The winner of Dancing with the Stars, Hines Ward, sent this message via his Facebook page to his fans:

“OMG! I can’t believe it! First I want to say THANK YOU to all my fans and Steeler Nation, Bulldog Nation, and HineKym Nation for voting us to the Mirror Ball Trophy victory. Kym (Johnson) and I worked our butts off in this competition. Hats off to Kirstie/Maks and Chelsea/Mark each well deserving of the Mirror Ball. But you fans pushed us over the top. Kym and I are so thankful. Pittsburgh is back on the map! Hope I represented well. I still can’t believe it! Hines”

Here is what Hines told the LA Times:

“I knew Kym was gonna try to do all that she could to win for us [despite injured neck], for me. I felt good. I don’t have any problems with my hands and I knew I could hold her up with lifts and not let her fall.”

“I mean, I use my hands for a living. If you remember, when Kym got injured she was not in the air. She was already on the ground. So I felt OK with lifting her, ’cause I had no plans to ever let her fall. And I felt good doing them with her.”

How does he compare the DWTS win to his Super Bowl wins? “I don’t think you can really compare the two. They are equally important to me. They mean different things. Winning the Super Bowl symbolized being the best in my profession.”

“That, along with winning the Super Bowl MVP is the ultimate goal both individually and as a team. It says we are good at what we do as professionals. Winning the mirror ball trophy symbolizes overcoming my fear of the unknown.”

“It says that I was able to excel at something I knew nothing about, to rise above difficulty and take risks. Both prove hard work pays off. Both are special.”