George Orwell was right, to an extent. Big Brother exists, but he is each of us, carrying around cameras and microphones that will capture images and words that can and will be used against us.
When it comes to former NFL coaches Rex and Rob Ryan, another video has emerged regarding the scuffle that has resulted in a 30-year-old Colorado man claiming that Rex committed simple assault. The video, obtained by TMZ, shows Matthew Havel sitting at a table with the Ryans and an unidentified man and woman inside a Nashville bar. Eventually, Havel says or does something that prompts Rex to say, if my lip reading skills are better than Marlee Matlin’s, “Hey why don’t you get the f--k out?”
Rex Ryan then picks up the Havel’s drink, pushes it toward him and apparently knocks the woman out of her chair. As she tries to recover, she bumps into Rex’s arm, causing the drink to spill while also creating the impression that Rex engaged in a very lame effort to throw Havel’s drink at him.
Rob, meanwhile, shoves Havel with his left arm while still sitting, and also gives the other man (sitting to Rob’s left) a shove.
The new video most likely precedes the video that emerged over the weekend. The question becomes whether more videos are available at different junctures of the altercation.
At some point, the question becomes whether any of this troubles Rex’s new employer, ESPN, which may not be thrilled with the notion of Rex coming through the door with a vague cloud of potential criminal responsibility and, regardless of the outcome of the case, an unforced-error of a controversy that does little to alter Rex’s reputation as a gratuitous and undisciplined hot head.