Jets coach Rex Ryan is continuing to predict his team will win the Super Bowl. And he says that in doing so, he’s a lot like another New York sports icon.
“They talk about walk softly and carry a big stick. I love that. I agree with that 100%,” Ryan told the New York Daily News. “But I guess I feel more like Babe Ruth. I’m going to walk softly, I’m going to carry that big stick and then I’m going to point and then I’m going to hit it over the fence.”
Ryan seems to be recalling both Babe Ruth’s “called shot” in the 1932 World Series and Theodore Roosevelt’s use of the African proverb “Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far.” But Ryan made clear that he’s comparing himself to Ruth, not Roosevelt.
“It’s like he had the courage to do that. I think I’ve got the courage,” Ryan said. “Now granted, I can’t hit anywhere close to Babe Ruth and I’m not as good a coach as Babe Ruth was a player. But I still feel the same way. I still feel like, why wouldn’t I say it? It’s easier for me to say it because I have people with me. Babe Ruth had to walk up there by himself. But if everything was up to me and that we were going to win [if] I’d hit one out, I believe myself I’m going to hit it out. More importantly, I believe in everybody - our players, our coaches, the fan base we have established here, everybody in the organization.”
So Ryan isn’t losing any confidence. Even after striking out in two straight AFC Championship Games.