Rex again playing footsie on book tour

Richard Drew/AP

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan mentions his wife Thursday, according to a report, when Michael Kay makes a reference to Ryan's alleged foot fetish, which grabs headlines in Dec. 2010 (below).

MENDHAM, N.J. - The honeymoon period for Jets head coach Rex Ryan seems to have no expiration date. Not even when he inadvertently revisits the infamous foot fetish drama that emerged last fall.

The brash and oversized Ryan, in the middle of a public relations tour de force this week for the release of his book "Play Like You Mean It," put his foot in his mouth Thursday when he was taping an interview with Michael Kay for YES Network's "CenterStage."

At one point, Kay asked Ryan how badly he wanted to beat the hated rival Patriots. "Would you have given a pinky toe for it?" Kay asks. "Probably so," said Ryan, before adding, "I would say something but? umm? not my wife's, obviously." The audience and Kay broke into loud laughter drowning out the end of Ryan's remarks.

Last fall, foot fetish videos featuring a woman bearing a resemblance to Ryan's wife Michelle went viral. At the time, Ryan said the issue was "a personal matter" and declined to comment. With ample time having passed, Ryan appeared to have some fun with the controversy during the YES interview (set to air May 13 at 11 p.m.).

Ryan has promised Super Bowl glory ever since he took the Gang Green coaching reins, yet the Jets have come up short in two straight AFC title games. Ryan has weathered controversies the moment after Jets owner Woody Johnson hired him - from the team's no-holds-barred starring role on HBO's "Hard Knocks" to Ryan flipping the bird to Dolphins fans at an MMA event in Sunrise, Fla. in 2010 to the foot fetish drama - yet his popularity is on par with Broadway Joe Namath.

With an NFL lockout looming and a possible cancelation of the 2011 season, Ryan is doing exactly what Jets fans would expect him to do: opening his mouth and making promises of the variety Namath immortalized over four decades ago. And if it's possible, Ryan is even more visible these days, plugging his book. Amid the publicity storm Ryan is - shocker - promising big things for his team.

"This year, I guarantee it," Ryan said this week at Huntington, L.I. store Book Revue, when asked about the Jets winning the franchise's first Super Bowl title since Namath guaranteed Super Bowl III. "People have a problem with it - all the Giants fans, Patriots fans, Dolphins fans, Cowboys fans. Everybody's got a problem with it. I really don't care."

Wednesday night, an estimated 600 to 700 fans lined the quiet streets of Huntington - rainfall be damned - to have Ryan sign their book copies. That capped a day when Ryan did more than two dozen interviews to promote the book. Thursday, Ryan was at the YES Network's Chelsea studios in the morning and then did a book signing at Mendham (N.J.) Books, where another sizeable crowd lined up along the sidewalks, many sporting Jets player jerseys. If Ryan wore a uniform like a baseball manager, it would probably be the team's No. 1 seller.

America Ferrera Cristina Dumitru Pink Veronica Kay Arielle Kebbel