Why Mark Sanchez wears the number "6"

When I first saw that Sanchez was wearing #6 for the Jets I wasn't too happy because I kept thinking of Bubby Brister wearing that #6 and the infamous shovel pass right into a Panther defenders arms. So I was glad to read in the following article, the reason Sanchez wears the number 6. Turns out that his father Nick Sr. is is a fire captain in Orange County California at Station 6 and has been for 33 years. I thought that was a pretty cool tid bit that others might find interesting too, now I like the number 6 because I see it on Sanchez in a whole new light.
Here is the complete article, its well worth a read:

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP)—Throwing footballs went hand-in-hand with multiplication tables for Mark Sanchez(notes).

Same for batting practice or free-throw shooting. His father always combined sports with schoolwork, and it drove Sanchez crazy.

“Some of those pitches would stray a little bit, high and inside,” the New York Jets’ rookie quarterback recalled with a smile. “You’d get frustrated.”

That was just Nick Sanchez Sr.’s way, routinely testing his son’s mental makeup while working on his physical skills. History questions, spelling words— all fair game.

“It was anything that we had gone over during the week,” Sanchez said. “It was almost like a pop quiz at all times.”

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Sanchez still laughs at the goggles his father made him wear, the ones with the strap on them so he couldn’t see the basketball while he was dribbling. At the same time, Nick Sanchez would hold up flash cards with multiplication tables on them.

“It was little things that seemed weird at the time,” Sanchez said. “You’d be like, ‘This is stupid. Why are we doing this?”’

Nick Sanchez had done the same with his two older sons, Nick Jr. and Brandon, similar to the tough-love methods Earl Woods used on a young Tiger. The elder Sanchez is a fire captain for the Orange County Fire Authority and has been with Station 6—Mark’s jersey number—for 33 years. As a firefighter, Nick Sanchez recognized the value in being able to think quickly.

“I was just shooting from the hip with all of that,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “There were no guidelines, no blueprints. I just knew that regardless of where he was going to be in life, he was going to have to deal with pressure and adversity and remain focused.”

Dad apparently knew what he was talking about. Mark Sanchez is preparing to become the first Jets rookie quarterback to start a season. Not even Joe Namath did that.

“It really paid off and when you get into tough situations where you need to slow the game down and people are interrupting your confidence, it takes you right back there. He had some foresight back then,” Sanchez said.

Not that he always enjoyed those sessions.

“There’s no doubt I was tough on him,” Nick Sanchez said. “But if you talk to his brothers, they’d say Mark had it easy.”

Nick Sanchez will be in Houston on Sunday, along with several other family members, to watch his son take on the Texans.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Mark,” the elder Sanchez said. “Mark was always special to us, as are his two brothers. He has always been able to capitalize on his opportunities.”

Such as the three times he won elections for class president in grade school, junior high and high school. Or, when he transferred from Santa Margarita High School to Mission Viejo and became the starting quarterback under coach Bob Johnson. Or, even when he went to play for Pete Carroll at Southern California and sat patiently until he became the Trojans’ starter—and ultimately the No. 5 overall draft pick by the Jets in April.

“I’ve always told Mark that there are kids that run faster, throw harder or farther,” Nick Sanchez said. “But I also told him, ‘Don’t ever let anybody ever outwork you.”’

Sanchez has yet to take a regular-season snap for the Jets, but he exudes a confidence that belies his age. Maybe that’s because the 22-year-old quarterback has anticipated this moment for years.

“I felt when I was little that something great was always going to happen,” he said. “Whether it was basketball, baseball, football or school, I just felt like something was going to go right.”

He beat out Kellen Clemens(notes) for the starting job this summer and immediately earned the respect of his veteran teammates and coach Rex Ryan.

“He shows a lot of maturity for someone his age,” said 37-year-old fullback Tony Richardson(notes). “He’s probably young enough to be my son, but he’s the quarterback and the leader of this football team. When he says, ‘Let’s go!’ it’s time to go.”

Sanchez remembers learning how to carry himself as a leader from former USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who made his quarterbacks shower before team meetings at 6 a.m.

“I thought it was the stupidest thing in the world,” Sanchez said. “But he would tell us, ‘All these other guys are coming in with crust in their eyes. You don’t do that. You’re a quarterback. You don’t look like that.”’

He also has also already endeared himself to his offensive linemen by surprising each of their wives recently with flowers.

“I came home and was like, ‘What man is sending you flowers?”’ right tackle Damien Woody(no

 

Its funny with all that I wrote and the article the only thing you could think of to comment on was a simple typo. Once its posted it appears that everything but the title can be changed so I'm stuck. Please feel free to spell check the post, many thanks.

 

Have you ever had a typo, an error, an oversight on a word and its spelling and then posted before you caught it? YOU PERFECT? I spelled the word correctly several times in my thoughts so clearly it was a typo and I do understand how to spell the word. It was mistake, an oversight, so why do you you have to fuck with me when clearly it was a TYPO and if you were even a little thoughtful you could see that! As I said once its posted you can't change the title so there it is, but lighten up your just a chump on the computer just like me so back the fuck off asshole. And stop being so fucking ready to pounce on something and someone for no good reason. Every time I post here if I make one little error people come out of the Nazi woodwork to pounce on a TYPO, people get a life and think about commenting on the content and how to get off your high horse. FUCK this place can be a real no fun shit hole, wait, whole, no, wait, is whoule, well nevermind. And BTW thats all the article that was there for me to copy.