The Mark Sanchez Era is Upon Us

Quarterback Mark Sanchez begins his first pro training camp this Friday, with the New York Jets draft pick battling for the starting QB position. As a Latino Men’s blog, we are rooting heartily for him to make our jobs easier by either winning the Super Bowl or going 0-16.

To be sure, the whole “Latino representing the community” thing can be a bit unfair and tedious. Already, the 22-year old has had to deal with the responsibilities and repercussions of celebrating his Mexican heritage during his time at USC. He received “go back to Mexico” hate mail, probably from Lou Dobbs, after playing a few games in 2007 with a Mexican flag mouthpiece. He’s backed off public shows of ethnic pride, for fear of looking like a reconquista warrior or something to the Michelle Malkins of the world, but he still makes a point of participating in charity events and speaking engagements in heavily Latino schools in California and Texas. Still, he’ll probably never shake the whole “Is Mark Sanchez too Mexican, or Not Mexican Enough?” debate that pretty much all high-profile minorities endure at some point. Whether the guy wants it or not, he gets to be the Big Mexican Role Model, and little brown faces everywhere will smile or cry along with his achievements and disasters.

And hey, while we’re at it, why not add the extra pressure of walking into a Jets team still reeling from the huge letdown of The Brett Favre Experiment? He’s in a tight spot if he’s able to wrestle the starting position from veteran Kellen Clemens, being the first true rookie quarterback to walk into a winning team since Dieter Brock took over the ‘85 Rams (and, even then, The Geezer was already an established CFL veteran.) Some are saying that he’s been well-prepared by USC’s pro-style offense, but the Daily News quotes one anonymous Jets player as saying that Sanchez is, at this point, “not even close” to being ready for the NFL.

Now, it is our natural inclination to turn away from and mock anything having to do with dumb old USC (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.) And it would probably make our jobs a whole hell of a lot easier if he became just this huge, hilarious disaster, falling all over the place and leaving his helmet in the locker room every week or whatever. But the Jets are due, the Giants are evil, and having a world-class Latino athlete kicking ass and taking names the same year we get a Latina on the Supreme Court sure would feel like a pretty fantastic cultural sea change. We’re even willing to put up with fans streaming into the Meadowlands wearing lucha libre masks or whatever, if it comes down to it. So, yeah. Do good, mijo, for all the little Latino childrens.

Training Camp Preview: Mark Sanchez begins ascent to Jets’ starting QB job [NY Daily News]