LEXINGTON — The Super Bowl is a big weekend for Americans all over the country and in particular for those in Pittsburgh and Seattle, where the Steelers and Seahawks call home.

However this year, the Super Bowl brings special meaning to the Kentucky baseball team, which has two players from each of the home cities. Hailing from the Steel City are Dan Reale and Gary Bucuren. Their friendly foes from out west are Ryan Strieby and Dewayne Oxford.

Each of the four has grown up a rabid football fan, cheering on his hometown team and waiting for the day when it would finally play on the game’s biggest stage. They own jerseys and championship t-shirts. They’ve been to games and can’t remember when a time when they weren’t fans. Don’t even mention bandwagon jumping.

“If you grow up in Pittsburgh, there is no bandwagon,” Bucuren says. As the 2005 season has passed by, each UK player has intently followed the progress of his team to this ultimate moment.

With the big game coming this weekend, the trash talk has begun — at least for some.

“I don’t talk much,” said Reale, who lives 15 minutes outside of Pittsburgh. “I’m too superstitious.”

Bucuren, who lives closer than Reale, chimes in, “I’ve been doing some talking.”

It hasn’t all been one sided though. Strieby makes it a point to note that “more people from Pittsburgh think Seattle will win than people in Seattle think Pittsburgh will.”

It’s all good fun for the teammates, three of which are new to the Wildcats’ squad this season. As for the team that loses, its fans will have some extra cleats to clean for a week.

Reale plans to host the crew to watch the game on Sunday, one of its final days off before the season kicks off on Feb. 17. It will be an enjoyable day off, at least for two players anyway.