Jets fan buys 'Butt Fumble' jersey
A diehard New York Jets fan paid $820 for the jersey Mark Sanchez wore during the "Butt Fumble" game in 2012, hoping to keep it from those who might subject him to further ridicule over the infamous play.
Jake Hendrickson, who lives in California, noticed the jersey was posted on the NFL auctions website last week and set his alarm on his calendar so he could try to ensure he was the highest bidder.
"The second I realized what it was I knew I had to have it. Almost for macabre reasons; the amount of ridicule I have received from friends regarding that play and me being a diehard Jets fan out in California especially," Hendrickson told Yahoo! Sports. "There's no way I could let it get in the hands of an anti-fan or something of that manner to be shoved in our face."
The bidding didn't go as high as Hendrickson expected. He said there were only a couple of bidders bedsides himself and he told the website "every time someone would outbid me by $5 or $10 I was raising by a hundred bucks just to show I meant business."
Sanchez's fumble on Nov. 22, 2012 in a 49-19 Thanksgiving night loss to the New England Patriots was the low point of his rocky tenure as the Jets' starting quarterback. On the play, Sanchez turned the wrong way on a handoff and collided with the backside of guard Brandon Moore, falling down hard and coughing up the ball, which was returned by the Patriots for a touchdown.
Hendrickson said he will likely put it in a frame and hang it on his wall, "until we win a Super Bowl or I can get together enough money to put it on a rocket ship and shoot it to outer space because I don't think it belongs on this planet anymore," he told the website.
