Birds of a Feather

I recently moved to the mountains west of Boulder from the Northeast, and was bewildered to see a large flock of Robins flying around my cabin yesterday afternoon. I always thought of these guys as harbingers of spring, so I was a little shocked to see them in the dead of winter en masse. My guess is that they were on their way north. Were they part of some larger migration? Damned if I know…

What I do know is that it was far less shocking to hear that New York Jets coach Rex Ryan had flipped-the-bird to some Dolphins fans this past Saturday. He definitely ruffled a few feathers with that stunt and will be fined by the team, the league and possibly even both. Roger Goodell might even make an example of him since it has only been a couple of months since Titans owner Bud Adams was fined a cool quarter of a million dollars for flipping off Bills fans.

So, could it be that this is some emerging trend in the AFC East, or with this latest incident are we simply witnessing Rex Ryan displaying a temperament he inherited from his father? If you recall, Buddy Ryan famously sucker punched Kevin Gilbride, then a fellow Houston Oilers assistant coach, in a game against the New York Jets back in 1994.  Could it be that the old adage, 'Birds of a feather...' is at play here?



Hand gestures aside, I think the really obscene gesture was Rex Ryan’s quote where he said "I want to just tell everybody in Miami, ’Hey, we’re coming to beat you twice next year,’ "

The Jets were swept by the Dolphins in 2009.