Detroit ? Asked what he thought of Troy Polamalu’s wild, cascading hair, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck took off his baseball cap and swiped a hand over his balding head.

“I’m jealous,” he said. “I’m really jealous.”

Envy. Admiration. Disdain. The Steelers safety has received a lot of Super Bowl notice for his unbridled hair, which has taken its place among sports’ most famous hairdos – alongside Oscar Gamble’s Afro and Dennis Rodman’s dye jobs.

And everyone but Polamalu seems to have an opinion about it.

“He didn’t cut it, did he?” said Detroit Pistons center Ben Wallace, who loves to tease his own hair to distinctive heights. “Good. I like that hair. I’m rolling with him.”

Players in all sports have forged an identity with their ‘dos. Gamble let his Afro go wild in the ’70s, struggling to stuff it into his batting helmet when he came to the plate. The look was as much a part of the disco era as the Bee Gees.

Rodman took NBA coiffures into uncharted territory by dyeing his hair every imaginable hue – a fashion statement few would emulate. And running back Ricky Williams forced the NFL to clarify its rule on tackling – yes, it’s OK to pull someone down by their dreadlocks.

Not that anyone would try with Polamalu, a Pro Bowl defender. He said no one had yanked on his hair during a game.

“If I have the ball, I’m sure they could, and they’d have the right to,” he said. “But if I have the ball, that’s a good thing.”

Folks in Pittsburgh have mixed reactions to his look. They love to see Polamalu level a quarterback, but aren’t sure if he should level off the hair as well.

“It’s been a pretty big topic,” said Nicholas Zentek, a color specialist and manager at a Dessange salon in Shadyside, Pa. “A lot say they wish he’d cut it.”