Tim Tebow and Lolo Jones aren't dating. It's unlikely they ever will, but New York Jets center Nick Mangold isn't ready to give up on creating the most chaste couple in American sport.
"It's now my new goal," Mangold said in a chat with "NFL Total Access" that aired on Tuesday. "This is how I'm going to spend my spring. Usually I try and do a little golfing, but that isn't going so well. So now it's matchmaking."
Mangold was the instigator last week in the Jets' locker room, leading a "Lolo" chant as reporters crowded around the quarterback's locker. Jones made news recently when she announced on Twitter (and a subsequent HBO profile) that she was saving herself for marriage. (Tebow has publicly made a similar vow.)
"I was actually pushing for Tim and Lolo Jones to, you know, 'get united,'Â " Mangold said of his chant.
The always-entertaining Mangold touched on a few other topics in his chat with NFL Network, including Rex Ryan's weight loss, QB hand moisturizing and the Olympic quest of Holley, his champion weight-lifter sister.
On future Ryan predictions: "I predict that he's going to continue to talk about his weight loss. He looks fantastic because he's losing the weight and everything, but he looks kind of ridiculous because he's still wearing the same clothes ... so it's like he's wearing a tent. He looks fantastic. It's awesome for him, and I couldn't be happier that he's been able to stick to his diet."
ATL: Mangold downplays circus
After getting a close-up view of the chaos that surrounds the Jets, center Nick Mangold says it's not that bad, Dan Hanzus writes. **More ...**
On whether Ryan will let him leave the team to watch his sister compete in London: "He did offer it to me, but I don't think I can in the middle of training camp. But we'll figure out a way to watch it. ... As far as I know, I can always out-lift her."
On the eternal "Softest hands: Tebow or Sanchez?" debate: "That's a tough call. Both seem to moisturize pretty well. Take good care of themselves. We'll really find out come the nitty-gritty of training camp, when there's not a lot of time to put in for personal hygiene and what not and see what they're doing."
Add exfoliation to the list of reasons why the Jets should have returned to "Hard Knocks."
UPDATE:
Jones later took to Twitter to respond to Mangold with a suggestion that Tebow might be off the market already:
