Rex Ryan believes in Magic -- Magic Johnson, that is.
One day recently, the New York Jets coach dined in Manhattan with the NBA Hall of Famer to discuss team-building, coach-player relations and ... well, winning. Ryan was joined by Jets owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum, a lifelong Boston Celtics fan.
Ryan met the former Los Angeles Lakers superstar recently in Las Vegas at the Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley fight and they agreed to get together when Johnson was in New York.
"You try to surround yourself around great people -- at least that's what Magic told me, anyway," Ryan cracked Thursday after an off-season practice.
When Ryan heard Johnson was going to be in the area, he reached out to him and they met at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan. When Ryan asked if anybody wanted to join him, several hands shot up immediately.
Ryan said he learned a lot from Magic, things he can apply to football. They talked a lot about Johnson's interaction with Pat Riley. They also discussed how to raise the standards of a sports organization.
"We talked about, as he put it, doing things the Laker way," Ryan said. "The Lakers had a way of doing things. I just look at our standard as an organization, what we stand for, how we're going to play, how we're going to practice, how we're going to prepare.
"When new guys come in ... they have to live up to those standards. If they don't, you have to move on. That's something I've always been a big believer in, but when you hear a guy like Magic Johnson talk about it and the success that he had, I feel confident that we're on the right path."
Ryan mentioned Johnson when discussing the elevated level of competition on the Jets' practice field, with receivers such as Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards being covered by Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie. Magic told Ryan stories about the Olympic Dream Team, and how they competed against each other.
"I asked him what those practices were like, and he said they were the most intense things and the fiercest competition that he's ever been in, more than games, more than anything else because you're with the greatest players in the world," Ryan said.
The Jets aren't the Dream Team, but they're a dreaming big team.
Do you think Al Groh, Herm Edwards or Eric Mangini ever did anything like this? To quote a favorite movie of mine: "that is highly unlikely." Rex knows how to coach and he is showing every day that he knows what he is doing.
Who better to pick the brain of than the great Magic Johnson?! Rex already was pretty good at building team chemistry and getting the guys in the locker room to go to battle for each other, and now he might have just gotten better at it -- if that's even possible -- by reaching out to and getting advice from Johnson. I am drinking the Gang Green Kool Aid! J-E-T-S! JETS! JETS! JETS!
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