Play Like You Mean It: Passion, Laughs, and Leadership in the World's Most Beautiful Game by Rex Ryan, Don Yaeger Page A

since the boys enjoy it. There’s a par-3 course near our home, and Seth and I will get out for a quick, 90-minute round. When at home, Michelle and I like to watch a good movie, or I might sit in my chair and work on a Sudoku puzzle.
    People always see me smiling, laughing, and in a good mood, and they wonder if Michelle and I ever fight. That’s what is so great about our relationship—even our disagreements end up in laughter. There are times when Michelle is determined to stay mad at me. She might slam the cabinet door or throw a pan down on the counter to get my attention when she is set on making me suffer. I get that look all wives probably give their husbands when they are mad. Of course, I pop off and say something smart-alecky or funny and Michelle, bless her soul, can’t keep a straight face. She tries, but she can’t.
    I am also the kind of guy who always tries to make a game out of anything. The Ryan family has long made up rules as we go. Like when the kids were younger and I was on the couch watching football and wanted a drink of water. Now, how in the world are you going to get one of your children to walk into the kitchen, fill up a water bottle, and bring it to you? Not likely. I told the boys, “Okay, let’s see who can get me the water bottle the quickest,” and I’d time them. It worked every time, and the Road Runner didn’t have a chance against Payton and Seth.
    The two boys are close and pull for each other even though they have different interests. Payton is not comfortable in the spotlight. He loves the Jets and hates it when I lose. I think that’s one reasonwhy he elected to stay in Baltimore and finish high school, even after the Jets hired me. He lives with my brother-in-law. In Baltimore, he is removed from the highs and lows of our wins and losses. But he can tell you exactly what happened in our game, remember nearly every play, his memory is that good. He knows where we are in the standings. Payton might act nonchalant about our season, but it means a lot more to him than he might want you to think. I am so proud of Payton. He’s a great kid.
    As I said, Seth is the son who absolutely loves football. Of course, his favorite player is our quarterback, Mark Sanchez. Sanchez loves Seth; Seth is like his little brother. They text-message each other all the time. Mark went to every one of Seth’s freshman football games, home and away. I told him to stop because I thought it would interfere with his preparation for our games, but he insisted, “No, no, this is part of my routine.” Once people started to figure out Mark would be at the game, a lot of fans started to show for Seth’s freshman football games. Mark didn’t cut Seth—or even Michelle—any slack either. Seth had lost his game uniform pants before one game and the replacement pants Michelle had for him were huge and just about swallowed him whole. Mark busted Seth and Michelle and said there was no way Seth could show for his game in those pants. “You don’t look good, you don’t play good,” Mark repeated about a thousand times. I was like, “Nah, he’s fine. It’s not a big deal.” But it was a big deal to Mark. He absolutely killed Seth and Michelle about those pants.
    I mentioned before that Seth attends practice with me and runs routes against our cornerbacks. A guy like Darrelle Revis won’t give Seth any slack either. He has knocked Seth to the ground on a completion. One time, Darrelle stepped on Seth’s shoe while Seth ran a route and the kid still caught the ball in front of Revis. Revis was pissed. So Seth has that on his résumé: “Caught a ball in front of All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis.” When Seth’s at practice, I let him run round and have fun. Even though he’s my son, when he has run routes, our players think, “Hey, I don’t care if he’s the coach’s kid, wedon’t want him catching the ball on our watch.” They go after him pretty good. Seth is fearless, and it’s kind