The aftermath of the butt fumble. (Neil Miller)
Death, taxes and the butt fumble: The three certainties of life, at least on Fridays.
Mark Sanchez’s infamous fumble after colliding with Brandon Moore in the Jets’ Thanksgiving night loss to the Patriots has become a “SportsCenter” staple on Friday thanks to the Not Top-10.
“Tired of it? Were the “SportsCenter” anchors tired when ‘The band is on the field!’ happened? Were the “SportsCenter” anchors tired when Jean Van De Velde turned ‘Tin Cup’ art into agonizing reality? Probably not. But I’m tired of the butt fumble,” anchor Jay Crawford said.
Every Friday, the highlight show has a Not Top-10 that shows the lowlights from the week in sports. The No. 1 from each week goes against the reigning champ in a viewer vote – and for 37 straight weeks heading into today that defending champ — or the “worst of the worst” — has been the butt fumble.
THE DEBUT
“I wouldn’t say I’m tired of it, but we’ve had some pretty good ones go head to head with the butt fumble and I’m always blown away from the fan results,” said anchor Kevin Negandhi.
“It’s rarely ever close. Last week we had a really good contender with Chad Qualls’ fist-pump fall and it had no shot. The butt fumble received 80% of the vote. So I’m more stunned how it has gained a life of its own. I’m not sure people even watch the #1 contender each week, they just want to keep one Mark Sanchez streak intact.”
So, what will it take to unseat the butt fumble?
“The key ingredients for the voting to even be close will have to feature a big name star on a team that is well known,” Negandhi said. “The Jets and Sanchez bring out strong opinions. Who else can do that? How bout A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) and the Yankees or Lebron James and the Heat or Tony Romo and the Cowboys.
“It can’t be just a normal blooper. It has to be an embarrassing mistake with the team looking bad and the final result featuring the other team scoring. And as we have seen, it has to have a great nickname and quite honestly, how can you unseat something called “The butt fumble”. It’s the perfect storm.”
That one play has come to define Sanchez’s downfall with the Jets, as it comes up far more often than the two AFC Championship games the beleaguered quarterback led the team to. And Moore spent ten years manning a generally-solid Jets offensive line before retiring a week ago. When he did the first sentence of most national stories focused on his role in that play.
Is it time to move on?
“I want to retire the Butt Fumble. It’s time for a kinder, gentler Not Top 10,” anchor John Anderson said.