Rex Ryan’s middle finger: Offensive or just damn funny?

Look at that photo. What do you feel? Angry, disgusted, offended, or maybe… happy? I know I smiled. In fact, I’m gonna say it’s impossible not to smile when looking at that picture. Much like Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau, there’s just something about it that’s inherently, unmistakably, funny as shit.

Which makes it all the more aggravating that the New York Jets decided to fine coach Rex Ryan $50,000 for giving some fan the middle finger at a mixed martial arts event last weekend in Miami. This, after he already took it upon himself to apologize for “an incident” that only in a hyper-sensitive, pussy media environment like ours could even be classified as one.

The man was at an MMA event. Not exactly the Philharmonic opera. “Wow, I loved watching Herschell Walker pound some white guy’s face into mush, but why did Rex have to flip the bird. It just put a black-eye on what otherwise was a lovely evening.”

Unlike Michael Vick who gave the one-finger salute to his own fans in 2006 or earlier this season when Titans owner Bud Adams tossed middle fingers at Bills fans like it was candy in a parade, Rex Ryan was not at work. The person he flashed the finger to was not a paying customer of the National Football League. He was just some drunk Dolphins fan.

A fan who according to The National Football Post, accosted Ryan at least three times, yelling “f–k you” and “I hate you” from close distance. When Ryan finally reacted, the guy snapped a photo of him and sent it to a radio station. (The image then quickly spread across the Internet and made its way onto the back pages of New York tabloids.)

So, who’s the bad guy here? If anything, Ryan should’ve channeled his father Buddy and popped the dude in the face.

While the 300+ pound coach may have brought the attention on himself, saying in a ringside TV interview during the fight, “I want to just tell everybody in Miami, ‘Hey, we’re coming to beat you twice next year,’” what did you expect Ryan to say? This is a big man with an even bigger mouth. Bold pronouncements like that one are as much his signature as blitzing defenses. He was just having fun. It’s not like he pulled a gun or flashed a school bus, no one was scarred by his actions. The Dolphins fan was not only unoffended by Ryan’s finger, he was proud he solicited it. The picture he snapped on his camera phone is proof enough of that.

But, the media and the Internet being what they are, Ryan was the one left apologizing, calling his actions “stupid and inappropriate.” Not exactly the adjectives I’d go with. Considering the entertainment value of the picture and the actions of the guy who took it, “funny” and “justified” would be much more fitting.

The middle finger was made for a moment like this. There’s no reason a man should be fined $50,000 (and possibly more if the league office weighs in) for doing something many do in traffic every other day. Hell, the middle finger is practically a term of endearment in today’s world, exchanged between coworkers and loved ones after friendly burns.

The action is offensive to no one, especially sports fans, yet Rex Ryan still got fined. (We can only hope Don Cherry keeps his job after touching Team Canada’s Lucky Loonie with his middle finger on Tuesday).

Who are these governors of morality, anyway? Who’s decided middle fingers are still a faux pas? And why are they always blurred out in newspapers and television programs? As far as I’m concerned they’re funny. Well, not quite Bruce Boudreau funny, but you know what I mean.