Nice piece this week in ESPN the Mag on the most popular Mexican-American football player ever (?), USC QB Mark Sanchez. (He recently busted a kneecap, but it doesn’t appear too serious.) In the ESPN piece, Sanchez revealed Ohio State coach Jim Tressel’s hard sell on the Buckeyes:

Sanchez remembers Jim Tressel sitting behind his desk in the Buckeyes’ football office, delivering his pitch: “Mark, you know the two most important people in the state of Ohio are the governor and the quarterback for Ohio State.”

Tressel then paused before adding, “And the quarterback for Ohio State is No. 1.”

We get it – every coach gushes about the importance of his program in attempting to lure recruits. But we’re of the opinion that Sweater Vest actually believes this. (No reason, really; we just look at him, and think, ‘this guy looks like he believes this.’ It’s not a knock or an indictment – simply an opinion.) We don’t live in Ohio and we’ve only briefly been through the state, but is there any truth to this statement? What about the Browns? Buckeyes? LeBron? Indians? Grady Sizemore? Brady Quinn?

¡VIVA SANCHEZ! (ESPN the Mag)