In these Steelers-gonzo times, a few female fans get a little carried away.

	HEARTTHROBS
	Who got your vote for the hottest Steeler among nine nominees above? Click here for the results. Graphic: Top 10 in NFL women's jersey sales, 2005

"It gets bad. They send underwear and stuff in the mail," says wide receiver Antwaan Randle El, cringing. "It's terrible. You open it up and say 'Ahhhh,' and you put it in the garbage."

The happily married, groupie-averse Randle El views it as an occupational hazard that spikes with each playoff win. And he doesn't even consider himself a "chick magnet," an honor he bestows on such unmarried teammates as Chris Hope, James Farrior and, of course, Ben Roethlisberger.

"Hey, Ben, when is the last time you got underwear in the mail?" he yells across the locker room to Roethlisberger.

"That's between me and them," the hulking quarterback responds.

Forget for a moment about yards rushed, home field advantage and special teams. Let's talk about the hottest Steelers.

Yes, we know, this sounds silly, superficial and sexist, which of course it is.

But if the home team advances to the Super Bowl, where the 37.5 million female viewers last year outdrew the 27.5 million watching the Oscars, it's a real marketing story.

"The Super Bowl is like a movie, and the quarterback is the leading man," says Leigh Steinberg, Roethlisberger's agent.

About 40 percent of National Football League fans are female, a statistic that prompted the NFL last year to start selling jerseys cut for women. Sales of Roethlisberger women's jerseys ranked second among all NFL players, trailing only the strapping Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Steelers' Hines Ward's jerseys ranked seventh.

Buoyed by the success of pink Big Ben shirts, Mr. Steinberg is planning to market more female-friendly Roethlisberger merchandise in the days ahead.

"He is young, single and good-looking -- and did I say single?" says Mr. Steinberg.

But another swoon-worthy player, according to an unscientific poll of women on the street, is already taken -- Troy Polamalu, he of the flowing dark hair and adulation for his wife.

How many football players point to their wedding rings after making an interception? The gesture in last week's game still has women saying, "Ahhh."

"He has nice energy. He has a beautiful face," says Christy Smith, 30, a former Pittsburgher who moved to Florida but was back visiting last week. "He adores his wife. It's sweet."

The safety admits the local attention can be crushing.

"Being a football player in Pittsburgh is like being a celebrity in Hollywood," he says.

But when asked about female attention, Polamalu says serenely, "I'm straight home."

He is like a poster boy for Zen and the art of Steelers hunkdom.

Cia Lyons, 9, who lives in Penn Hills, has such a big crush on Polamalu that she wrote this poem:

Number 43 Glides Across the Field. His Sweet Hawaiian Hair Flows Behind Him. He Makes Great Interceptions Which Makes Me Cheer. He is Troy Polamalu. He is Great.

Then there is the ever-smiling Hines Ward.

"I love his dimples," says Ms. Smith. "I want to crawl inside them."

Ward quipped on his radio show with Deshea Townsend that he was hot because he was exotic, a look he sees on music videos.

"I was just joking," he says. Townsend calls him a pretty boy because of his penchant for manicures and pedicures and nice clothes. "I take great pride in my appearance," Ward says.

A metrosexual?

"No, I don't like that word," Ward says. "Just say I am clean."

The wide receiver says the female attention is "flattering. There is no doubt about it. But you don't know if it is because of you or because you are a Steeler."

The fact that this team's players are known as nice guys, free of the drug and domestic abuse problems that have erupted in other, bad-boy clubhouses, also makes them women-friendly.

"I like the sweet souls," says Casey Saine, a customer service agent for US Airways who lives in Robinson. Her sweet soul list includes Roethlisberger, Ward and Randle El, for his happy smile.

Other women pick Jerome Bettis.

The type of crushes usually reserved for heartthrobs like Johnny Depp and singer Usher cross generations.

"That is all we talk about, how hot the Steelers are," says Katelyn Kern, an 18-year-old who lives in Washington, Pa., and is a Big Ben fan. "Their bodies, their butts, their uniforms, their little dance when they get a touchdown."

"The teachers do it too," says her friend, Lindsay Harper, 16. "It's kind of sad."

Even the coaching staff is not safe. Monica Phillips, owner of Diva's by Monica consignment shop in the South Side, thinks Ben is hot. Ditto for Coach Cowher.

"Oh my God, Coach Cowher is so sexy," she says. "I love him when he gets mad at the ref. I love him when he is happy. I love him when he hugs Jerome. There is something about that jaw."

But Steelers adulation is not universal.

Reanna Hensley, 28, of Squirrel Hill, is not drooling on the field.

"They are all too beefy, too meathead-y. I like my boys with necks," she says.