Stars dancing toe-to-toe-to-toe

Who wins?

The former linebacker with the bulk of a truck and the feet of a Maserati? (Play along with me here – you get the picture.)

Or the Really Famous Guy? Once a boy band boy, and then seemingly everything, from producer to author to almost-cosmonaut.

Or the former Playmate and E! cable TV host who – pretty much to everyone’s surprise – turned out to be the most talented dancer of the lot?

Or maybe the question is: Who cares?

“Dancing With the Stars” wraps up its seventh season tonight, and the larger story may have less to do with victory and more to do with something else – loss of viewers and impact.

After “American Idol,” “Dancing” remains TV’s unscripted king, but this season its numbers are down. The Monday competition edition is off 15 percent in viewers ages 18 to 49 versus last season; the Tuesday results show is down 12 percent in the same group.

Those are big drops and one is left to wonder why. A jump-the-shark season? Maybe, but possibly something else, too – namely a less dazzling cast and less inherent drama.

Hey, there’s always next season …

Meanwhile, a look at our final three:

Warren Sapp

Pros: Breakthrough personality and hustle on the floor – that sense that he’s not only trying very hard, in part because that body must defy the laws of gravity, but also because he is largely succeeding. He is – quite literally – the biggest and best surprise of this whole season.

Cons: None, really, except he doesn’t quite meet the Fred Astaire stereotype. (And so what?)

Bottom line: Probably the first to go. Sigh.

Brooke Burke

Pros: An elegant and gifted dancer.

Cons: A bit of an automaton. Personality? Hard to pinpoint. Plus, the overwhelmingly predominant female viewership base of “DWTS” tends to go for the guys. The judges can – and do – balance out the inequity, but guys still typically win.

Bottom line: If she had a perfect – and I do mean perfect – night, she could well pull this victory off. Unfortunately, her margin for error is pretty much zero.

Lance Bass

Pros: See “Brooke Burke” pros. … More important, he’s improved week to week, and peaked at the best possible time – the end. Bass also doesn’t come off as “effortless” (as Burke so often does.) He looks like he works for his scores, and viewers interpret that as grit and desire.

Cons: Without Burke’s precision, he can miss some steps, and the judges – Len Goodman in particular – hold him to a ruthlessly high standard. There is little margin for error.

Bottom line: The likely winner, but …