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The Mark Sanchez Scandal That Wasn't, But Sorta Was
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 10, 2011
Modified Feb 10, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 10, 2011
Modified Feb 10, 2011
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Last week, Deadspin gave notice that they had been working on a story involving an alleged romance between a 17-year-old and Jets QB Mark Sanchez. On Tuesday, the details of that story were finally revealed, and ever since, debate has been raging about Sanchez's behavior, his morality, her illegality, and more. But we've been wondering: what exactly is this story about?
The tale of their brief romance, as told by 17-year-old E.K. (now revealed to be Eliza Kruger), is pretty simple and benign-sounding: she met Sanchez on New Years Eve at a night club, they had at least one dinner date and one sleepover at Sanchez's place in Jersey, and Sanchez would text her from time to time after that. There are a couple pictures of Sanchez's room (Kruger would be blacklisted from the Ballers Alert club for such shenanigans), and she says they "hooked up," which doesn't say much. Surprisingly, there are very little in the way of lurid details, and seemingly no dark revenge motivations under the surface; reading between the lines, 24-year-old Sanchez comes off mostly as a gentleman, or as she said, "one of the kindest people, and he's a genuine person."
Furthermore, anyone who saw Hard Knocks last summer knows that Sanchez comes across as a very young 24; he's someone who tweets about Disney movies and loves Broadway musicals. His attraction to a younger (but still legal) girl seems in-line with his personality. Most importantly, based on Kruger's account, nothing he did was illegal: the age of consent in NY is 17, and 16 in New Jersey.
But controversy has swelled around the report: some newspapers and commenters have argued that Sanchez has shown bad judgement, that he's hurting his image, that he's bringing undue negative attention on the Jets (who already have had a bounty of negative press), or that it's just creepy to date someone so young. Others, such as the Post, have attacked the character of Kruger, with gossipy tidbits such as this: "'Eliza has been going to clubs since she was 15, sometimes with her mom,' blond Greenwich divorcée Marie McCormick Kruger, a night life source told The Post. 'A lot of the club guys in the city know her mom well,' the source said."
So did we need to know this story? Does this story teach us anything about the (admittedly) immature Sanchez that we didn't know before? Was Kruger lured into revealing her story, or did she willingly, perhaps even actively, open herself up to Deadspin, and the ensuing criticism? There's certainly a lot to consider, even with the bare-bones of what we've been told happened. There's one last thing that has stuck with us: during Hard Knocks, back-up QB Mark Brunell discussed how strange it was that his own daughter was only five years younger than Sanchez, the same age as Kruger. But he wasn't bringing her to training camp anytime soon: "No, that won't happen. He's not meeting my daughter. She already thinks he's cute. She saw a picture of him, but that's not happening at all. I like the kid, but I don't like him that much."
Tagged
age of consent
deadspin
eliza kruger
football
jets
mark sanchez
nfl
romance
scandal
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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