The Mark Sanchez Sex Scandal

On Tuesday, Deadspin reported that 24-year-old Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets "hooked up" with a 17-year-old high school student. The name of the girl is Eliza Kruger, and she was the source for the story, even though Deadspin opted not to print her name and instead printed just her initials. Kruger went as far as to provide pictures of Sanchez's bedroom as proof of her relationship with the NFL quarterback.

A lot of questions have been raised about this relationship, even though it appears that Kruger is of the legal age of consent, 17 in New York and 16 in New Jersey. The Internet has been buzzing with moral outrage over the alleged couple and their disparity in age. This has left many people wondering how this sex scandal will affect Mark Sanchez and his popularity going forward.

Over the years, the general public has been faced with these types of relationships before; Woody Allen & Soon-Yi, David Letterman & Stephanie Birkitt, Demi Moore & Ashton Kutcher to name just a few. The arcs of the so-called scandals are usually the same. The American public and media are outraged, then they are obsessed with every little detail, and then they move on to the next big story or scandal. In the end, very little damage is done to the celebrity's status. Woody Allen kept on making movies, David Letterman is still coming into our living rooms late at night, and even Bruce Willis seems to be adjusting to his former wife's freaky romance.

In the short term, there is no doubt that this will be a public relations headache for Sanchez and the Jets. They will have to address the media and answer questions about Mark & Eliza as the story continues to develop this off-season. In the long term, Sanchez's popularity will probably be affected very little by all of this unless this one girl turns into a string of girls or some other strange aspect of the story is revealed. Most of all, it just demonstrates a complete lack of judgment on the part of Sanchez.

We here in America love a sex scandal, but our interest dies out quickly if nothing is fueling the fire. In the end, Mark Sanchez will end up being judged mainly by his on-field performance as long as he steers clear of any law breaking. Sanchez is an athlete, and people will get behind him as long as he can put a W in the win column.

Sources:
http://deadspin.com/#!5755011/the-somewhat-romantic-story-of-mark-sanchez-and-a-17+year+old-girl

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/02/eliza-kruger-mark-sanchezs-17-year-old-girlfriend/