You may have seen that Steelers receiver Hines Ward and partner Kym Johnson won the Mirror Ball trophy on Dancing With The Stars Monday night. Their final routine was a samba that ended with Ward twirling a gold cloth, Terrible Towel-style. They were favorites of the judges and voters and, evidently, Monday night's audience. Kirstie Alley came in second, and Chelsea Kane finished third.
↵The Post-Gazette has a complete writeup of Monday's events. The Trib's writeup, meanwhile, mentions Ward's lack of dancing experience:
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↵↵"Nobody even thought he had an ounce of talent as far as dancing goes," said Steelers linebacker James Farrior, who was in the audience for the finals, "but he really proved us wrong."
↵That supposed lack of talent may be an overstatement but not by much.
↵"It`s not easy because Hines doesn't have a dance background, and as he said to me he didn't even go to his prom when he was in high school," said former Steelers great Lynn Swann ...
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Good for Ward for dedicating himself to something new and really following through with it. His background as an athlete surely helped, but it still couldn't have been easy to do something different each week. His level of preparation was consistently high, and he showed the power of determination as well as what appears to be some natural talent - clearly, Farrior was wrong.
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