TWO SUPER BOWL TOWNS A LOT ALIKE.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Pittsburgh gave us U.S. Steel. Seattle gave us Starbucks. So there's our choice for Super Bowl XL.

The source of the raw material from which the nation builds the skyscrapers and bridges and tunnels that keep the machinery of society whirling, or the source of my morning coffee?

If I'm picking a Super Bowl favorite based on the relative indispensability of the two cities' major contributions to the world, I call it a toss-up.

We have almost two weeks before the Super Bowl in Detroit on Feb. 5 to analyze the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers. We can say without delay that the best thing about this Super Bowl may be the cities involved. Make that the towns involved, because these are places small enough in geographical mass and rich enough in local identity to deserve that quaint label.

For the first time in the 21st century, the Super Bowl matches teams from actual towns - franchises that have been in those towns for their entire histories. No ``New England,'' ``Carolina'' or ``Tampa Bay'' this year, and no Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles-St. Louis Rams, Houston Oilers-Tennessee Titans or Cleveland Browns-Baltimore Ravens.

These towns have precipitation in common - Seattle's rain, Pittsburgh's soot. They have water in common - Seattle defined by Puget Sound, Pittsburgh by the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers. They have green hills in common - truly gorgeous vistas, surprisingly so in Pittsburgh's case, given its industrial image.

They have restaurants in common, in that both have restaurants. The similarity in the dining department stops there.

To get the flavor of Seattle, you go for seafood at one of the upscale restaurants with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the water, or to the Metropolitan Grill for steak and highly refined liquor in oaken comfort downtown.

If you want to get the flavor of Pittsburgh, you go to Primanti Bros. for a sandwich of meat, cole slaw, egg, tomato and French fries on Italian bread.

Primanti Bros. started in the Depression, opening in the wee hours because that's when the night shift at the Strip District produce warehouses takes its lunch break. The story goes that having forgotten to order plates that first night, the proprietor piled the side dishes right into the sandwiches so the patrons could eat everything by hand. Now it's a tradition.

Primanti's isn't the only place to eat late in Pittsburgh. One night after a midnight deadline, a couple of Dodgers writers were asking where to go for a bite. A local writer recommended what sounded to us like Eton Park - the Britishy name suggesting an upscale-pub sort of atmosphere.

It turned out to be Eat'n Park - a greasy-Formica chain diner. My pancakes and milkshake went down without complication, as did the drug deal at the next table.

I'm not sure if our fellow patrons that night included the woman another Dodgers writer met at a tavern in downtown Pittsburgh. She told him that she'd just killed two men up in the hills, and boasted that nobody would ever know.

To the writer's relief, the lady's eye soon strayed to the National League umpire bending an elbow a few stools up the bar - he's gone now, but of natural causes.

As small to mid-size members of the sports marketplace, Pittsburgh and Seattle are the sort of towns that never end up together in the World Series or NBA Finals but thrive in an NFL whose marquee franchises include Green Bay and Oakland and that doesn't include Los Angeles.

In any sport these days, a town is expected to earn its championship celebration, to show receipts for some serious dues paying. Pittsburgh and Seattle need to answer no hard questions there. Pittsburgh's 1991-92 Stanley Cups with Mario Lemieux are all these towns have to show for the past quarter-century.

They're linked by memories of 1979, the season when the SuperSonics won their only NBA title, the Pirates won their last World Series and the Steelers won the last of their four Super Bowls in the '70s.

They've both had hopes crushed on the baseball field - the Pirates' three consecutive division titles with Barry Bonds in the early 1990s all ended in playoff near-misses, the Mariners' 116-win season in 2001 ended in a playoff rout by the New York Yankees.

They've both had a taste of college-football glory in recent generations - Pittsburgh winning the 1976 national title with Tony Dorsett, Washington winning in 1991.

They've both felt second-rate status - the Seattle Rainiers having been a mainstay of the old Pacific Coast League, the Pittsburgh Pipers winning the first ABA title in 1968 before moving to Minnesota and then back to Pittsburgh as the Condors.

And they've both cheered Franco Harris - Pittsburgh for his first 12 seasons and 11,950 yards, Seattle for his last eight games and 170 yards.

What they haven't shared is many games against each other. Pittsburgh has no big-league basketball, Seattle no big-league hockey. The Pirates and Mariners have played a grand total of three interleague games. The Steelers and Seahawks have met only once since 1999.

I think the two towns are going to like each other, except for four hours on Super Bowl Sunday. I'm rooting for both of them.

Starbucks vs. U.S. Steel - here's one Super Bowl that can get America out of bed and keep it standing.

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