How Colts' CB Sauce Gardner Became 1 Year Younger Overnight
How Colts' CB Sauce Gardner Became 1 Year Younger Overnight
The Indianapolis Colts' superstar cornerback recently revealed that he's a year younger than a lot of prominent sports outlets have claimed he is.Noah Compton|
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Indianapolis ColtsThe Indianapolis Colts traded for superstar cornerback Sauce Gardner at last season's trade deadline, a blockbuster move that required a haul for his services.
The Colts dished out a 2026 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick, and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell to land Gardner, but they were happy to do so if it meant they'd be bringing in a certified lockdown corner who had recently inked a 4-year extension.
With Gardner being locked down for nearly half a decade as he enters his prime, the Colts were more than willing to pay up.
Gardner will be 25 years old by the time the 2026-27 regular season arrives, not 26. His official birthdate is August 31, 2001, but unless you were visiting the Indianapolis Colts' or the NFL's official website, you would have been led to believe that he's a year older than he actually is.
“I’m 24!” Gardner said on the last day of Colts minicamp, laughing as he shook his head. “It’s crazy that I’m even being asked this.”
Why is this even a question four seasons into his NFL career? Gardner himself has no idea, but he recently set the record straight during his media availability on the Colts' last day of veteran minicamp, and The Athletic's James Boyd took a deep dive into how this all came to be.
Sauce's Mystery Date
Some of the most reputable sports resources, such as ESPN and Sports Reference, have listed Gardner's birth year as 2000 since he joined the league. These avenues likely spread such misinformation to the older generations, but even the younger NFL fans who frequent EA Sports' Madden video game series have also been led astray.
“It’s wrong in Madden, too? That’s crazy because I never checked,” Gardner told The Athletic. “Because when it comes to the paperwork and everything I’ve signed, it all says ’01. So, I don’t know where or how it got messed up unless people just get it straight from Google.”
This confusion led to Wikipedia doing most of the damage when it comes to spreading misinformation about Gardner's age. Although we've all been taught not to take Wikipedia at face value, given its easy access to spreading any information, it remains a solid resource for the less trivial of facts.
Even though Wikipedia (and soon to be others) has since fixed the error in question, it doesn't just undo years of conditioning. There will still be people who didn't see the news and will assume that Gardner is a year older than he is, and this is concerning for multiple reasons.
“You can’t believe everything you see on the internet,” Gardner said. “You just can’t.”
NBA players Buddy Hield and Jake LaRavia are two similar examples of poor reporting gone wrong.
As for Hield, his mix-up was revealed during his third season in the league when he was still with the Sacramento Kings. After publicly celebrating his 26th birthday, the investigators were tipped off.
Hield was listed as 25 years old on both the Kings' and the NBA's official websites, and even though this inverse example of Gardner's likely affected how he was viewed moving forward, his role as a 3-point shooter meant he had plenty of his prime left. This aspect was a bit more important for Gardner to clarify, as one year in cornerback life could mean the difference between a future contract.
For Jake LaRavia, his case of birthday misinformation on the internet affected him most.
The former Wake Forest product was listed as 22 years old on most prominent scouting sites and media outlets, when in reality he was just 20, but after he and his agent worked quickly to remedy the situation, LaRavia was soon thereafter flying up draft boards.
LaRavia was ultimately drafted with the 19th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, so it didn't permanently knock his draft stock, but it was still one of the bigger examples in recent memory of an incorrect birthday doing more harm than good.
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Published Jun 19, 2026
NOAH COMPTONNoah Compton is the Publisher of Indianapolis Colts On SI. Noah is from the Indy area and has been covering the Colts since 2022, including stops at FanSided, The Blue Stable, and SBNation.
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
