PITTSBURGH — More than 300,000 black-and-gold bedecked Pittsburgh Steelers fans — about the population of the city itself — packed the streets of "Sixburgh" yesterday for a parade celebrating the storied franchise's unprecedented sixth Super Bowl title.

From infants to senior citizens, fans braved freezing temperatures and crowds so deep that for some even seeing the parade was impossible.

Not that it mattered. Many just wanted to be part of the festive atmosphere and have the chance to revel in the team's 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Sunday's Super Bowl. Rousing chants of "Here we go Steelers!" pulsed through the crowd as they waited for the team to make its way along the route.

"We're going to tell the school we had fever — Steeler fever," 12-year-old Rachel Russell said, excusing her absence from school before leading a Steelers chant.

Renaming the city Sixburgh for the day, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl made his way through the parade alongside quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, both filming the crowd that painted a gray sky yellow with twirling Terrible Towels.

Fans filled parking garages, skyscraper windows, balconies and even climbed trees to get the best view of the team they love and possibly find shelter from the sporadic flurries and temperatures that hovered in the mid-20s.

Steelers linebacker James Harrison, whose 100-yard interception return for a touchdown was the longest in Super Bowl history, presented the Lombardi trophy to the crowd. About the same time, huge booms of colorful fireworks exploded over downtown's Point State Park.

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard estimated more than 300,000 people attended the parade — more than the 250,000 fans who attended the 2006 parade celebrating the team's previous Super Bowl victory and close to the city's population of 311,000.

PATRIOTS

ONE ASSISTANT HIRED, TWO REASSIGNED

The New England Patriots resumed their coaching staff shakeup yesterday by hiring Scott O'Brien as special teams coach and reassigning two assistants.

Bill O'Brien moved from wide receivers coach to quarterbacks coach, while Josh Boyer went from defensive coaching assistant to defensive backs coach.

New England is still without an offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and tight ends coach.

Since the Patriots season ended with an 11-5 record but without a playoff berth, they've lost four assistants.

Josh McDaniels went from offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach to head coach of the Denver Broncos. Brad Seely moved from special teams coach to assistant head coach and special teams coach under new Cleveland coach Eric Mangini. Dom Capers went from secondary coach and special assistant to Patriots coach Bill Belichick to defensive coordinator in Green Bay, and Pete Mangurian left as tight ends coach to become offensive line coach in Tampa Bay.

RAIDERS

INTERIM CABLE WILL REMAIN AS HEAD COACH

The Oakland Raiders are retaining head coach Tom Cable, officially removing the interim designation from his title more than five weeks after their season ended.

An official announcement will be made at today's news conference.

Cable went 4-8 after replacing Lane Kiffin with the Raiders (5-11), who have lost at least 11 games in six consecutive seasons.

Oakland owner Al Davis interviewed a handful of candidates for the vacancy, but never seemed seriously inclined to replace Cable, valuing his organizational loyalty and leadership.

SUPER BOWL TELEVISION

STEELERS' VICTORY OVER CARDS MOST WATCHED

Upon further review, Nielsen Media Research now says that the Arizona-Pittsburgh Super Bowl game was the most-watched in history.

Nielsen said 98.7 million people, on average, were watching Pittsburgh's 27-23 victory Sunday night. That beats the 97.5 million who watched the 2008 game, which held the record for most popular Super Bowl.

On Monday, Nielsen had reported that this year's game had 95.4 million viewers — impressive, but not a record-setter.

Nielsen explained the discrepancy of more than 3 million viewers by saying a more complete check of its records revealed additional viewership on some digital tier networks. The company hadn't been aware that they were showing the game.

ELSEWHERE

Chargers: San Diego defensive tackle Jamal Williams was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, the team's second such arrest in less than a month.

Williams was pulled over for speeding early Sunday on a freeway outside downtown San Diego, the California Highway Patrol said.

Williams gave a blood sample for a blood-alcohol test, but the results won't be known for a few weeks. Williams was booked into county jail and later released on bail.

Eagles: Philadelphia claimed defensive tackle Amon Gordon off waivers from the Tennessee Titans yesterday and also added two Canadian Football League players to its defense.

The 6-2, 305-pound Gordon has 29 tackles in 13 career games over a five-year career that has included stints with the Titans, Ravens, Broncos and Browns, who drafted him out of Stanford. The Titans added him to the practice squad midway through 2008.

The Eagles also signed linebacker Charleston Hughes and safety Byron Parker, each to three-year contracts.