jukin with jacoby

"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." - Emma Goldman

jacoby mid-squirrel

While the late 19th century/early 20th century revolutionary political activist was certainly not talking about American football in the above-referenced passage, long since the days of Storyville and Harlem, dancing has always played the role of subversion in American culture.  Though football has never been known to question much in the way of authority, dancing in the spirit of true postmodern expression serves to revere, revise or mock authority (and usually all three simultaneously), or at least peers and/or predecessors.

I bring this up because it was announced yesterday that Baltimore Ravens wide receiver and New Orleans native Jacoby Jones, fresh off his starring role in the Ravens Superbowl victory in his hometown, would be one of the sixteen contestants to star in ABC's Dancing With The Stars.  In case you weren't aware, I was born in Baltimore and despite at present the great distance from my homeland I remain a proud and loyal Baltimore sports fan.  Rest assured this will not be the last mention of anything Ravens or Orioles related in this space.

So in honor of the MVP-calibur #12, we're here to showcase his electric moves and hopefully he can incorporate a few of them into his Stars competition.  I know now that PITS will be covering (and watching) Dancing with the Stars for the first time ever.  Stay tuned for that but until then, let's get on with Mr. Jones' bad self:

This first dance is popularly known as the Chopper City Juke but is arguably a 1990's New Orleans dance known as the Beanie Weanie.  The first video features Jones busting a move post-touchdown:

The next video is an example of the Beanie Weanie as demonstrated by this random dude, whom I thank for the tutorial:

This following video is the official video for the Choppa City Juke and offers viewers a how-to:

After viewing it easy to understand one's confusion as to which dance Jones is performing.  There is also confusion in the nomenclature.  The Choppa City Juke was popularized in the NFL by Mike Sims-Walker and Chris Johnson, both natives of Orlando.  Choppa City refers to the city of New Orleans so I remain at a loss how Orlando can claim the Choppa City Juke at least with the Choppa City prefix but I'll defer to any of my readers to properly enlighten me in this regard.  As such, Sims-Walker and Johnson have both performed this dance throughout their careers.  After the Philadelphia game where Jones did the above dance, he was quoted as saying afterwards “I kind of did something like that when I played in Tampa. It was a little different twist to it...(t)hat’s how everybody knows I’m happy. I come in and I’m singing and dancing and I go about my day.”*  Choppa City Juke or Beanie Weenie?  I'll let you the readers decide...

Regardless, there are plenty of examples for us to choose from of the Juke, be it from New Orleans or Orlando, and they are all awesome.

So speaking of awesome and back to Jones, here is the entire catalog of his touchdowns and dances in the Baltimore Ravens 2012-2013 Championship Season condensed into slightly less than three minutes of viewing pleasure.  Enjoy.

You will notice that he starts out jukin against the Eagles, appropriating Deion Sanders' Primetime touchdown dance in reverence to the Hall of Famer against Sanders' old Dallas squad, while overall employing several variations on the juke theme, most notably this one here with mocking effect:

This comes against the Ravens biggest rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Jones' touchdown was ultimately the difference in the game and his celebratory post-touchdown tour de force begins as the Choppa City Juke and then midstream incorporates The Bennie Biggle Wiggle made popular (in NFL circles anyway) by Steelers receiver Antonio Brown before reverting back to finish and flourish with the Juke.  Brown, as the rest of Pittsburgh that day, must've felt sick watching this.  I, on the other hand, will never grow tired of the video or the memory.

Of all of his scores and dances the coolest to me is the Giants touchdown dance where he shakes his lower body along with the upper body and arms herky jerk.  This touchdown play however did not stand as it was ultimately overruled via replay.  No matter, style points here at pie in the (big) sky count and they will on Dancing as well.  You'll also notice that after scoring on the Mile High Miracle under such drastic circumstances, all Jacoby could muster was a simple jump bump with fellow teammate Anquan Boldin.  Lastly, Jones' final touchdown and dance of the Baltimore Ravens season is most appropriately the Squirrel Dance which served as fitting tribute to Ray Lewis, who made that dance famous over the course of his seventeen year Hall of Fame career.  Maybe you've seen that one once or twice by now.

So there you have it.  Jones' touchdowns and dances served to honor the great ones like Neon Deon and belittle his competitors like the Pittsburgh Steelers who struggled all season and failed to qualify for the playoffs.  Meanwhile, Jacoby's team won the Vince Lombardi Trophy and thrust the colorful Mr.  Jones into the national spotlight.  The spotlight as bright as it was on the first Sunday evening in February and the one awaiting him on national television beginning Monday, March 18th.  Let's see if Jacoby's moves on the gridiron translate to the dance floor.  We here at PITS certainly believe in #12 and will be watching, rooting and reporting accordingly.

-PPG

*http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Late-For-Work-919-McCoy-Says-Ref-Asked-For-Fantasy-Help-At-Ravens-Game/e51fd808-7422-4879-9d64-c18276f9e2d0