Even managers of World Series champion baseball teams have to find something to do during the off-season.
Thus, welcome to Joe Girardi's Sliding School. Girardi actually has just one client. By special request of the New York Jets, Girardi spent some time Tuesday teaching prized rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez how to slide.
Girardi instructed Sanchez how to hook his right leg correctly, and how to protect the ball while sliding. The quarterback found out Girardi was going to be his special sliding instructor just before practice.
"Coach said he'd have someone out to work with me on sliding," Sanchez said. "I thought he meant it would be one of the coaches, or a quarterback coach or something."
[Rex] Ryan said he came up with the idea of bringing in someone from the Yankees on Monday night.
Ryan said he had no idea who was going to show up from the Yankees organization.
"I knew whoever it would be from the Yankees would be a lot more impactful than if I would teach Sanchez to slide," he said. "As far as I was hitting them, I never had to slide when I was a kid."
So, Jets fans next time Sanchez slides harmlessly out of a defender's way say a silent 'thank you' to the Yankees.
By the way, a quick look around YouTube reveals quite a market for Girardi's services.