As Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez walked out of swanky Upper East Side restaurant Daniel on Sept. 14, his mind was likely on the side dish. Not the “mosaic of rabbit” or “Jerusalem artichoke veloute,” but the one walking just behind him in a form-fitting black dress and towering Louboutin pumps.
Sanchez, 25, and actress Eva Longoria, 37, were snapped leaving the eatery just 36 hours before the Jets were trounced by Pittsburgh 27-10.
PHOTOS:
MARK SANCHEZ
EVA LONGORIA
Now, the boldface match has Gang Green fans questioning whether Longoria will be a hex on the quarterback, like Jessica Simpson was to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who began a long slump while the pair dated from 2007 to 2009.
“I’m afraid she might be a voodoo woman for him,” says Craig Carton, co-host of popular morning sports talk show “Boomer & Carton” on WFAN. “I would prefer that he dated a member of the Jets flight crew or Kate Upton. I think he’s a stud. He’s the most handsome guy in the league. No disrespect to her, but I prefer he date a woman who is all-in and low maintenance. If she’s going to be calling her publicist every time she goes out to dinner with him, then I think it’s a problem.”
The May-December romance has fueled plenty of man banter on Carton’s show, ever since the pair were spotted hanging around Sanchez’s New Jersey neighborhood this summer. The Post reported that Sanchez celebrated the team’s Sept. 9 victory over the Buffalo Bills with Longoria at his favorite restaurant, Del Frisco’s.
Just days prior to the ill-fated Pittsburgh performance, a giddy Longoria confirmed their relationship to pal Mario Lopez on “Extra.” Last week, Longoria, stung by the media scrutiny, tried to temper the firestorm, by telling Chelsea Handler that she and Sanchez have only been dating “for a second,” adding, “He’s great! [But] he’s focused right now on football.”
“To Mark’s credit, he’s never once flaunted who he dates,” Carton says, noting that Longoria is the one who has spoken about their relationship publically. “He tries to keep it hush-hush.”
It’s the first time that Sanchez has stepped out with anyone since his romance with “Sopranos” actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler ended two years ago, though he has been linked to models Upton and Hilary Rhoda. And last year, Sanchez had a p.r. nightmare when a 17-year-old from Connecticut, Eliza Kruger, bragged on Facebook and to deadspin.com about a romp with the swarthy stud.
The media picked up the fumble and ran all the way to the end zone with the tawdry tale.
Perhaps Longoria will have a positive effect, like Gisele Bundchen on Tom Brady (four record-breaking seasons and two Super Bowl appearances since 2007) or Kate Hudson on Alex Rodriguez (a 2009 World Series win).
“Any relationship can pull someone away from their job and impact performance, especially in the early stages,” says NYC therapist Jonathan Alpert, author of “Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days.” “But she’s a little older and could serve as a stabilizing source for him. And given that she’s a celebrity, she’ll have a better understanding of his lifestyle.”
This isn’t the first time Longoria has wooed a younger athlete. She began dating San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, seven years her junior, in 2004, and became a courtside fixture, donning a jersey with his number and jeans bedazzled with “Tony P” down the leg.
In 2006, she started a San Antonio charity called Eva’s Heroes, to benefit people with developmental disabilities, and enlisted the Spurs’ dance team as volunteers. Sources say she seemed well liked in the Texas city. But what was not to like? The team won two NBA championships during the pair’s courtship.
In the notoriously volatile world of pro-sports relationships, Longoria put up some impressive stats, largely by avoiding the gaffes that ditzy, jock-loving bombshells tend to rack up when in the spotlight. In 2008, Simpson sent the blogosphere into a tizzy when she went on “Good Morning America” to promote her new album and began trash talking the Philadelphia Eagles saying “[Eagles], we’re going to kick your butts, too.” The previous year, she had watched her beau get beaten by the Eagles while prancing around a luxury suite in a pink Cowboys jersey.
And former Mets pitcher Kris Benson became a punchline after his wife, Anna, posed for FHM and promised to sleep with the entire organization if she ever caught him cheating on her. He was soon traded to Baltimore with one sports reporter noting, “Kris Benson doesn’t have a good enough arm for the Mets to overlook his wife’s mouth.”
Longoria and Parker married in 2007, but she filed for divorce three years later amid rumors of Parker’s dalliance with a teammate’s wife. Since then, she’s been linked to Lakers forward Matt Barnes and Penelope Cruz’s brother, Eduardo.
But perhaps it’s not about who Sanchez is bedding and more about his inability to dodge the blitz.
“He’s never been able to string together a complete season as a dominant quarterback,” notes Gabe Zaldivar of sports Web site Bleacher Report. “You have this Broadway Joe [Namath] playboy who hasn’t taken the team to the promised land.”
Sanchez actually has a bigger distraction than his new girlfriend, says Michelle Beadle of “Access Hollywood,” who formerly hosted “SportsNation” on ESPN2.
“If he can get through Tebowmania,” Beadle says, “realizing every time he makes a bad pass the idiots are going to be calling for Tebow to play, I don’t think Eva Longoria is going to be a factor.”