'The Beard' takes on a life of its own for Steelers' Keisel

There have been many great Steelers stars in Super Bowl history. Six trophies will do that.

There was Franco and Bradshaw and Swann. There was Mean Joe and the Jacks, Lambert and Ham. And Mel Blount, and Rocky, and John Stallworth, and Hines Ward. There was James Harrison and Ben Rothlisberger to Santonio Holmes when the Steelers won it in Tampa two years ago.

Now there is:

The Beard.

Here at Super Bowl XLV, clearly the hairiest in the game's history, the biggest star of the show has two Facebook pages, a Twitter account and T-shirt sales.

"The Beard is fierce," Steelers safety Ryan Clark said.

The Beard is a reddish, untamed mess. It's doesn't need a trim, it needs lawn maintenance.

The Beard, with a moustache to match, gathers up in drifts, more so then the snow on Dallas streets on Friday. There was maybe two inches on the ground. You call that deep? The Beard, it goes four inches deep, easy.

The man behind The Beard, somewhere back there, is Steelers veteran defensive end Brett Keisel, who has gone completely Neptune, ZZ Top, Grizzly Adams, Man From Snowy River.

"I'm in here somewhere," Keisel said.

The Beard will barely fit inside Cowboys Stadium on Sunday, much less Keisel's helmet.

You could get lost in The Beard if you don't leave a trail of bread crumbs.

The Beard is a registered voter in Pittsburgh.

"There's not much maintenance," Keisel admitted. "I just comb it out every once in a while, brush the birds and the squirrels out."

There are mane men all over this Steelers-Packers Super Bowl, the most famous Rapunzels being Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and Packers linebacker Clay Matthews, whose flowing locks have garnered each of them a shampoo endorsement. Don't forget Matthew's linebacking mate, A,J. Hawk, whose hair drops down to his shoulders, too, always in tribute to Hawk's football-and-beyond hero, the late Pat Tillman.

There's hair all over the place this week in North Texas. Maybe it's a trend in the game, I mean, pretty boy Tom Brady had hair down to his shoulders this season. The NFL, that great cattle-herding money machine, frowns on most other forms of personal expression. Ryan Clark can't ever wear a towel with Bible scripture on it during games.

"Those are the rules," he said.

There are no rules for The Beard.

"The Beard -- The Beard is why we're here," Keisel said.

It began last June.

The 6-5, 285-pound Keisel, already beloved in Pittsburgh for his rough-and-tumble style (nickname: "Diesel") explained his moment of inspiration:

"We've got a great hockey team and they grow their playoff beards and I saw those guys looking burly. I thought, 'You know what? After mini-camp in June we've got seven months to try and win our seventh Super Bowl, so I'll see if I can let this thing grow for seven months.'"

Now "this thing" has a life of its own.

People wear "Fear The Beard!" and "Respect The Beard!" T-shirts everywhere from Pittsburgh's locker room to Pittsburgh streets. People are growing beards, people are wearing fake ones to games, all in The Beard's honor.

There was no turning back. As the wins piled up, The Beard kept growing.

"The chin strap is fine," Keisel said. "It holds it down tight. The worst part is hairballs in my mouth from my mouthpiece."

It's a small price to pay.

"You never know what's up there, living in it, food gets stuck up in there," Clark said. "At least Troy can put his hair in a pony tail. He can't do nothing with that beard. Hopefully, we win this game, because we're going to have a bear-shaving ritual, and everybody is going to take a piece of the beard, like they take a piece of the net home at the NCAAs."

Keisel's wife, Sarah, bought him a razor for Christmas.

"Maybe I can get an endorsement from Suave or something," Keisel said.

He is not counting on it. More likely, he'll do something for charity, him and The Beard.

But first things first.

"Hopefully, we'll win and I can go home and pull the Lombardi Trophy out of The Beard for all the fans to see," Keisel said. "Then I'll have to whack it off or my wife might leave me."

It snowed again in Dallas on Thursday night. Cars are sliding, people are slipping.

It's hairy out here. You don't know the half of it.

The Beard does. The Beard knows all.