Saloon showdown

COUNTRY SINGER TOBY KEITH co-wrote and recorded "I Love This Bar," a song that could be the anthem for two drinking establishments in Cave Creek, Ariz.

The bars are separated by a dirt parking lot. But on Super Bowl Sunday they will be miles apart as far as clientele.

Approximately 4,000 Steelers fans are expected at Harold's Cave Creek Corral.

Next door at the Buffalo Chip Saloon - once owned by the late Max McGee, who played wide receiver for Green Bay from 1954-67 - about 2,000 Packers fans are expected.

Danny Piacquadio, the co-owner of Harold's, is already predicting a Steelers' victory and said he hopes the losers at the Buffalo Chip aren't too upset when their team goes down.

"At the end of the game, there's going to be one angry fan base," Piacquadio told the Arizona Republic. "We'll try not to gloat."

The losing bar owner has agreed to fly the flag of the winner for a week.

Larry Wendt has owned the Buffalo Chip since 1998, and according the Republic, promised to continue the tradition of rooting for the Packers.

Win or lose, Wendt doesn't anticipate problems after the game. It's not that his patrons aren't passionate fans; it's just that they're outnumbered.

"Every now and again, Steelers fans will run through here waving their Terrible Towels," Wendt said. "But they have 1,000 fans every Sunday. We have 200. We're not going to go over there and taunt them."

Wendt said that a few years ago, when the Steelers and Packers met during the regular season, the patrons at each bar competed in a tug of war at halftime.

"We got pulled right in the mud," Wendt said.

Win or lose, it won't make a difference to Packers fan Keith Topp, who is expected to watch the game from a stool at Wendt's place.

"My personal motto is, 'If we win, we drink. If we lose, we drink,' " Topp said matter-of-factly.

- Tom Mahon

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