Burly jock beats sensitive actor. It was like high school all over again.

In the court of popular opinion, the only verdict that matters is how well you're liked. And the audience for ABC's Dancing With The Stars clearly hasn't forgotten Emmitt Smith's fancy Super Bowl footwork: The former Dallas Cowboys star rusher and his partner, Cheryle Burke, were declared the winners of the ballroom dancing reality show on last night's finale.

Though admittedly, it's for the best. With those dimples and those muscles and those moves that make women turn into big puddles, runnerup Mario Lopez (of Saved By The Bell "fame") didn't need this victory. He's set for life, and then some.

As per the standard reality TV finale formula, getting to the results, which were based on a tally of viewer votes after Tuesday night's final dance-off, required sitting through 59 minutes of filler.

There was the redux of Tuesday's freestyle dances, then a return of all the show's castoff couples (there's something genuinely disturbing about seeing Harry Hamlin dancing to a loungey cover of Iggy Pop's Lust For Life). Plus highlights of previous dances -- whoa, Joey Lawrence! You rule-breaking rebel! -- and Jerry Springer giving the samba more ham than you'd find in a Denny's Grand Slam.

But hey, at least the friend and family testimonials were fun. Lopez's Saved By The Bell co-star Elizabeth Berkley weighed in, possibly during a break from shooting Showgirls 2, and Ryan Seacrest even admitted that initially he was embarrassed to say that he and Lopez were such good buddies.

But don't be fooled by Seacrest and Lopez being BFFs, because it was made abundantly clear last night that Lopez and his Ukrainian spitfire of a partner, Karina Smirnoff, are doing the horizontal mambo. That's a better prize than a disco ball trophy any day.

For all his protestations that he was not a professional dancer, Lopez kicked some fairly serious butt on that floor throughout the series. As his pal Eva Longoria said on last night's show, he could make a career of this on Broadway.

But Smith, aside from being a football hero, family man and all-around decent dude, represents what people love about reality TV: That it could be us up there, going from shuffling newbie to king of the swing in 16 short weeks, and taking home the big prize.

He wasn't the best dancer in the competition, but he was easily the most lovable. Even without dimples.