More To The Bird Than Meets The Eye

The other day I blasted Rex Ryan for stupidly giving the finger to a fan at an MMA event in Miami over the weeked No matter what, Rex has to watch himself out in public. Like it or not, his boisterous personality and presence represent the Jets and the National Football League everywhere he goes. But today brought some insightthat might make the Jets rethink the 50K fine they leveled on their coach.

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports appeared was interviewed on WFAN this morning. Glazer is an NFL Insider AND a leading reporter and follower of Mixed Martial Arts. He knows plenty about the world of MMA that is dominated by a fan base of males 18-34. Glazer was with Ryan at the Strikeforce event. Glazer claims that one unruly guy accosted Ryan 3 different times. He says the first two times, Ryan good naturedly took the verbal abuse and was very low kwy. Only after he was spit on by the jerk did Ryan respond with the largest finger available.

Glazer claims that security was totally lacking. There was never any effort to throw out the offending fan or even keep him away from Ryan. Apparently Ryan has told all this to the Jets, and Gang Green still fined Rex 50 thousand dollars. But despite Ryan's wrongdoing in this, there are a few points that have to be made:

1. Where the heck WAS security? Not only from an arena standpoint, but even Showtime, which aired the event. You have a guest or a celebrity on site, you damn well better make sure that guest is protected and kept away from potential idiots in the crowd. What would we be talking about if Ryan had been drunk, or even had a bad day, and went after a jackass in the stands? The same idiots that are telling their friends "I got Rex 50K lighter in the wallet" or "I took the cell phone picture that is all over the media", would be suing Ryan's hefty behind for major dough.

2. We tend to focus on the athletes, but is it any wonder why ANY public figure wouldn't consider carrying a gun? I know of a prominent news anchor who had a registered weapon at all times-and wasn't afraid to tell loudmouth viewers on the phone that he had one. I'm not saying Ryan-or ANY celebrity-should have such a Wild West attitude. But in today's world, you never know what to expect-no matter how trustful a society we want to be. ItThe rich and famous see this and they might think, "If there's no protection for me at a sports event, what about on the street?"

If Glazer is correct about what happened Sunday, we can all be thankful Ryan's dealings with a moron didn't turn into something tragic.