These are the dog days of the off-season, folks, and don’t think I’m too proud to provide you with regular “Is-Kate-Upton-really- dating-Mark-Sanchez?” updates because , well, I’m not. I will go there.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Kate Upton was named Sports Illustrated‘s Swimsuit cover model late Monday night and as a result, the model has been making the rounds with the media, promoting the mag’s swimsuit edition, talking about her modeling career and, naturally, fielding questions about her rumored relationship with Mark Sanchez.

As you may recall, rumors surfaced about the QB and the model’s “relationship” several months ago after a source informed the New York Post that the two had been secretly seeing one another.

With the spotlight back on the model, the rumors have been re-ignited and Kate has done a whole lot of nothing to put them to rest.

First, there was this awkward exchange with a TMZ reporter, who asked Upton if she was single.

Upton’s response? ”What do you think?”

Oh, the old answering a question with a question. Nice, Kate. Very effective.

Then the story hit the pages of US Weekly, which is how our society gets all of it’s “legitimate” news, which basically means this story is totally for realz now.

US Weekly notes that Upton has been particularly coy in her responses about Sanchez throughout her media appearances, citing her recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as an example.

Ellen, who is a master at these kinds of things (No sarcasm here. Ellen is actually really good at getting people to spill the beans), grilled Kate about Mark, blatantly asking “How does your boyfriend Mark Sanchez feel about this?”

Thing is, Kate never said, “No-Mark is not my boyfriend,” she just giggled and awkwardly tried to steer clear of any kind of definitive answer other than, “Yeah, he is cute.” (You guys — She said he is cute! OMG).

You can watch a clip of the interview from Ellen‘s show and check out exactly what Kate said, which as I have just outlined, was mostly nothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6G-BiFrad4A

Us Weekly also adds:

“…neither Upton or Sanchez have confirmed their rumored romance—and an insider close to the swimsuit model says for now, the two are keeping things casual. “They started hanging out about seven months ago,” an Upton source tells Us Weekly. ” He’s always at her apartment [and] has dropped off gifts and flowers for her.” But, the pal adds, “It isn’t serious.”

You see, Us Weekly, we already knew this because The New York Post told us. But it’s cool.

Here’s my two cents: Kate appears to be playing coy on the Sanchez subject on purpose. She is either doing so because the gossip keeps her (and the QB relevant) or because they are, in fact, actually dating (the severity of the relationship being completely irrelevant).

I, personally, don’t give two hoots if they are dating or um, doing other stuff, and honestly, it’s not something they should be ashamed of. They are both young and hot and though she could stand to appear a little more prepared and poised in interviews, there is nothing wrong with two single people doing what single people do. So, you go with your bad selves.

Also, this means Mark never touched a Kardashian and that helps me sleep better at night.

UPDATE:  According to Celebuzz!, a close friend of the model claims, “The rumors are just that. They are one-hundred-percent not dating.”

(Oh- So, Kate is just THAT bad in interviews, huh? Ouch).

According to The Daily, Kate also denied she is dating Sanchez Tuesday night saying, ““I have met him before, but that’s pretty much it.”

***Many people believe Mark should be spending less time with Kate and more time working on improving his quarterbacking skills and I can’t disagree. But come on — everyone deserves somebody to do love. So don’t be too hard on the guy.