By Jeff Seidel

Every Super Bowl's ring design is unique, with a different personality, symbolic of a season or a team's history.

Jostens, best known for making high school class rings, has produced 26 of 39 Super Bowl rings, including the first one for the Green Bay Packers in 1967.

The rings have grown bigger and more expensive as the league transformed into a billion-dollar business. The first championship ring cost less than $1,000 and featured a single diamond. Nice, elegant, dignified.

Now there is no such thing as too big or too gaudy. The Patriots' latest ring is loaded with 124 diamonds, a total of 4.94 carats.

The NFL picks up the bill, buying 150 rings for the winning team, paying no more than $5,000 per ring. The team can give a ring to anyone -- players, coaches, scouts, secretaries, even ball boys. The value of each ring is not disclosed, although it is clear that the ring manufacturer loses money on the deal, eating a significant portion of the cost, for prestige.

Most of the rings are cherished, kept in display boxes and taken out on special occasions. Other rings have been lost, stolen or confiscated by the IRS.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft gave his latest ring to Russian president Vladimir Putin last summer. Kraft was showing the ring to Putin, and Putin kept it in an apparent misunderstanding. (Just say nyet!! haha)

Every year, a handful of rings go up for sale. Last month, the Super Bowl XXV ring of former New York Giants running back Dave Meggett was put up on eBay, asking $40,000 for a starting bid. There were no takers.

The largest Super Bowl ring ever made was a size 25 for William (The Refrigerator) Perry. Perry wears the ring on the middle finger of his right hand. The ring is so big you can pass a half-dollar through it. For the first year, Perry wore it nearly every day. Now he can't remember the last time he wore it. "I keep it in my closet," he said with a shrug.

So what will the ring from Super Bowl XL look like? Charlie Anderson, Jostens championship ring designer, has been trying to come up with an idea, in case Jostens gets the job.

"I spend a little more time in the shower, the last week or so, just visualizing stuff in my head," he said.

For Anderson, the Steelers conjure thoughts of toughness -- Bill Cowher's steel-jawed strength and passion; Bettis' power and determination.

"I do a lot of hand sketches to try to remember the images that go flirting through my head," Anderson said.

Jostens has done three of the Steelers' four rings -- all but the second championship. After the Steelers won four rings, the cry went out: "One for the thumb." But the truth is, the man who has four Super Bowl rings never wears any of them.

"I never wore them," Pittsburgh owner Dan Rooney said. "I always felt it was for the players, for them."

He spread out his hands.

"See, I don't wear anything," he said, laughing. "I don't have a wedding ring. But I'm married."

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Check out all of the past Superbowl rings. In my opinion, they are getting progressively cheesier. Colored enameling?? Ice-studded logos? It only looked good when we won our third. But I have faith in Dan Rooney's taste, even if he doesn't like to wear rings.

I like Anderson's "toughness" theme: perhaps a bus, mustaches, long flowy hair, steel beams? Anyone else have any ideas on what they would like to see?

Superbowl XL rings will be presented in a ceremony during the Steelers' Thursday night kickoff game.