No love for this proposal

TIJUANA -- The model-reporter who proposed to Tom Brady at Super Bowl media day is being laughed at -- and deservedly so -- in the United States. She is not considered so entertaining in Mexico, at least not to some of us.

While here visiting my parents, I read a couple of stories Tuesday about media day that pointed to the same three people as this year’s freakiest pseudo-reporters -- the woman who posed as a prospective bride, the wizard (from Telemundo) and a puppet named Charly from a TV station in Monterrey, Mexico.

When I read that list, I have to admit that I buried my face in my hands. I was ashamed.

John Sutcliffe, a U.S. correspondent for ESPN Deportes, took it a step further Wednesday. He blasted TV Azteca entertainment reporter Ines Gomez Mont for dressing up in a wedding gown and proposing to Brady, Eli Manning and other players.

He said that while the stunt might be considered cute or funny, it detracted from the credibility of serious sports reporters from Mexico.

“Right now, the press in Mexico is being laughed at by the world,” Sutcliffe said from Arizona. “I hope the NFL takes a hard look at this.”

I don’t know if anyone other than Sutcliffe and I share this sentiment. I know that most reporters at the Super Bowl from U.S. media outlets have more or less forgotten about it, having moved on after helping turn Gomez Mont into a 15-minute celebrity. Or maybe I should say 30 minutes; she was all over the U.S. media during the 2007 Super Bowl media day for dancing with players.

Although what she did doesn’t affect me personally or professionally, it does affect what many of my friends from Mexico are trying to do: to be taken seriously in a country that’s not really our own.

Perhaps Gomez Mont, known in Mexico for her work on an “Entertainment Tonight”-style show, didn’t think about that. Or perhaps it doesn’t matter to her. She is part of Super Bowl media-day lore now.

And she is engaged to be married this year, though not to Tom Brady.

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Jaime Cardenas is a Times sportswriter who was raised in Tijuana.