He didn't throw any passes.

He didn't diagram any plays.

He didn't tape any ankles, nor did he fill the Gatorade cup of a single player.

So it was mystifying to many -- and offensive to some -- that President Barack Obama received a very public thank you from Steelers owner Dan Rooney minutes after his team's come-from-behind victory over the Arizona Cardinals last week in Super Bowl XLIII.

The Trib published several letters to the editor last week criticizing Rooney for his nationally televised remarks. The letters were similar in tone to an e-mail we received from the hostess of a Super Bowl party.

"He had no right thanking Obama," she wrote, adding that Rooney "needs to quit using his platform as a business owner to air his views on politics. He ruined the entire moment for all of us at the party, and some of us have even vowed to boycott his organization without a public apology."

We suspect that Rooney's inappropriate expression of gratitude to the man quarterbacking the country may have been related to that Ireland ambassadorship job for which he reportedly is being considered by Obama.

TERESA SEEKS RIGHT KIND OF HELP. We're guessing Teresa Heinz didn't thoroughly think things through.

The Pittsburgh pickle heiress recently solicited people to be anonymous nominators for the Heinz Awards, distributed annually to a bunch of folks advancing the left-wing, tree-hugging causes Teresa holds dear.

So who does she ask to be among the nominators? None other than Jake Haulk, president of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Ideologically, that's a bit like Lex Luthor asking Superman where his bronze bust should be located in the Villains Hall of Fame.

The Castle Shannon-based think tank is committed to advancing conservative, free-market principles that, charitably speaking, haven't exactly been embraced by your typical Heinz Awards winners.

We're uncertain if Haulk actually plans to nominate anyone, but we offer this suggestion for his consideration: atmospheric physicist S. Fred Singer, a veritable anti-Al Gore who was featured prominently in the 2007 documentary "The Great Global Warming Swindle."

It would be quite a hoot to see Heinz present Singer with an award.

MISSY GETS MAD. Former U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart's temper flared worse than a Kentucky Derby winner's nostrils at a recent University of Pittsburgh basketball game.

Hart, the Bradford Woods Republican ousted from Congress in 2006 by Jason Altmire of McCandless, got into a loud public confrontation following Pitt's victory over Notre Dame.

According to a witness in the Petersen Events Center concourse, a heckler called out from at least 30 feet away, "Hey, Melissa, thanks for helping to ruin the economy!"

Hart, now employed by the Pittsburgh law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, immediately ran up to the guy, got in his face, demanded his name and angrily asked if he would like to "have a dialogue."

Apparently attempting to egg her on, the heckler replied, "Sure. My 401(k) has dropped so much I will never be able to retire. And I think you and (George W.) Bush are war criminals."

The red-faced Hart pronounced the guy a "nobody," spun on her heel and beat a hasty retreat to the Pete's private Campus View Club.

UPLIFTING ITEM. Talk about a sense of entitlement.

At the state Capitol, one of two elevators on the House side is blocked by a guard when Speaker Keith McCall is headed somewhere important. No one else can get on.

Before Gov. Ed Rendell's budget address to the Legislature last week, people were turned away from one of the lifts because it was being reserved for McCall.

In the past, one of the two elevators on the Senate side has been reserved when senators were heading to session.

McCall isn't the first legislative leader to have an elevator reserved for him. But why should a Democrat legislator from Carbon County -- indeed, why should any legislator -- deserve such royal treatment?

Next he'll be sporting a signet ring.

THE RENAME GAME. After Pittsburgh City Council changed the city's name to "Sixburgh" following the Steelers' Super Bowl victory over the Arizona Cardinals, Allegheny County Council hopped aboard the name-change train.

Attempting to get itself a slice of post-Super Bowl Steelers love, council voted to ditch Allegheny in favor of "The County of Champions."

The resolution, which passed unanimously mere hours after 350,000 fans flooded Downtown streets for the Steelers victory parade, was sponsored by Nicholas Futules, D-Verona.

Futules said he initially was hoping to go with "The Terrible County" but couldn't get the necessary legislative support. We can't understand why.

THE LADY DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH, METHINKS (HAMLET, ACT III). Penn Hills Deputy Mayor Sara Kuhn launched into a lengthy screaming episode during Tuesday night's council meeting at which manager Terry Van Horne was fired after only 18 months on the job.

Kuhn directed her ire toward resident Don Sanker, himself a councilman back in the late 1980s, after Sanker accused council of micromanaging Van Horne.

During a tirade in which she defended her alleged hands-off approach to dealing with the administration, Kuhn used Sanker's name 30 times. When she was done, Sanker noted that he had never mentioned Kuhn by name during his comments.

It's hard to see how anyone could accuse Penn Hills politicos of micromanagement or hastily getting rid of administrators. In four years, the municipality has only had four managers.

GET A ROOM. It's not even Valentine's Day, but Westmoreland County Commissioner chairman Tom Balya recently professed his fondness for new Republican commissioner Charles Anderson in his political blog.

While Balya, a Democrat, also said that Anderson's appointment is a "breath of fresh air," he added that he's found the appointee "forthright, honest and hardworking."

However, Balya being Balya, Balya also couldn't resist taking a dig at recently departed Republican commissioner Kim Ward, who left her commissionership in December after winning a seat in the state Senate.

Informed of Balya's lingering bitterness, Ward was quick to quip, "If he disliked having me as the minority commissioner so much, why did he spend over $20,000 of his own campaign money in the state Senate race trying to keep me there?"

Ouch!

ANNIVERSARY. U.S. Rep. John Murtha, the Johnstown Democrat now in his 35th year in Congress, noted last week that of the nearly 10,650 men and women who have served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1789, only 80 have served longer than he has. Murtha recently surpassed former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott in service. When Murtha was first sworn in on Feb. 5, 1974, House speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma was out of the country, so "Tip" O'Neill, the majority leader, administered the oath.