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The "Sanchise" Gets Sliding Lessons From Yankee Skipper
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 2, 2009
Modified Dec 2, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 2, 2009
Modified Dec 2, 2009
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After an ugly win (but a win, at least) against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, coach Rex Ryan decided that his star quarterback Mark Sanchez needed some help on his sliding, because seeing the franchise—or "Sanchise" as Ryan calls him—quarterback sliding headfirst is worrisome! So Ryan called Yankees president Randy Levine to ask if someone from the World Series-winning team would be available to give Sanchez pointers. And Levine sent manager Joe Girardi.
Sanchez expressed awe, "Coach said he'd have someone out today to work with me on sliding. thought he meant it would be one of our coaches or a quarterback coach. It meant a lot to me personally for [Girardi] to come out, take time out of his schedule, his vacation and celebration time, to help me out with something like sliding. There’s nobody better to get coaching from than him, especially in this area. Really cool. To meet his son and throw a ball around was fun as well. It was great."
And Sanchez revealed he learned to "Hook my leg, because I wear that brace on my left leg so you don’t want to hook that leg into the ground because it might get stuck. He showed me how to do it with the opposite leg and hook that leg under, how to protect the ball while I am sliding and try not to fall on one side or the other on my shoulder, just absorb the blow with my butt and my legs. It was important for me to learn that and I really appreciated it."
Sensitive big guy Ryan called Girardi "the best there is" to teach someone sliding and pointed out the obvious, "I knew whoever it would be from the Yankees would be a lot more impactful than if I would teach Sanchez how to slide."
Tagged
baseball
football
jets
joe girardi
mark sanchez
Rex Ryan
sliding
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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