It is very possible that I hate football more than I hate basketball, but again, I pay attention to the headlines in case someone asks me if I have heard about the latest new story. So when I first saw the footage of Mark Sanchez, the quarterback for the New York Jets, eating a hot dog I was instantly intrigued. What in the world could be so news worthy to show a football player eating a hot dog? It was not only worthy of hitting the Yahoo! Sports headlines but also running continuously during both ESPN and on Rome is Burning. So why is this a big deal to the NFL?
You can see in the video that not only is he eating the hotdog, he even has a mustard packet in his other hand. He was not just having a snack he was enjoying it as much as he could. But you will also notice that he is trying to hide it, taking quick bites and throwing the wiener behind his legs in hopes no one would catch him. Well, Mark, you got caught.
When asked about it, Mark said that he had been sick the entire week before and had been unable to eat. With practice and meetings and everything else that leads to a game on Sunday afternoon I can see why he would not have time to eat. But what better time than during the middle of a game? A game in which they were absolutely dominating the Oakland Raiders, mind you. Mark was not chastised, however, when he was caught during the game. His hands were not even slapped when the media got involved with the event. Regardless of how many times he was not yelled at, he apologized time and time again and did so immediately.
After all of the apologies were said and done and he was finished with his meal, he said that the reason he apologized in the first place was due to the message he was afraid that it would send to the Raiders. He actually was quoted in saying he did not want to say, “Hey, beating the Raiders is so easy that I can do it while scarfing down some delicious wieners.” This would in turn have an effect on his image but also the New York Jets for allowing their players to eat on the sidelines.
You will remember that the NFL recently has banned players from sending text messages or from sending tweets the day of the game. They have also banned it for twenty-four hours before and twenty-four hours after the game. They are claiming this is due to the fact players could potentially send messages that could give away plays or let the other team learn something that would in hence make them vulnerable come game day. This goes hand in hand with the SEC decision to ban texting and tweeting by not only the players but also the fans.
So did Sanchez have to apologize? Probably not, but I imagine it makes him feel better that he did. Should the coach of the Jets perhaps have been a little more observant that there were players sitting on the sideline snacking, regardless of the score of the game? Probably so. The coach of the Jets, Rex Ryan, has actually been known, since taking the head coach position, to trash talk pretty much anyone so if Mark does get any gruff about this it will probably come from him. I just can not seem to figure out what the big deal is whether he was eating or not. Who cares? And is it really that big of a deal that this be covered by every sports news channel out there? Get over it, the guy was hungry. Speaking of hot dogs I might just go have one of those right now. And I am not going to hide it either.
I’ll be honest I have family that has been in coaching and I have coached youth sports before and if any player ever ate food like that on the sideline I’d not be real excited about it from a coaches view point. His excuse about not eating because he was busy and he was sick is a little ridiculous. If a player has an illness they would give him IV’s or get him an energy bar or something of that nature not a hot dog. It really isnt a big deal but I garauntee you he wouldnt have done that in the Super Bowl or during a close game. If the game was close he would be studying photos of the defense or talking to coaches. His apology is trying to save him from a severe beating the next time they play the Raiders and because he got caught. And you better be sure the Jets would’ve had fluids and food in him prior to the game if he was that sick. I wonder if he threw 6 interceptions last week because he had mustard residue on his fingers.