ShareThisThe Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl ring keeps getting bigger, and Joe Greene, who picked up his sixth Tuesday night, could not decide which he likes more.
You have six kids, you love them all equally.
"There is no best," Greene said.
The latest, which weighs in at 3.7 ounces and contains 63 diamonds that go 3.61 carats, is Greene's and the Steelers' biggest, by far, dwarfing their ring from Super Bowl XL three years ago.
Counting all the diamonds, it was another whiteout night across town in Pittsburgh.
"It is a beautiful ring," said Greene, who earned four as a Hall of Fame defensive tackle for the Steelers and two more as a scout. "Beautiful, beautiful ring."
Greene is one of five club employees who have earned six rings, including Dan Rooney and scout Bill Nunn. At one time, 22 players owned four Super Bowl rings, earned over six seasons in the 1970s.
On this night, the two-ring club of modern Steelers numbered 28 members, including linebacker Larry Foote. After the Steelers granted his wish to be released so he could sign with his hometown Detroit Lions, Foote rejoined them for one final time for their ring ceremony inside Heinz Field's East Club Lounge. He skipped their White House visit May 21, but said there was no way he would miss this trip.
Backup quarterback Charlie Batch, who picked up his second ring, held it up next to his Super Bowl XL ring, which looked half the size of the new one.
"Everybody's in awe right now," Batch said. "When everybody opened his box, it was like 'Wow!' "
The latest ring, in keeping with a long-held tradition of championship rings, is gaudy. In keeping with Steelers tradition, it is black and gold -- 14-karat gold (and all those diamonds) on a black background.
The face contains six large, brilliant-cut diamonds, one for each Super Bowl victory. There are seven other diamonds that represent the Steelers' seven conference championships and seven others below to add up to their 14 division titles in a football design.
The face includes a red, blue and yellow stone to resemble their hypocycloid logo. On one side of each ring are six Lombardi Trophies with the 27-23 score of their victory against Arizona in the Super Bowl. On the other is the ring owner's name, the Steelers helmet logo, the NFL logo and the player's number.
"This is the defining moment," Batch said, "to put an exclamation point on last season. It signifies everything we accomplished last season."
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was the first to emerge from the gathering, which was supposed to include dinner and run until 11. Instead, Big Ben, holding the large box with the large ring inside, jumped into his Porsche at 7:43 p.m.and sped across town to Mellon Arena for Red Wings-Penguins Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
The 28 players who received the past two Steelers Super Bowl rings:
Jeff Reed, Roethlisberger, James Farrior, Hines Ward, Batch, Bryant McFadden, Tyrone Carter, Ike Taylor, Deshea Townsend, Willie Parker, Troy Polamalu, Foote, Andre Frazier, Greg Warren, Chris Kemoeatu, Kendall Simmons, Chris Hoke, Marvel Smith, Max Starks, Trai Essex, Heath Miller, Nate Washington, Travis Kirschke, Aaron Smith, James Harrison, Arnold Harrison, Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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