Christian Ponder is dating ESPN's Samantha Steele, one of the "50 hottest broadcasters"

Sorry ladies, he's off the market.

When Christian Ponder told C.J. last month that "football is my girlfriend," we called B.S. No professional athlete as young, successful, rich, and single as the Vikes QB is going to content themselves snuggling up with a pigskin for too long.

SEE ALSO: Star Tribune's C.J. grills Vikings' Christian Ponder about his bereft love life

So today's news that Christian is officially dating ESPN college football sideline reporter Samantha Steele isn't really that surprising. And we'll bet Christian is happy to put the football back in the closet at nighttime.

Ponder confirmed rumors about his budding relationship with the lovely Samantha yesterday on Twitter:

@kk1ng10 @samantha_steele actually yes they are

-- Christian Ponder (@cponder7) October 18, 2012

Afterward, in response to a follower's observation that "my boy [Christian] is doing grrrrrrreat if he's dating [Steele]," Ponder replied, "yeah don't ask how I pulled that off [because] I don't even know." So humble!

Here's what the Bleacher Report had to say in naming Samantha the 34th-hottest female sports broadcaster in the world last month:

Twitter

Wrote Steele: "I think I just lost my job..." Aww.

Sports Cred: The hopelessly adorable Samantha Steele got her start working for Fox Sports net after graduating college. She moved on to a hosting gig with ESPN's Longhorn Network in 2011, and her role on the network covering college football has been substantially increased since the departure of Erin Andrews.

Fun Fact(s): Samantha graduated from the extremely conservative Liberty University, so she isn't likely to ever engage in any entertaining hijinks. But she does love beef jerky.

A Liberty U grad, eh? Apparently Christian really is looking for a wife, as he suggests in these tweets:

Who would have thought that Chili Cheese Fritos paired so well with a bowl of chili covered in a lot of cheese?

-- Christian Ponder (@cponder7) October 12, 2012

@canfish16 haha I'm working on it!

-- Christian Ponder (@cponder7) October 13, 2012

@canfish16 the latter. I've got someone in mind

-- Christian Ponder (@cponder7) October 13, 2012

In any event, congratulations to the happy young couple. Now just don't let her distract you from studying game film, Ponder.