Rex Ryan’s Tattoo – Another Twist in Jets Soap Opera

I have always said that the NY Jets were like a soap opera, which I affectionately dubbed As Gang Green Turns. As with all great soap operas, there is a central character that usually is so good at being bad. Dynasty had Alexis Carrington (Joan Collins), Dallas had J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), and our Jets soap opera has none other than Rex Ryan. Perhaps the most important reason why he was not fired is that the show would never be the same without him.

Rex and his wife Michelle have been no strangers to controversy. There was that infamous video of Michelle’s feet, and Rex has never confirmed or denied that he was the cameraman. One thing we have to give the big guy credit for: he is the most colorful coach or manager of a sports team here in New York since the Yankees Billy Martin kept getting fired and rehired by owner George Steinbrenner.

Now Rex tried to get away from the Black Monday excitement – when seven NFL coaches got the axe. So Rex and Michelle took off to the Bahamas to get a little rest and avoid the spotlight. Of course, the New York Daily News was there to snap a picture and slapped it on the front page. It shows Rex lying in the sun on a lounge chair, but the “fun” part is that visible on his right arm is a tattoo of wife Michelle wearing, wait for it, a Jets jersey with Number 6 on it.

We all know that is Mark Sanchez’s number. The paper played around with it with the headline “Kinky Inky.” They gave Rex a thought bubble with Sanchez’s picture in it. The implication is that Rex is dreaming of Mark, and there are all other sorts of things that can be left to our imaginations. The bottom line is that Rex has been very protective of Sanchez, and he proved that again and again during this abysmal season when he kept Sanchez as starting QB. What does all that mean in the big picture? Well, if you are Tim Tebow, for example, you need to look for other dance partners.

As always, the Gang Green soap opera has taken yet another turn. The excitement should mount when Rex returns and has to face the press. Of foot-gate, Rex merely said that he had a lovely wife and moved on to other things. Will he even respond to a question about the Sanchez tattoo? What does it all mean for next season? If Sanchez gets traded does the tattoo have to go too? We will learn more, folks, in the next episode of As Gang Green Turns.

Photo credit: NY Daily News