DENVER - Steeler fans Shawna Kiley, 22, and Hanna Dobson, 23, were mistaken for Steelers Ben Roethlisber and Hines Ward while they dined at a popular Denver sports bar before Sunday's Steelers-Broncos game.
Dozens of patrons at C.B. & Potts mobbed the young women, asking for autographs and shaking their hands. As the crowd pressed in and grew unruly, police were called to restore order.
Denver Police Lt. Shamus O'Hara said that the crowd apparently was "thrown off" by the fact that Ms. Kiley was wearing a Steelers' jersey with Roethlisberger's number 7, while Ms. Dobson sported one bearing Wards' number 86.
Bartender Noah Swayne admitted that he, too, was fooled. "When I saw the one wearing number 7, all I could think of was, 'Man, does that Roethlisberger have some nice [breasts],'" said Swayne. "Then I saw the other one and thought, 'That's one fine ass that Ward's got.' I seriously thought I had turned gay."
Lt. O'Hara apologized to the women on behalf of the city of Denver. "I explained that it was an understandable mistake given that the Denver sports fan isn't terribly sophisticated," he said.
