*** Acoording to a poll conducted by the IMAX corporation asked which of five classic Super Bowls viewers would like to see on one of their awesomely massive, vertigo inducing movie screens and the Steelers' 35-31 victory over Dallas in Super Bowl XIII came in as the winner by a wide margin.

Terry Bradshaw in Super Bowl XIII. From the release:

"NEW YORK, NY – Jan. 30, 2013 – IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX; TSX:IMX) today called an audible when it announced the recent findings of a Facebook poll conducted from Sun., Jan. 27 to Mon., Jan. 29. Fans of IMAX were asked "If you could, which one of these five games would you want to experience in IMAX®?"

· Game XIII – Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31 · Game XXIII – San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16 · Game XXXIV – St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16 · Game XLII – New York 17, New England 14 · Game XLIV – New Orleans 31, Indianapolis 17

More than 2,700 fans responded and when the results were tallied, there was a clear winner:

· 66% - Game XIII – Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31

· 13% - Game XXIII – San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16

· 10% - Game XLII – New York 17, New England 14

· 7% - Game XXXIV – St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16

· 4% - Game XLIV – New Orleans 31, Indianapolis 17"

Super Bowl XIII is regarded as one of the most exciting Super Bowls of its day although is faded a bit, both with the passage of time and the volume of Steelers Super Bowl victories. It is the highest scoring Super Bowl with a margin of victory of less than a touchdown.

For an index of the Post-Gazette's coverage of that game as well as links to videos of the broadcast and highlights, click here.

*** Jack Bicknell, Jr. has a Super Bowl-winning offensive line to his credit -- the 2011 New York Giants -- as the assistant coach to that unit, but has only one year as a head offensive line coach, that being this past season with the Kansas City Chiefs. And while the Chiefs' season was niot good at all, the offensive line was one of the bright spots.

Pro Football Focus, using a formula that combines pass blocking, run blocking and penalties, rated it as the 12th best unit in the NFL in 2012, up four spots from 2011 when the Chiefs line was rated 16th best (by comparison the Steelers line was ranked 25th the past two seasons).

Here's what PFF had to say about the Bicknell coached line in 2012:

"12. Kansas City Chiefs (16)

PB – 14th, RB – 9th, PEN – 15th

Stud: By his own admission, Eric Winston (+15.9) and the Chiefs fans didn't exactly hit it off. While he wasn't exactly perfect this year, he was the most balanced player they had on their line.

Dud: The hope is that Jeff Allen (-19.6) improves after a disastrous rookie year. Given that there were signs of improvement in the second half of the 2012, we'd bet on it [Editors note: well we would with Khaled's money anyway].

Summary: Injuries hurt this line, which was something of a shame. They got strong play from all the guys who were penciled into start, but the problem came when rookies Allen and Donald Stephenson were forced into the lineup. Too much too soon."

So take that for whatever its worth. PFF was fairly scathing in its review of the Steelers line -- ranked 25th in 2012 and 2011 -- which is interesting because departed coach Sean Kugler is given a lot of praise for having turned the unit around during that time.

*** Finally, per the brouhaha over whether or not Ray Lewis used some kind of a weird deer hormone, this from Benstonium:

The "one spray" line is a good touch.

[This feature ran in the paper on Sunday as a print only feature] 

HISTORY OF THE DECADE: A look at the Steelers' success and failure at defensive line in the draft and free agency since 2003 ...

23: Combined years NFL experience of Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel

11: Combined years NFL experience of the other five defensive linemen on the 53-man roster

DRAFT

The success of the Steelers' 3-4 zone-defense scheme is predicated on play up front, and to that end the team invested heavily in it via 2009 and 2011 first-round picks at DE, Ziggy Hood and Cameron Heyward, as well as 2012 fourth-rounder, nose tackle Alameda Ta'amu. But, after that, the most recent defensive line draft pick on the roster is Brett Keisel, who is headed into his 12th season.

In other words, the Steel Curtain is getting threadbare.

And with Hood in a contract year and Ta'amu facing possible legal sanctions, the Steelers might have to make up ground quickly for an otherwise lackluster decade of drafting defensive linemen. The Steelers spent seven mid-to-late round picks on the defensive line since 2003, but players such as Ryan McBean, Ra'Shon Harris and Shawn Nua never developed into diamonds like Keisel (7th round in 2002) or Aaron Smith (4th in 1999).

The Steelers were fortunate to have long, productive and mostly healthy careers from 2001 top pick Casey Hampton and Keisel, but those days nearly are over.

FREE AGENCY

With the core members of the front three -- and their presumed successors -- mostly in place over the past decade, the team signed only a few complementary pieces.

DE Travis Kirschke was added in 2004 from Detroit and made regular contributions in the 2005 and '08 Super Bowl winning seasons; NT Nick Eason did the same in 2007 and 2008. 2009 undrafted free agent Steve McLendon has impressed at times with his play and work ethic and will challenge to take over for Hampton. Journeyman backup Al Woods also saw action in 12 games this past season, mostly on special teams.

The line about Flacco's eyebrows is spit-take worthy.

Since the Steelers have the wrong kind of home field advantage this postseason, we'll take a look back at some of the highlights and disappointments of playoffs past ...

Today: January 28, 1996 -- Super Bowl XXX vs. Dallas

SUPER TRY: Steelers lose to Cowboys, 27-17

(reprinted from the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on January 29, 1996 - no byline)

In the end, there was the game.

After a bountiful decade, followed by 16 dry years, there was the game.

Dallas and Pittsburgh -- a self-anointed America's team met the indefatigable black and gold who rose, like their city, out of the ashes of decline.

They played the game.

After $1,200 third-hand tickets, the $1.2 million per half-minute commercials, the fortnight of marketing hysteria, it came down to 60 minutes of playing time in a place called Tempe, in a ritual called Super Bowl XXX.

There will be other seasons.

For now, it remains to the Pittsburgh Steelers to assess what this season has meant. It has been a team that, like the region from which it draws an unceasingly loyal legion of fans, has gotten up off its back again and again. Let history and bookies note: they covered the spread.

For fans, there will be memories of close games and the high hopes. The recurring off-season nightmare might well be a man in a white-and-blue uniform with the number 24 pasted on it, running down the sidelines twice with Neil O' Donnell passes that weren't meant for him, taking away a victory that many will say was meant for us.

And so they played the game and went home, 27-17 losers. The victory party will be held in Dallas this year. And in years to come, Pittsburgh will look for other chances to add a fifth Lombardi trophy to its case.

No longer locked irretrievably into glories of the past, the Steelers, like their city, still look very new this morning.

Post-Gazette coverage

• Front page: Super Try
• Ed Bouchette's game story
• Play of the Game: O' Donnell throws where no Steelers tread
• Home crowd parties and prays
• Bruce Keidan: A win was so close, if only ...
• Bob Smizik: Steelers defense all heart
• Gene Collier: Cowher dares to come up a champion
• Ron Cook: O' Donnell just couldn't deliver
• Cowboys' Brown picks off MVP honors
• Mike Tomczak: We couldn't make a big play
• Texas native Bam lowers boom on Cowboys
• Deion dances away from tacklers
• Cowboys releived but subdued
• Bob Batz: Hitting pay dirt comes with a price
• Reg Henry: Dressed in their Super Sunday best
• Ron Weiskind: NBC trio plays a winning hand
• Big game doesn't attract big stars
  

VIDEO (can't find the game, but oddly the pregame is all there)