American football: US gears up for brains against brawn Super Bowl

DETROIT - When the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks meet in Super Bowl XL on Sunday (Monday NZT) it will be a clash of American styles and cultures, blue collar verses white collar. Computer nerds verses steel workers.

Lining up at one end of Ford Field will be the Seahawks, the team with trendy teal uniforms from the rainy north west famous for gourmet coffee and home for billionaire computer geeks.

At the other end, the Steelers, the four-times Super Bowl champions with the black helmets and a gritty reputation forged from the local mills and coal mines.

While the two teams can draw similarities for their play on the field, off it they are as different as their owners and the beer drinkers and latte sippers who support them.

Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and one of the world's richest men with an estimated value of US$22.5 billion, bought the team for US$200 million in 1997 to keep the struggling Seahawks from flying south.

The Steelers came into the possession of the Rooney family in 1933, when Art Rooney paid US$2,500 for the team with (according the NFL folklore) money he won that day at the race track.

While the Steelers have developed into one of the NFL's most recognizable brands the Seahawks may well be the league's most anonymous franchise.

Despite boasting the NFL's leading rusher and MVP candidate in Shaun Alexander and posting a regular season record of 13-3, second only to the Indianapolis Colts, the Seahawks arrived in Detroit on Monday as clear underdogs.

FOOTBALL FANS

For all their accomplishments, however, it will take at least one more victory on Sunday before the Seahawks will get the respect and validation they seek from football fans beyond the Seattle city limits.

"In Green Bay it was quite different than the situation in Seattle because they had a wonderful tradition," said Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren, who was lured away from the Packers by Allen with a US$32 million eight-year contract in 1999.

"They had been in the game as long as any team and everyone knew who the Packers were.

"In Seattle, as players have mentioned this week, because of geography and appearances on "Monday Night Football" and national TV games, your exposure is limited to everyone else.

"I think the Super Bowl, and certainly if you win the game, brings those things your way.

"Then you can start to build recognition for your players, for your city if necessary, and certainly for your franchise.

Holmgren said the Super Bowl was a vital part of the process.

"We've had a good football team for a couple of years prior to this," he said. "We didn't get it done but this will allow people who didn't know about us to know about us."

As in any sport, tradition evolves slowly.

While swirling yellow Terrible Towels for decades have been the rallying cry of Steelers fans, Seahawks supporters have united behind the 12th Man.

Before each game a flag with the No. 12 is hoisted at Qwest Field in recognition of what is widely regarded as the loudest fans in the NFL.

During Seattle's postseason run a 12th Man flag as also flown from the top of the city's landmark Space Needle, catching the attention of many football fans, particularly at Texas A and M University who have filed a restraining order against the Seahawks for a trademark infringement to the phrase "12th Man".

The Seahawks, of course, have also caught the Steelers attention.

"We know how tough Seattle is," said Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. "They truly are one of the top teams, if not the top team, in the NFL.

"They got the number one seed in the NFC. It's going to take a good football team (to beat them).

"It's going to take our best football to come out and, hopefully, make this a good game."

- REUTERS