By Tony Kornheiser
Monday, January 30, 2006

On-site Super Bowl coverage basically begins tomorrow with the million-microphone march known as Media Day. The coverage up until today has been amazingly kissy-kissy toward the Steelers. It's hard to find anything at all written about Seattle. The Seahawks are playing on Sunday, aren't they? Or has the mayor of Detroit already awarded the Super Bowl to Jerome Bettis?

Of course, the Steelers are the sentimental favorites. Everybody knows Bettis's story and loves him. More importantly, everybody knows Bettis. And everybody knows Ben Roethlisberger. And Hines Ward. And Troy Polamalu and his magnificent mane. Plus, everybody remembers the great Steelers of the past, like Bradshaw, Swann, Ham, Lambert, Stallworth and Franco. The Hall of Fame is practically the private dining room of the Steel Curtain Steelers. And everybody likes the Steelers. They aren't easily hateable like, say, the Cowboys or the Giants or the smug Patriots. The Steelers look the part of a football dynasty. Start with Bill Cowher's massive chin. That's a football coach's chin, son. And Pittsburgh is a football-playing town.

The Seahawks' problem is nobody knows them. How can you root for them if you don't know who they are? They're tucked up there in the far northwest corner of the country; they're so far north and west of the Mississippi, Lewis and Clark didn't even get there -- they reached the Pacific Ocean in Oregon! Go ahead, name five Seahawks. I'll give you Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander. I'll even give you the coach, Mike Holmgren. You're still stuck. The Seahawks were never a dynasty. They have no history. They have no romance. They have this week, that's all.

The Steelers are four-point favorites because nobody knows Seattle, so nobody cares passionately about Seattle. All the sentimental money is on Pittsburgh. Don't be surprised if later this week the smart money goes on Seattle.