Milwaukee Brewers closer Derrick Turnbow has saved eight games in eight chances this season and 47 of 51 opportunities over the last two years. His 99-mph fastball and Spicoli-inspired speaking style have captivated Cheeseheads from Sturtevant to Superior and the shaggy-haired right-hander routinely receives rock star treatment at Miller Park, where he will be exalted with his own bobblehead doll a week from Saturday.

Turnbow's rags to riches has been so intriguing and uplifting that the following request may cause some fans to recoil:

Move over, D-Bow.

Move over, and make room for Aaron James Hawk -- aka Wisconsin’s newest shaggy-haired sports icon.

The Ohio State linebacker, known since birth by his initials, A.J., was selected by the Green Bay Packers with the fifth overall pick in the National Football League draft on Saturday. Based on the cheers that greeted the announcement in the atrium at Lambeau Field, Hawk’s jersey -- No. 50 -- will probably be outselling Turnbow’s No. 59 -- and quite possibly all Brewers merchandise in total -- before this afternoon's first happy hour drink is poured.

Nothing personal, Derrick.

While it certainly is refreshing to see the baseball club winning these days, you have to understand that the Packers are pretty much a religion around here. Where else could you draw 70,000 people for a scrimmage and hear educated people debate the draft-worthiness of a seventh-round defensive lineman from Northwest Missouri State?

Like the aforementioned Dave Tollefson, claimed by the Packers with the 253rd pick, and all other rookies in NFL history, Hawk will have to prove himself on the field before anybody thinks about naming a street after him.

At first blush, however, his chances of becoming a Wisconsin sports icon appear pretty good. We begin with the absolute basics:

A.J. Hawk is a cool name.

All of the great ones have cool names, don’t they? Michael Jordan. Mickey Mantle. Joe Montana. Bart Starr. LeBron James. Even Derrick Turnbow has a cool ring to it. Consider this: would Derek Jeter date supermodels if his name was Leonard Lautenschlager? Would Hawk’s fiancée, the lovely Laura Quinn, whose brother, Brady, is a Notre Dame quarterback and potential Packers draft pick next spring, have been equally attracted to a guy named Arnold Assenmacher as she was to A.J. Hawk?

Maybe, maybe not.

A.J. Hawk is a simple, memorable name that will simultaneously look cool on the back of a jersey and exude the kind of toughness that fans crave in a football player, particularly a linebacker.

Hawks are fast, streamlined birds that prefer to roam in the open country. They are predators with strong, hooked beaks and razor sharp talons. Hawks are carnivores, which means we will forgive A.J. if he indulges in an occasional trip to the sushi bar as long as he orders a New York strip once in awhile. How cool would it be to make a dinner reservation or check into a hotel under the name “A.J. Hawk?’’ If author Mickey Spillane had thought of the name “A.J. Hawk,’’ there is a good chance nobody ever would have heard of that other guy, Mike Hammer.

Having a cool name is only half the battle for an athlete. The more important part is performance -- and Hawk seems to have that part covered, too.

He stands 6 feet 1 inch, weighs 245 pounds, runs 40 yards in about 4.5 seconds, has a 40-inch vertical leap and once bench pressed 225 pounds 24 times without stopping. Even more impressive than those numbers and more important than his Wonderlic score (29) and B-minus grade-point average is the fact that Hawk, while playing at the highest level of college football, patrolled the field from sideline to sideline and displayed an overpowering propensity to punish opposing ballcarriers with impunity.

“This may come back to haunt me when we're trying to do a contract with him, but this is a really good football player,’’ Packers general manager Ted Thompson said at a press conference.

For Thompson, whose usual demeanor in front of the media ranges from stoic to statue-like, that statement represents the verbal equivalent of donning a lamp shade for a hat and breaking into a Napolean Dynamite dance-alike contest in the middle of Lombardi Ave.

Asked about Hawk’s intangible qualities, Thompson pointed to the fact that Hawk skipped the all-expenses paid trip to New York and the star-studded draft parties and ESPN fawning that accompany Paul Tagliabue’s annual dog and pony show, held this year at Radio City Music Hall.

Thompson, whose public approval ratings have surged after a week that included Brett Favre’s return, Charles Woodson’s free-agent signing and the selection of Hawk (albeit with a pick that would have been hard to screw up), described his new linebacker as a small-town guy.

“He’s not a limelight guy,’’ Thompson said. “As you noticed, he didn't go to New York because he didn't want to be there. He didn't want to have to go through all that trouble and be in a big city and that sort of thing.

“I think the fans here are going to love this guy. He's all football.’’

During his first in-person meeting with the scribes in the Lambeau press auditorium, Hawk -- accompanied by lovely fiancée Laura -- talked about the Packers’ history and tradition, drawing parallels to his college experience at The Ohio State University in Columbus. (Can any Buckeyes out there explain why they call it that?)

“Shortly after the NFL season ended and I talked to Coach (Jim) Tressel (of The Ohio… oh, nevermind) about what could possibly happen in the draft and we knew the Packers were picking fifth and I was hoping I could go that high with the history and the tradition they've got here,’’ Hawk said. “I mean, it's unbelievable compared to a lot of other NFL teams.

“Coming from Ohio State, with the tradition, the fans you have there, I knew if I had a choice, this was the place I would be.’’

OK, readers, get out your eagle eyes because we’re going to run through the Hawk list one more time:

Cool name? Check.

Size, speed and ability? Check.

Attractive fiancée? Check.

Affinity for small-town life? Check.

Deep-rooted Love for history and tradition? Check.

Desire to play for Green Bay (which would make a player the anti-Javon)? Check.

Is there anything missing from this package?

Wait - what about the hair?

Hawk and his fellow Buckeyes linebackers, Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel, started growing their hair as a tribute to Pat Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinals safety who left football to join the Army Rangers and was killed in Afghanistan in April 2004.

Hawk, as the Brewers’ closer Turnbow has discovered, won’t have to venture far to find kindred spirits in the hair club.

Just don’t refer to his ‘do as a "mullet.''

“It’s not a mullet,’’ Hawk said. “My fiancé trimmed it for a little while back, so she tries to keep me looking all right.’’

Two days into what could be a long and fruitful relationship, most Packers fans would tell you that, so far, this Hawk guy looks just fine.