Of course, not everybody recognized this new, dancing Emmitt. "My highlight is really to see what outfit he’s going to wear," ex-teammate Rodney Peete said in a clip aired during the "Stars" finale. "It’s certainly not the outfits he would wear on a regular night out." You mean Smith doesn’t have a closet full of sleeveless silk shirts, like he was a stylish Larry the Cable Guy?

But as Smith advanced, sports bars all over North Texas began hosting "Watch Emmitt Dance" parties. That replaced their previous promotion, "Watch Drew Bledsoe Get Sacked and Throw Interceptions" parties.

For the finale, it was Smith against Mario Lopez, whose athletic feats include playing a fictional high school wrestler in "Saved by the Bell," the real diver Greg Louganis in a biopic, and, according to the tabloids, a real paramour in "Let’s Steal Eva Longoria from Tony Parker." Still, competition was tight, with Lopez, a very lithe, strong dancer himself, running neck and neck with Smith in the eyes of the judges.

Perhaps what clinched the competition for Smith was the manliness he showed in the final, freestyle dance. Mainly, that manliness was picking up Burke and spinning her like pizza dough. Lopez tried doing something similar in his freestyle dance. But while Smith looked like he was lifting a hammer, Lopez’s I’m-getting-a-hernia face made him look like he was lifting an anvil.

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Smith had said before the finale that winning "Dancing With the Stars" would be equivalent to winning the Super Bowl. When he was announced as the winner, it sort of looked like a Super Bowl celebration, if you replace champagne with confetti, Jimmy Johnson with Burke, and Troy Aikman with Joey Lawrence. Smith held the trophy — a disco ball on a stand — over his head in triumph as he once, twice, thrice did the Lombardi Trophy.

As he savored the victory, Smith redefined manliness with another trait — graciousness. He thanked his partner, his wife and family, and complemented Lopez as a "real gentleman." Lopez and his partner, meanwhile, looked like they wanted to kick Smith in the teeth. Then again, Lopez, unlike the Buffalo Bills, didn’t get to run to the locker room before the post-Super Bowl celebration started. Smith also has said he will melt down the "Stars" trophy and make into rings for himself — to be perched next to his Super Bowl rings. And, a ring for Burke, too.

Awwwwwww.

Smith’s victory indeed has brought new dimensions and depths to manliness. But even with the rush of interest in dancing Smith has generated, it might be too much to expect tough guys to throw out their Harleys and take up the rumba. At the least, Smith’s victory should tell men afraid of losing their manly credentials that being a confident man isn’t about acting hard — it’s about hard work and succeeding in whatever you choose to do.

"If he wins this thing," former teammate Troy Aikman said in a clip during the "Stars" finale, "I don’t think any of us would give him a hard time about it."

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