What is the best Superbowl commercial starring a professional sports figure?  Back in 1979, Mean Joe Green of the Pittsburgh Steelers starred in a 30 second Cola-Cola commercial that is perhaps the best of them all. 

In this year’s Superbowl, another Pittsburgh Steeler will star in another Coca-Cola commercial.   A new version of “Mean Joe” will be seen in the third quarter of the Super Bowl. This time, another Pittsburgh Steeler, Troy Polamalu, the long-haired strong safety, stands in for Greene, limps into the tunnel to the Heinz Field locker room, and turns down a kid’s offer of a Coke Zero. Then the old premise turns to parody. Troy Polamalu,

The most celebrated ad with an N.F.L. player — and one of the most admired commercials ever made — was not funny at all. Instead, it was a 30-second stadium drama that occurred after a game when a kid offered a limping, grumpy Joe Greene, then one of the leading defensive tackles in the N.F.L., his Coca-Cola.

While often thought of as a Super Bowl commercial, it was first shown during the baseball playoffs in October 1979, ran through the N.F.L. season and was subsequently broadcast during Super Bowl XIV. The frenzy over Super Bowl commercials — and the notion that some people watched the game for the ads, many of which made their debut during the game — was still a few years in the future.

“We would never remake ‘Mean Joe,’ ” said Katie Bayne, the chief marketing officer for Coca-Cola North America. “There are similarities in the opening 12 seconds, but then it’s truly a Coke Zero commercial.”

In a video on Coke Zero’s Web site, Polamalu said: “He’s always Mean Joe Greene. Our acting skills will be up against each other.” In Greene’s video, also on the site, he said Polamalu faced more of an acting challenge.

“I was being mean, which wasn’t hard to do,” he said.

Many Americans watch the Superbowl not to see the game but to get a look at the over-the-top commercials.  The Superbowl will be viewed by millions of folks all over the world and this is where advertisers put their money where their mouths are.  A 30 second ad during the superbowl game is estimated to cost $3 million.  Let’s hope they play up to the hype.