MEN OF STEEL? THAT USED TO BE THE DODGERS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

The Pittsburgh Steelers, the guys who just won the Super Bowl, you know who they remind me of? The Steelers remind me of the Dodgers.

Obviously, when it comes to the Dodgers, I'm blessed with a long memory.

The Steelers are what the Dodgers used to be, what they were in the O'Malley days, what they could be still if Rupert Murdoch hadn't burned their championship legacy and Frank McCourt hadn't cut most of their remaining ties to past glory.

Dan Rooney, the Steelers owner, is Peter O'Malley - faithful inheritor of his father's business, calm and patient steward of the franchise. Bill Cowher, the Steelers coach, is Tommy Lasorda - emotional, long-tenured successor to a stoic, long-tenured boss. And the Steelers players are the old Dodgers players - devoted heirs to a fortune in championship trophies and rings.

Sunday, the Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 in Super Bowl XL, giving Pittsburgh its fifth title and first since the 1979 season.

The men in the Steelers uniforms played as if they belonged on that Super Bowl field in Detroit, as if they'd been there before and felt confident that everything would be all right in the end. The men in the Seahawks shirts actually were the better team, but never looked comfortable in their first appearance on American sports' biggest stage.

In truth, only one Steelers player had ever played in a Super Bowl before - and he, cornerback Willie Williams, was left off the active roster for this game.

But the owner had been in a bunch of Steelers Super Bowls. The front office was full of people, mostly Rooneys, who had been in a bunch of Steelers Super Bowls. The coach had been in a Steelers Super Bowl, the 1996 game that the Steelers lost to the Dallas Cowboys.

It's hard not to imagine that the memory of all of those Terry Bradshaw-Franco Harris-Mean Joe Greene-Chuck Noll Super Bowl triumphs of the 1970s, as well as the failure of 1996, was passed down through the halls of one of pro sports' most stable organizations and infused this year's Steelers players with the poise that made the difference Sunday.

Noll coached the Steelers for 23 seasons and four Super Bowl titles, and Cowher, the longest-tenured current NFL coach, was in his 14th season this year when he won his first.

Sound familiar to you Dodgers fans of a certain age?

Walter Alston managed the Dodgers for 23 seasons and four World Series titles, and Lasorda was in his 12th season in 1988 when he won his second.

Similar to the 2005 Steelers, the 1988 Dodgers played as if they belonged in that World Series, making all of the big plays and selling Lasorda's gambits with aplomb, while the Oakland A's looked shell-shocked from ''Look who's comin' up'' onward.

Like Dan Rooney, who waited out Cowher's downturns in 1998-2000 (22-26) and extended his contract after 2003 (6-10), Peter O'Malley refused to make high-profile changes when Lasorda's teams struggled in 1986-87 (146-178).

Those Dodgers players took to the World Series as if it were an inherited mansion. They hadn't been there, but they were surrounded by people who had.

As we make the transition from football to baseball - basketball and hockey provide the background music - watching the Steelers remind us what the Dodgers have lost.

Owners Frank and Jamie McCourt's have continued what Fox began, breaking the organization's historical chain so badly that when the club goes to spring training next week, Lasorda (an executive with adviser duties) and Manny Mota (a coach) will be about all that's left of the Dodgers World Series legacy. The team has more of the Boston Red Sox's and San Francisco Giants' World Series legacies now, and those aren't necessarily transferable.

The next time the Dodgers go for a championship, whenever that will be, it'll feel less like the Steelers and more like the Seahawks.