JuJu Smith-Schuster dancing on other teams’ logos is a big old nothing burger

I promised myself I wouldn’t go after the low-hanging fruit that was Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster dancing on the Bills logo before this past Sunday night’s game and how silly I thought everyone was for thinking it somehow had anything at all to do with the 26-15 defeat.

But screw it.

It’s Wednesday evening as I’m writing this article, there’s a ton of snow on the ground in Pittsburgh and, worst of all, I had app/device issues while trying to log onto SB Nation to write an earlier piece.

You know how awful technical issues are. I believe they lead to the worst kind of frustration. No matter how many times you try to take certain steps, if one of those steps is wrong, it simply doesn’t matter.

Do you know what else doesn’t matter? Smith-Schuster’s now apparent pre-game ritual of dancing on another team’s logo. No matter how many steps it takes for Smith-Schuster to complete his pre-game dance, it really isn’t going to help the other team win.

I know what you’re going to rhetorically ask, “How does it benefit the team?” It doesn’t. Do you know what else doesn’t benefit the Steelers? Those tours their players always give us of their training camp dorms, but we still have to watch them every summer, anyway.

Smith-Schuster’s pre-game ritual is something that wouldn’t be an issue during an 11-game winning streak, but since Pittsburgh is in the middle of a two-game slide, suddenly, it’s a symptom of the team’s current sickness. Evidently, Smith-Schuster angered the Bills before Sunday’s game and provided extra motivation for them to kick Pittsburgh’s black and gold behinds until they were black and blue.

Do you really think that had anything to do with Sunday’s drubbing? You do? OK, I want you to picture Iron Mike Tyson (or even Pittsburgh’s own Iron Mike Ditka) dancing on your logo. Next, I want you to imagine yourself using that disrespectful act to psyche yourself up to beat Tyson’s butt in some boxing match in which you were his opponent (the 81-year old Ditka could also be your hypothetical opponent). Did it help? It did? Liar!

JuJu’s dancing had nothing to do with anything in that loss to Buffalo. If dancing or celebrating really had a way of firing up the opposition, don’t you think Smith-Schuster would have had his butt handed to him a long time ago after one of his very elaborate touchdown performances?

I know what you’re going to ask next in a rather smarmy “gotcha!” fashion: “Just curious about how you felt in the past when opponents disrespected the Terrible Towel?” I didn’t care. It’s true. I never cared. I never thought it had anything to do with anything. Now, do I think the Terrible Towel is meaningful to the Steelers and their fans? Sure, I do. Do I think Pittsburgh has ever won a football game because of it? Nope.

Don’t get me wrong, I have gone after people in the past for dissing the Towel, namely, media personality—and giant jerk—Clay Travis. However, that was mainly because Travis appeared on a local radio station 10 years ago and mocked the amount of money the Terrible Towel had raised for charity since the late, great Myron Cope invented it in 1975. I also did it because Travis acted like a giant tool, and I may or may not have been jealous of his success.

Speaking of charity, Smith-Schuster and his foundation recently teamed up with Pay Away the Lay Away and paid off $12,500 in layaway balances at Burlington, impacting 88 local families.

Do you think those folks are dancing, right now, after Smith-Schuster helped to lighten the load for them financially this holiday season? I’m guessing they are. Why? Because that’s the kind of thing that truly makes an impact. Dancing on another team’s logo? Not so much.

If I had the ability to care even less, I would use it for JuJu Smith-Schuster’s fondness for dancing on the logos of opposing teams.