Rex Ryan Takes Picture with Jets Fan Wearing 'This Team Makes Me Drink' Shirt

Every once in a long while, two perfect strangers meet and immediately form a deep and beautiful bond.

No words need to be said. All it takes is one look in the eye for them to know they're looking into the soul of a kindred spirit—someone who understands them deeply and profoundly.

This beautiful moment of serendipity occurred over the weekend, when Rex Ryan met a rosy-cheeked New York Jets fan named Joseph Grinwis. The two came together in the streets of Cortland, N.Y. on Saturday night, according to John Healy of the New York Daily News, and the picture they took deserves its own wing in the Louvre.

Ryan was in town with the team kicking off training camp when he ran into the fan and his “This Team Makes Me Drink” shirt. Grinwis told Healy that the coach looked at the shirt, laughed and took the photo with him.

Grinwis—a big-time Jets fan—was worried at first but was ultimately glad the coach took the joke well.

“I was a little bit ‘Oh no’ inside. I mean, the one night I’m wearing this shirt,” Grinwis said. “But he was cool with it. Maybe he wasn’t on the inside but he seemed cool with it.” 

These two men are probably more similar than Grinwis believes.

Sure, they represent two often conflicting sides of the Jets franchise. Ryan—a bulky creature that does things seemingly just to spite its supporters—is the team. Grinwis is the Jets fanbase—an entity becoming more and more a parody of itself as it holds out for better days.

At this point, however, they’re united in one thing—the Jets are their joy, their bane and the thing that keeps them up at all hours sipping Bud heavies and staring blankly into the night sky.

Rex knows how you feel. He really does.

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