Last summer, Deadspin reported about a little known quarterback with a penchant for sexting photos of his unit to certain former Jets sideline reporters; the report was met with a healthy amount of skepticism, and criticisms about printing innuendo and rumor. Of course, that story was eventually tacitly acknowledged to be completely true, lending more credibility to Deadspin. Now yesterday, Deadspin reported that they've been working on a story about Jets QB Mark Sanchez's alleged romancing of a 17-year-old girl.
According to editor A.J. Daulerio, the 17-year-old girl "reached out to us first and agreed to cooperate. Then she didn't. Then she did again." Then he was sent a letter from her lawyer, asking them not to print any story, because there was no story, and threatening legal action in return. But Daulerio claims he has proof straight from the girl: "photos she sent to us from her Blackberry of Mark Sanchez's bedroom— supposedly taken on her cell phone after she spent the night with him a few weeks ago." In the letter, the lawyers make reference to said evidence, adding, "if this is in fact true, be advised that such photograph(s) constitute property stolen..." For the record, the age of consent in NY state is 17, and in NJ it is 16. The Jets released this statement about the allegations: “We are not going to discuss Mark’s private life." But hey, maybe they just liked watching Disney films together?
While we'll have to wait for Tuesday to find out what exactly this whole alleged scandal is about, one lingering Sanchez mystery has been solved: Sanchez revealed the truth behind Boogergate, which stemmed from the clip of Sanchez wiping what looked like a booger on teammate Mark Brunell's jersey during the Jets/Steelers playoff game. He told ESPN radio that the booger-in-question wasn't a real one, more “like a cold weather, like almost-runny-nose-not-even-a-real-booger.” He said: “I have been getting so many text messages and phone calls about this. We just have fun and joke around and keep things light because that is the way I play my best. I did not want it to be a disrespectful thing, obviously, and he knew that. I called him the very next day, ‘I am so sorry. I feel so bad’ and he said, ‘Oh don’t worry about it. Only 55 million people saw you fake-wipe a booger on me.’”
