Giants receiver Victor Cruz has rocketed to prominence, going from undrafted free agent in 2010 to one of the best young receivers in the league. Throw in the fact that he plays in the world’s leading media market and that he likes to do a little salsa shuffle after scoring a touchdown, and Cruz has become a target for ABC’s Dancing With The Stars.
But unlike non-retired football players who have accepted the invitation (including Jason Taylor, Chad Ochocinco, and Hines Ward), Cruz has politely sidestepped the opportunity.
“I just want to be focused on football and focused on what’s to come, and I’m just not at the point in my career where I feel like I need to do that,” Cruz told Neil Best of Newsday.
Cruz made the right call. He’s had one good year, he hasn’t gotten a long-term deal, and he may never get one if he can’t duplicate in 2012 what he did in 2011. Besides, if he keeps doing what he did this season, the offers will continue.
Cruz had an inkling that the opportunity was in the offing, and he also thinks he’d do well.
“I think I’d be all right,” Cruz told Best. “You have to practice like 20 hours a week, so any time you practice that much, you really should be pretty good.”
And so the producers of the show will have to continue to search for their perfunctory athlete/football player for the next season of the show. There’s a good chance Tiki Barber will ultimately be flabbergasted.