Of Mark Sanchez and the Pratfalls of Teenaged Romance

Filed under: NFL Quarterbacks

New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is 24 years old and has already won four road playoff games in his career. But he was no match for a 17-year-old ingenue whom he met in a New York City nightclub.

Now that Deadspin and the New York Post have tag-teamed this story, we know that Sanchez and the17-year-old high school girl had a sexual relationship of sorts. Somewhere the writers for "Gossip Girl" are kicking themselves for not exploring this storyline, pro quarterback dates popular high schooler. (And you thought hooking up in high school was tough when you only had to compete with high school quarterbacks).

Sanchez is already coming in for a degree of criticism that I don't remember existing for Jerry Seinfeld or Kobe Bryant, two other grown men who dipped down and dated 17-year-olds. The Seinfeld story is even more absurd. He was picking up his girlfriend, Shoshanna Lonstein, at her high school when he was 40.

What I want to focus on is this: the girl in this case is no victim and Sanchez didn't do anything wrong. Reflexively, that's the response, blame the older man, in this case the quarterback. That isn't fair in this case.

Consider what we know, first the 17-year old finagled her way into a New York city club that was for ages 21 and up. Second, when she met Sanchez at this club and gave him her number according to Deadspin she actually referenced her age: "You know I'm 17, right?" she remembers saying. "Well, we can still talk, but I can't see you until you're 18," Sanchez said. "Actually," E.K. (Deadspin chose not to picture or name the girl in question, but the New York Post had no such qualms) replied, "17 is legal in New York."

Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2011/02/09/of-mark-sanchez-and-the-pratfalls-of-teenaged-romance/

Shannon Elizabeth Shannyn Sossamon Shiri Appleby