No pom-poms. No ultra-bright smiles. No revealing outfits. No big hair. No sexy gyrations. No gratuitous camera shots.

That’s right, for the first time in Super Bowl history there won’t be any cheerleaders on the sidelines.

Considering that Sunday’s game will be played in Texas, the very place where famous Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders strut their stuff, this all seems, well, blasphemous.

But not really.

Given all the pre-game hype, talking heads in the studio and the must-see commercials — not to mention an actual football game between two rough-and-ready teams — are we really going to miss the girls on the sidelines? I think not.

It’s fitting that the Steelers and the Packers, the NFL’s two blue-collar teams, don’t have cheerleaders.

Green Bay dumped its professional cheerleaders back in 1988 when surveys showed that Packers fans were ambivalent about them. The Packers currently borrow cheerleaders from St. Norbert College and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, but they’re usually not invited to road games, and they weren’t invited to this year’s Super Bowl.

The Steelers unceremoniously dropped the Steelerettes more than four decades ago. According to a story by Heather Svokos of the McClatchy Newspaper service, the demise of the Steelerettes came in 1969, when the cheer squad’s captain approached old-school owner Art Rooney and asked if they could update their dowdy look. Rooney responded by firing the squad.

Dianne Feazell Rossini, a cheerleader for the Steelers in 1963, runs a website dedicated to the story of the Steelerettes (steelerettes.com). She told Svokos that as long as the Rooney family owns the Steelers, the team won’t employee cheerleaders.

Rossini paraphrased Art Rooney’s son, Dan: “The Steelers have the best and most football-savvy fans in the world, and they don’t need anyone telling them when to cheer.”

Of course, NFL cheerleaders aren’t really cheerleaders at all. They are sideline dancers. I seriously doubt they will be missed at Super Bowl XLV. Which begs the question, if the Broncos dumped their cheerleaders, would you miss them?

Trivia time

There are six NFL teams without professional cheerleaders. The Packers and Steelers are two, can you name the other four? (Answer below)

Polling

Tuesday’s “Lunch Special” poll asked readers which athletes love their game the most. NHL players were the runaway winners, with more than 50 percent of the vote. MLS players were a solid second (33.1 percent), followed by MLB players (12.3), NFL (2.5) and NBA (1.6).

As a side note, I received an email from a reader who said rodeo cowboys are the most passionate about their sport. You’ll get no argument from me.

Quotable

Prior to Super Bowl VI, moody Cowboys running back Duane Thomas was asked if playing the Super Bowl was the ultimate experience. To which he replied: “If it’s the ultimate, how come they’re playing it again next year?”

Reader’s rant

“If you ask me, this is just (John) Elway the executive putting on his poker face trying to increase (Kyle) Orton’s trade value. Nobody’s going to offer much for Orton if they think the Broncos are just going to cut him. Call it intuition, but keeping Orton and using next year to make the transition to Tebow is just not what they have in mind. If they get a decent offer for Orton they’ll take it.”

— Denise S., posting on The Denver Post story about Elway’s take on the Broncos’ quarterback situation.

In case you missed it

Most fans aren’t very excited about the prospect of an 18-game NFL regular season.

According to an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll released today, just 27 percent of people favor expanding the 16-game regular season. When the group is narrowed to NFL fans, the support rises to 45 percent — but only 18 percent strongly favor the idea.

An 18-game season is one of the NFL’s key issues in labor negotiations with the players’ union. About three-quarters of the 1,125 adults surveyed don’t sympathize with either the NFL or players in the labor dispute. However, those choosing sides are twice as likely to back the union over the owners.

The poll also shows football is the No. 1 sports: 41 percent of those surveyed called it their favorite sport to watch. Baseball was No. 2, with 13 percent.

Trivia answer

The six NFL teams that don’t have official cheerleaders: Packers, Steelers, Bears, Browns, Lions and Giants.

Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1720 or psaunders@denverpost.com