New York Jets CB Sauce Gardner will never forget who Hollywood actress Jessica Alba is now. The second-year player received a pair of custom cleats featuring Alba in two of her well-known roles. Artist Mike Jordan created the cleats for Gardner and dropped them off at the Jets facility last week.
Jordan tweeted out a picture of the custom cleats.
“@iamSauceGardner I know you didn’t ask for these but some customs just have to be made in the name of new friendships dropped these off to the facility today”
What’s the Deal With Sauce And Alba?
Earlier this month, Gardner and teammate Aaron Rodgers were at Madison Square Garden on May 2 to watch game two of the New York Knicks and Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and they sat next to Alba and her friend Lizzy Mathis. Rodgers teased Gardner because he didn’t know who Alba was.
But the All-Pro player revealed he didn’t know Alba’s government name, but knew her as Honey and Storm. The names of Honey Daniels and Sue Storm are, respectively, from two of Alba’s noteworthy characters from the box-office movies “Honey” and “Fantastic Four.”
“I wanted to do something fun,” Jordan said of the spikes. “I hope Jessica likes them, too.”
It was funny when Rodgers was generally amazed that his 22-year-old teammate had no idea who Alba was. But that just speaks to his age.
Gardner was born in 2000 so he didn’t see the 2003 film “Honey” or the “Fantastic Four” franchise (2005, 2007) in the theaters.
At 10, Gardner probably wasn’t into rom-coms, so he missed “Valentine’s Day” and “Good Luck Chuck.“
Alba was impressed with Gardner’s flirt game though.
“Lol -I totally see how this kid Sauce got his name, he said to my girl @ElizabethMxo ‘How can I get caught up when I’m the catch.’ But in all honesty he was actually very polite with his elder @AaronRodgers12 and everyone else in the room. It was nice meeting you…” tweeted Alba.
This is a nice bit that will have some legs over the course of the summer. Now that Gardner is in his second year, he likely won’t be hazed at training camp about this. But he’s not a true veteran yet, so it’s likely jokes about this will fly.
Jets Excited About The Upcoming Season
Meanwhile Gardner is excited to get on the field for year two, and recently talked about how close the Jets came to signing WR Odell Beckham Jr.
“Odell, he wanted to play here,” Gardner told Sports Illustrated. “It was to the point where he was picking his jersey. He was telling me, like, ‘Hey, ask so-and-so if I can get the jersey [number I want].’ He was going to wear number 7.”
That would have been something if the Jets landed Rodgers and OBJ this offseason. Still, optimism is high around the team, and they will be tested right out the gate in week one as they face Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.