This is a new series called "Perfect Gentlemen," wherein we feature stories from women (or men!) who've gone on dates with sports figures and had altogether positive experiences with them. In today's installment, Rex Ryan has figured it all out.
This is from reader Daryl B., who had, while not quite a date, a very pleasant run-in with the jolly Jets' head coach on the subway this past weekend.
I attended the Yankee game on Memorial Day with my father, my buddy Jay and his pop. It's our annual pilgrimage to the Stadium for our version of Father's Day. My friend who works for Nederlander (part owner of the Yanks) gets us front row behind the dugout seats and we generally have a fantastic time toasting our dads and the copious amounts of free food in the Legends Suite. It's my favorite New York tradition, as I am a transplanted NYer living out west, but still loving my Yankees and My Jets.
For as good as this day normally is, yesterday took a far better turn.
During the 3rd or 4th inning, they showed Rex Ryan on the video screen. I was pretty excited about this, as you tend to get less Yanks/Jets convergence than Yanks/Giants or Jets/Mets. For the rest of the game, I checked out our section, wondering if Sexy Rexy was going to be sitting down near me, wolfing down slightly less hot dogs in past years (lap band surgery and all). Alas, the only other excitement besides an A-Rod A-Bomb Grand Slammer was some CT chick coming to my seat to hit on me and my buddy Jay after she saw us taking photos with our Pops. I have a gf, so I tried to steer her towards Jay, but he passed on what I thought might have been a good stadium hook up experience. He's still hurting from his last break up, Poor guy.
Anyway, we get out of the game with an 11-2 victory; our Pops had taken off a few pitches early to beat the traffic.
We head down to the subway, and who do I see but Mr. Ryan with what I think were his two kids and another coachy looking guy in a Jets jersey and his kid. All were wearing some combo of Jets/Yanks gear. I said "Rexy" — ok, I shouted "Rexy" and he turned to wave. I was pretty stunned to see the man leaving the game on the Subway, and pretty damn impressed. For all his "man of the people" vibe, it now seemed pretty genuine.
So we're walking to our train and Rex is right next to me. Being the rather social man I am, I start chatting him up, telling him about my Sunday Jets Brunches in LA (I cook for some fellow transplants). I tell him one of my favorite stories, about how during the AFC championship game, my girlfriend came over to sit on my lap from her seats (we had only been dating about three weeks and my area was already full of my Jets buddies). The Colts scored the pre-halftime TD and I basically told her that she had to leave because she was jinxing us, and somehow, she's still dating me. His response was "good woman that she understood, hope she's not a Dolphins fan" (She is...grrr). And then I took my photo.
His wife even volunteered to take it for me. He couldn't have been cooler about me interrupting their ride home.
Once we got on the subway, I told him i was going to take a photo of him on the subway, because, Rex Ryan on the subway is a pretty cool thing. He responded "man, you're killing me" but then quickly added a "just kidding" like he was busting my chops. I took a photo of him and his wife gazing lovingly into each others eyes. They truly seemed really happy. Considering all the indiscretions you hear about in sports, it was a pretty heartwarming moment. I showed my girlfriend, because she's a softy. I really showed her because I figured maybe she'll drink some Rex Kool-Aid with me. We haven't been dating through a full NFL season yet, so she's gonna need to be prepared. It can get ugly.