Everybody Loves Rex Ryan

By admin Posted On May 15, 2009

The only person on a football team who is more popular than the backup quarterback is a head coach who has never lost a game. That is the case with Rex Ryan. Granted he has pretty small shoes to fill since he is replacing the Penguin Eric Mangini. The mainstream media does need to calm down a bit though, they are so in love with the guy.

Here are some recent quotes from Dave Hutchinson of the Newark Star Ledger about Rex Ryan:

If Ryan wins at all, he may have his own reality show on Comedy Central. His press conferences are that good. Thursday, he joked about his weight — asking how a men’s store calls itself a men’s store if it doesn’t have a size 4X. Also, he said he thought he was in French class while sitting in on an offensive line meeting recently.

And his showstopper was when he imitated coaches who are stiff in front of the cameras while speaking in a monotone and handing out canned answers.

At one point, he stood ramrod straight to make his point and mockingly uttered, “It’s an open competition,” referring to the quarterback battle between Clemens and rookie Mark Sanchez.

The room erupted in laughter because to many of us he sounded a lot like former coach Eric Mangini, but Ryan quickly pointed out, “It’s not a shot at anybody.”

Rich Cimini of the NY Daily News chimes in:

If Rex Ryan keeps it up, he’ll start charging a $5 cover with a two-drink minimum. His news conferences have turned into stand-up routines, a dramatic departure from his predecessor. In between one liners, Ryan addressed a few serious topics today after the 90-minute practice in the field house

We don’t have to look back that far to be reminded how reporters can let their personal agendas impact what they write. Mark Cannizzaro of the NY Post let his Herman Edwards man-crush cloud his otherwise iffy judgement. Also does anyone remember how crazy Dan Leberfeld was for Brooks Bollinger?

This is not to say that Rex Ryan won’t be an excellent head coach. As a fan, I am going to let the Jets record under Ryan decide what I think about him. History tells us that the main stream media is less concerned with the record and more concerned with being entertained at press conferences.