Tuesday (Dancing! Stars!) edition: Wha’ Happened?

Posted on February 19th, 2008 – 7:55 AM
By Michael Rand
smith.jpg

In what is becoming a trend instead of simply a novelty, there will be yet another NFL player joining “Dancing With the Stars” this season. Miami’s fierce pass rusher Jason Taylor — soon to be traded to the Vikings* — is shimmying into the mix, joining predecessors Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith as gridiron greats with feet of gold. “What are my teammates going to say?” Taylor wondered. “Good question.” This show has tapped quite a few athletes now — Apolo Anton Ohno, Clyde Drexler and Bayside multi-sport standout Mario Lopez in past years, with Kristi Yamaguchi and Monica Seles joining the mix this year — which perhaps shouldn’t be surprising since dancing is an athletic endeavor (especially the way we do it) and because, well, these are people used to being in the spotlight and they are naturally hams. But we also can’t help be a little amazed — and maybe a little impressed — that these NFLers have taken the plunge and, in the process, stripped away a layer of our culture that would try to pigeonhole dancing into a less-than-masculine activity. Seriously, Emmitt Smith might not be able to talk very well:

But the dude has moves:

The question now is this: Which Minnesota athlete would you most like to see take the plunge and get on this show? And you can’t say Pat Williams. Because that would just be too awesome.

Fasola-link! Who’s hungry now? A BBQ treasure map.

*Pure speculation and wishful thinking.

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