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After Being Fired by New York Jets, Coach Rex Ryan Changes Tattoo *NSFW* Shirtless Rex

Lil Bit Special

By Lil Bit Special
in NY Jets Forum

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Lil Bit Special

Lil Bit Special

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/after-being-fired-by-new-york-jets-coach-rex-ryan-changes-tattoo-1422921707

 

naked%20red.jpg

 

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—Despite middling results with the New York Jets, Rex Ryan became one of the most beloved coaches in the National Football League, winning followers with his sincerity, salty mouth and unapologetic bravado.

Jets players and fans adored him. He returned the sentiment, most indelibly by getting a tattoo on his upper right arm that depicted his wife, Michelle, as a pinup model wearing nothing but a Jets jersey.

HC-GT423_Tattoo_G_20150202165012.jpg
Rex Ryan’s tattoo

In December, the Jets fired Mr. Ryan after six seasons and a 4-12 record in 2014. The Buffalo Bills hired him as their new head coach two weeks later. That left him with a question: What should he do with the tattoo?

He came up with the $80 answer on Friday. Mr. Ryan went to an Arizona tattoo parlor, where an artist darkened the jersey’s color from Jets green to Bills blue.

“I mean, you’ve got to turn the page,” he said.

The coach also rid himself of almost all his Jets apparel. That included the black sweater vests he superstitiously wore almost every game, pieces of Jets lore that each could be worth as much as $1,000, according to collectibles-dealer Heritage Auctions.

Unclear is the current whereabouts of the sweater vests. Mr. Ryan said his wife donated all his Jets gear to the Salvation Army in suburban New Jersey, where thrift-store shoppers might have unknowingly bought clothes once worn by the popular coach.

This time of year, NFL coaches play a game of musical chairs. After the regular season’s end in December, team owners fired head coaches who didn’t meet expectations. The new ones they hire are usually either former head coaches or up-and-coming assistant coaches from teams in the playoffs, which culminated Sunday with the Super Bowl.

Given the competitiveness of the NFL, the hiring season usually ends in February and a new coach immediately relocates to begin working for his new team, where he becomes the franchise’s public face. So the coach has little time to figure out what to do with all the stuff from his old team.

Gus Bradley, who in 2013 left his job as the Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator to become the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach, said he gave his Seattle gear to friends who were Seahawks fans. Tennessee Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt did the same after the Arizona Cardinals fired him as head coach after the 2012 season, but only to a degree. “I still have some of it, especially Super Bowl stuff,” said Mr. Whisenhunt, whose Cardinals team was the NFL runner-up of the 2008 season.

Mr. Ryan, who is 52 years old, said he never considered holding on to Jets keepsakes or even leaving the tattoo green to remind of him of that period in life. He said his style was to immerse himself in the present.

“I’m all in,” he said.

The Jets gave Mr. Ryan his first head-coaching job in 2009, when he proclaimed at his introductory news conference that he’d take the team to the White House after winning a Super Bowl. A year later, he charmed football fans nationwide with his profanity-aided exuberance on the HBO documentary show “Hard Knocks.”

Mr. Ryan flew to the Phoenix area last week for media appearances during Super Bowl week. On Thursday, he called a Scottsdale, Ariz., tattoo parlor called Old Town Ink, said Ben Verhoek, an artist there. Mr. Verhoek said Mr. Ryan explained his dilemma like this: “It’s like a girl in a jersey and I wanted to change the colors of it.”

Mr. Verhoek realized who the customer was only when the coach, clad in a Buffalo Bills tracksuit, and his wife showed up at the shop Friday afternoon. The artist looked at the tattoo and then at Mrs. Ryan.

“Is that supposed to be you?” he asked.

She said yes.

“I see the resemblance,” Mr. Verhoek said.

He took 20 minutes to shade green into blue, while Mr. Ryan and all the tattooists made small talk and watched the documentary series “The First 48” on TV. Mr. Verhoek said he charged the minimum rate, $80, and Mr. Ryan tipped on top of that.

Mr. Ryan said he was happy he had to alter only the tattoo’s color. “The girl’s not changing,” he said. “I’ve been married 28 years.”

Less clear is what happened to the sweater vests. Mr. Ryan started the superstition of wearing the same black sweater vest for games when he was an assistant coach for the Baltimore Ravens, who won a Super Bowl during his tenure from 1999 to 2008.

When the Jets hired Mr. Ryan in 2009, he brought his lucky Baltimore one with him and obscured the Ravens logo with a Jets patch. He stopped wearing it after the 2011 season, when the NFL switched its official outfit provider. It wouldn’t have fit any more, anyway, because he had lost more than 100 pounds after lap-band weight-loss surgery.

He got two or three replacement sweater vests and wore them for games, whether it was 90 degrees in San Diego or freezing in Buffalo. As head coach, he wore a sweater vest unfailingly until 2014, when he often donned something else to try to break a losing streak.

Mr. Ryan went 50-52 in six seasons with the Jets, leading the team to the conference-title game in his first two years but never fulfilling his Super Bowl guarantee.

The coach has moved to the Buffalo area, where the Bills have already provided him with new sweater vests. He still has the Ravens-turned-Jets vest in storage somewhere. The other ones? Who knows? Mr. Ryan said no one buying his clothes secondhand from a Salvation Army would know it once belonged to him, but for one clue: On the tags are his initials “RR” or “R2” written in marker by a Jets equipment manager.

Recent visits to three Salvation Army sites near Mr. Ryan’s former suburban New Jersey home have turned up nothing. A Salvation Army employee at one of the locations said not everything that gets donated goes into the organization’s thrift shops. Some clothes are unsuitable for sale, while some go to places such as nursing homes.

Mr. Ryan said he was glad to give his stuff to the charity. “They’ll give to people that can use it,” he said.

Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com

 

 

 

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Integrity28

Integrity28

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More articles exist about the things Rex is doing to show the Jets he's over them, than there are articles about the prospect if Rex improving the Bills.

He is like the personification of a Mandy Moore pre-teen breakup film from the early 2000's

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BP

BP

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More articles exist about the things Rex is doing to show the Jets he's over them, than there are articles about the prospect if Rex improving the Bills.

He is like the personification of a Mandy Moore pre-teen breakup film from the early 2000's

He doesn't know how to improve the Bills. This is the kind of stuff he does as a head coach. He's a fking attention whore.

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sourceworx

sourceworx

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More articles exist about the things Rex is doing to show the Jets he's over them, than there are articles about the prospect if Rex improving the Bills.

He is like the personification of a Mandy Moore pre-teen breakup film from the early 2000's

Lmao so true.

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LionelRichie

LionelRichie

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More articles exist about the things Rex is doing to show the Jets he's over them, than there are articles about the prospect if Rex improving the Bills.

He is like the personification of a Mandy Moore pre-teen breakup film from the early 2000's

 

I have this nagging feeling that Rex and the Jets are going to be like Billy Martin and the Yankees.   He will eventually return only to be fired again...probably mid-season next time.     F this franchise. 

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DaBallhawk

DaBallhawk

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Don't mock the man, he's obviously mentally very sick. This, along with all his Pizza interviews, is just a cry for help. He needs somebody to help him find his office, the Bills facility so he can actually get some work done. Hopefully somebody helps him out soon before he does even more embarrassing things. I can totally see him crash a news set, completely naked, and go "BABA BOOEY I LOVE PENIS BABA BOOEY HOWARD STERN!!!!". Just wait...

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KRL

KRL

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He doesn't know how to improve the Bills. This is the kind of stuff he does as a head coach. He's a fking attention whore.

 

So true!!!  Why in the world is there a picture of this???  Because Ryan wanted it out there to draw attention

to himself.  Wouldn't it been more important for him and his staff to be in Buffalo breaking down their roster???

Fool

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DaBallhawk

DaBallhawk

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Looks like a horrible Jackass episode. Speaking of...Rex looks like that one guy's fat dad. His facial expression is just priceless. What a joke this guy is, such a publicity stunt. Enjoy, Buffalo.

 

EDIT: "I mean, you've got to turn the page," Ryan told the newspaper. That's pretty much what he'll say in about 2 years again when he gets fired. What'll be next? Raider black? Arizona red? Ravens purple? Talk about loyalty.

 

rex.jpg

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boeingjets

boeingjets

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So true!!!  Why in the world is there a picture of this???  Because Ryan wanted it out there to draw attention

to himself.  Wouldn't it been more important for him and his staff to be in Buffalo breaking down their roster???

Fool

Where's the pictures of Todd Bowles. There are none? Oh yeah, he's probably in his office working.

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