DaytonDailyNews.com

I never planned to share this with many people, but I watch "Dancing with the Stars" on Monday nights because it seems to make my ailing mother's week.

The stars are an assortment of actors, a singer or two, a retired athlete here and there, including inexplicably, former figure-skating star Kristi Yamaguchi, a professional dancer on ice competing against amateurs. But that's another story.

When this season started, this bald-headed guy comes out to dance, and I said, "Hey, isn't that Jason Taylor?" Turns out it was. He is a 6-foot-6, 255-pound defensive end from the University of Akron and a six-time Pro Bowler for the Miami Dolphins.

The guy could dance.

He and partner Edyta Sliwinska finished second this season to Yamaguchi. Women seemed to adore Taylor, and viewers of both genders voting from home seemed to like him. I thought, "What great publicity for the NFL."

I forgot that super bully Bill Parcells is the Dolphins' executive vice president.

He didn't appreciate Taylor charming the world when he should have been at an offseason voluntary workout program that in the NFL is pretty much mandatory. The story goes that Taylor walked into Parcells' office to explain. Parcells, watching film, didn't acknowledge Taylor's presence.

So no doubt Jason, who turns 34 in September, has worn a Dolphins uniform for the last time.

This is not a sad ending. Just the opposite. He escapes Miami's 1-15 rubble, and he would look wonderful in a Cleveland Browns uniform.

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or gsimms@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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