Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor is fast developing a much bigger following, thanks to his stellar work on “Dancing with the Stars.”

The Los Angeles Times noted this development: “The day after he and dance partner Edyta Sliwinska scored a near-perfect 27 on their mambo, Taylor’s personal website — www.JasonTaylor99.com — registered more than 300,000 hits, roughly 50 times what he would receive on a typical off-season day.”

As it turns out, Taylor is a natural on the dance floor. And America loves him.

“The funny thing is, I’m not the football player anymore, I’m the football guy that dances now,” Taylor told the Times. “It’s ‘the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ guy.’”

Even his teammates have become big fans.

“I talked to Vonnie Holliday the other day,” Taylor told the Times, “and he said, ‘Man, I turned on the TV on Monday night and I said, ‘Somehow, he slipped by with the fox trot. But tonight with the mambo, he’ll totally expose himself.’ And he was like, ‘Dang! You did your thing! I can’t even say anything! You must have been taking dance lessons on the side or something!’”

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering why the Cardinals couldn’t hit Kip Wells, of all people:

• Who could have possibly guessed the Blues would suffer an overtime loss against Nashville?
• How will Tom Crean fare at Indiana? Can Marquette find the right coach to keep them in the top half of the brutally competitive Big East?
• Did Sean Sutton deserve more than two years at the helm of Oklahoma State?
• And does his demise send an ominous message to Pat Knight?

HONEST ATHLETE OF WEEK

The Los Angeles Times notes that golfer Woody Austin tends to beat himself up. So, no, he didn’t take that double bogey on the final hole of the Zurich Classic in stride.

“I know I was choking,” Austin said, according to the Times. “I’m not going to lie to you. I’m not going to give you a political answer and say, ‘Well, I just didn’t have my game today.’ I didn’t have my game today because I was scared out of my gourd and I was puking my guts out. That’s the reality of it.”

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Will Leitch, Deadspin, on the Cardinals: “Nothing too awful can happen this year. When expectations are low, it’s difficult for the news to be too devastating. Barring an implosion of Albert Pujols’ aorta, nothing can go too wrong this year. We’re looking at positive increments forward, with the inevitable steps back easily shaken off.”

Bill Simmons, ESPN.com: “Don’t you kinda sorta wish George Steinbrenner had come along 35 years later and bought the Yankees during the age of the 24-hour sports information cycle of the Internet, all-sports radio, “PTI” and everything else? As annoying as he was over the years, imagine George ranting on his blog at 3:30 a.m. on a Tuesday about why he fired Billy Martin for the 11th time? I miss having a hot-headed, irrational billionaire owner in my life. I guess we’ll have to settle on Hank for now.”

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “Question for Giants GM Brian Sabean: how do you give a $126 million contract to a guy whose fastball tops out at 84 mph? Turns out the only thing as overrated as Barry Zito was SEC basketball.”

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: “Can you believe the hypocritical gall of the San Francisco Giants, who have removed prominent stadium landmarks paying tribute to Barry Bonds’ home run record? Question: Does this mean the team also will give back the ticket and merchandising money it reaped off BALCO Barry’s record? I didn’t think so.”

Dan Bickley, Arizona Republic, suggesting that Matt Leinart quit partying with Nick Lachey: “Leinart is a single father about to turn 25. He is a starting quarterback in the NFL and the face of an entire franchise. He should not be in the same vicinity as a beer bong, much less holding one for a young girl. The NFL is for men. Beer bongs are for drunk, stupid college kids.”

MEGAPHONE

“I was the ‘Godfather of steroids.’ How do you stop the steroid era? Get rid of the guy who brought it in. I was basically - slowly, but surely - being choked out of the game. To the point where when I offered my services for free, no one would touch it.”

Jose Canseco, talking to the New York Daily News.