"Roethlisbergermania" may be a mouthful but you may as well get used to saying it.

Whether wearing replicas of Ben Roethlisberger's No. 7 Steelers jersey, noshing on sandwiches named in his honor or daring to dream about a Super Bowl appearance, the region's residents haven't been this abuzz about a rookie quarterback in decades.

In fact, it's a good bet that if "Big Ben" had been on the presidential ballot, he would have done quite well, at least among voting Steelers fans. Indeed, the sign at Metro Heating & Cooling on Banksville Road earlier this week touted "Roethlisberger for President."

At least there have been no allegations of incompetent leadership or flip-flopping with this guy. Just the opposite -- he's been effective and decisive.

Roethlisberger did get some write-in votes in various races around the region Tuesday. But the biggest vote that day was one of confidence from Coach Bill Cowher, who said the rookie would remain the starter, regardless of the health of Tommy Maddox, the injured veteran he replaced in the third quarter of the second game of the season, Sept. 19.

Since then, Roethlisberger has appealed to ardent and casual fans, young and old, male and female, through a combination of incredible athletic skill, a blue-collar work ethic, a maturity that defies his 22 years, a team-first spirit and humility that's rare in professional sports.

Oh, and he's 5-0 as the starting quarterback, boosting the Steelers' record to 6-1 overall, the team's best start since they opened 7-0 in 1978.

By leading the Steelers to a victory Sunday over the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots in a nationally televised game, Roethlisberger only enhanced the excitement surrounding him.

No less an authority than veteran Steelers radio voice Myron Cope offered this week: "I can scarcely believe I'm seeing a rookie."

Moreover, Cope said, Roethlisberger is a "wonderful young guy. Terrific. Not only a good fellow but he's got character and a sense of humor. He's the whole package if he stays that way, I think. Fans are crazy about him."

Cope noted, however, that fan adoration is dependent on a key element: winning.

"They'll relate to you if you win," he said. "You can be the nicest man on Earth, you can have the best sense of humor in Allegheny County, but they won't relate to you very well if you don't win."

Still, Cope feels positively prescient for his preseason prediction that Roethlisberger was "a cinch to be a superstar."

The national media are paying attention to the rookie's success, too. Dan Marino, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer who returned to his native Pittsburgh this week to interview Roethlisberger for HBO's "Inside the NFL," said the rookie deserves all the praise he's been receiving.

In addition to HBO, interview requests have come from every major publication, Sports Illustrated and The New York Times included, as well as ESPN and other TV networks, Steelers spokesman Ron Wahl said.

Wahl noted that Roethlisberger has been cool and calm both on the field and off, handling media scrutiny as well as any veteran while always putting the team first.

"He's a very humble person who knows how important the team is around him. He always compliments the team because he knows he couldn't do what he does without them," Wahl said.

Part of the buzz locally about Roethlisberger has to do with the fact that he's the Steelers highest quarterback draft pick since Terry Bradshaw. And no one around these parts needs to be reminded of the effect Bradshaw had on the team and, through his four Super Bowl victories, civic pride.

There's a "natural comparison" with Bradshaw, Wahl said, because of their physical prowess, but he noted that Bradshaw was not as big as Roethlisberger, who's listed as 6 feet 5 and 241 pounds.

Speaking of big, how about those sandwiches named in his honor? The first on the scene was the "Roethlis-burger," soon to have its spelling adjusted to "Roethlis-burgher," at Brentwood Express on Saw Mill Run Boulevard.

Co-owner Steve Kingsland said credit for the idea goes to his partner and brother-in-law, Sam Vuick, who suggested after Roethlisberger's first start that the restaurant should name a sandwich after him.

So they did. The $3.95 Roethlis-burger is a one-third pound hamburger with bacon, ranch dressing, barbecue sauce and cheddar and provolone cheeses. The "Big Ben," at $4.69, includes all that and another one-third pound burger.

"We've only been in business since May so it's been a real boost for us," Kingsland said yesterday. "I would say out of all the burgers we sell, two out of three are the Roethlis-burger.

"Most of the time, an order prompts a discussion of football ... and about how great he's doing. It's been a lot of fun. It's exciting for us to be involved with it."

Elsewhere, "The Roethlisburger," available at Peppi's restaurants on the North Side, Downtown, in the Strip District and Highland Park, has likewise become a huge seller in the three weeks it has been offered. The sandwich is 1¹*₂ pounds of ground beef, hot sausage, fried onions, scrambled egg and American cheese. It goes for $7, matching its namesake's number.

Since Sunday, Peppi's has been offering T-shirts bearing the restaurant's logo, the number 7 and the boast "I tackled the Roethlisburger" at a cost of $11.95. A combo -- sandwich, drink and T-shirt -- goes for $19.95.

The day after the whopping sandwich got exposure on the national broadcast of the Steelers game, the North Side store alone sold 150 of them. Telephone orders for T-shirts have come from as far away as Texas, owner Jeff Trebac said.

Wahl thinks a big part of the fan attraction to Roethlisberger is that as a native of Findlay, Ohio, "he comes from the same sociological environment" as they do.

"He understands the fan interest in the Steelers," Wahl said. "He's great with fans. Starting at [training] camp he's always been very receptive to giving autographs. He's always interacted with the fans very well."

In fact, Wahl noted, Roethlisberger has continued a pregame ritual of giving autographs for 10 minutes before his final preparations.

One fan from New Hampshire became poetic, so to speak, when he e-mailed the following to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's postgame "Steelers Sound Off":

"Listen my children and you shall hear

"The sound of Big Ben kicking rear.

"One if by air and two if by ground,

"The Steelers look like they're Super Bowl bound."

Sports clothing stores around the region have become part of the Roethlisberger frenzy, too.

An employee for Honus Wagner Co., Downtown, said replicas of Roethlisberger's No. 7 jersey -- both the black home jersey and white away jersey -- sold out last week. The store hopes to get another five dozen jerseys this week, about the fifth shipment so far this season.

"It's the hottest thing going right now," he said. "We sold some earlier when the season started, but since he's been playing, it's really taking off."

That surge isn't just local. Roethlisberger's shirt is the featured jersey on the Reebok Web site.

Eddie White, a spokesman for Reebok team properties, which holds the official NFL license for merchandise, described sales of Roethlisberger's jersey as "phenomenal."

"The latest figures I've seen is that of all the Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys sold since the start of the season, almost half are No. 7. It doesn't happen every year that a top draft pick plays right away and has success right away."

Moreover, White said, Roethlisberger's cachet increased with Sunday's decisive victory.

"Pittsburgh is a national team, and there are people in Phoenix and Miami and San Diego right now who are clamoring for a No. 7 jersey. The country saw that game, the country saw what the kid can do and saw that the Steelers are on a roll right now.

"The national exposure can convert a casual fan to a Steelers fan and a Ben fan. It's like a perfect birthday cake with all your favorite ingredients -- being in a perfect football position, in a perfect football town with a great quarterback."

Of course, as the humble, mature, level-headed Roethlisberger might caution, there's a lot of football to be played before ravenous Steelers fans can actually have that cake and eat it, too.