent, but by doing it for a role in a genre that doesn’t typically win awards not given out on Spike TV. Maybe the refs at Super Bowl XL really did call in favor of the Steelers, helping them along to cap off Bettis’s career with a win.

The fact is, sometimes the officials do have an agenda, whether it’s in the end zone or the 30-mile zone. Whatever the cynics say, every fan of the movies can appreciate the occasional fairy tale ending. A ring or a trophy is only a thing, but once a legacy is forged, the ruling on the field stands.