
“My new tat means, believe in yourself, which I got no problem doing.”
That’s the explanation for New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan’s brand-new calf tattoo provided in a Facebook video. The comments on the video ask all kinds of questions, like “is this your first tattoo” and “REALLY? LOL” and some bickering about who is and isn’t a Jets fan (on a Jets video on a Jets Facebook page), but nobody has posted the most important follow-up question: HOW does this mean “believe in yourself”?
And I don’t want that to sound dismissive, because I have multiple tattoos and understand how ink can feel like an inseparable part of your body and mean something intensely personal, but I want to know what tribal doctrine Ryan was referencing when he decided to get Rainbow Road from Super Mario Kart on his leg. How does this mean “believe in yourself”, Rex? Because when you walked into the tattoo parlor they had this on the wall with “believe in yourself” under it? Did you sit down in the chair blind and tell the artist you want something that means “believe in yourself”? That doesn’t f**king mean anything. I have a tattoo of Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web on my arm because it is my favorite book and helped shape me as an ethical person, and because my late Grandmother used to read it to me when I was little. I didn’t get it because it means “spread your wings and fly”. It also doesn’t mean “you deserve to be a champion”.
Honestly, I guess if anybody would take “believe in yourself” to mean something personally significant it’d be someone like Rex Ryan. Maybe he can get the outline of a butterfly with a tiger’s face inside that means “hope”. Here’s some kanji that says “love, destiny” but it also means “come on, you can do it”.


If ANYTHING means “believe in yourself,” it’s certainly Rainbow Road from Super Mario Kart. We must drive quickly regardless of the banana peels thrown in our path.
A Polynesian Tattoo is far different than your “English” meanings that represents something like “charlotte’s web (because my grandma read it to me)”. Polynesian Tattoo’s mostly have symbols of nature to represent a certain “Mana” or power. He has on the bottom two curls facing each other that look like baby fern sprouts usually meaning a new begging or growth. The shark tooth represents harnessing the mana of the shark for protection and strength as you grow. Symbols of Mountain and Ocean represent “in all things” or “you already have everything you need”. On an island you can find everything you need to live, water, food, shelter, from the mountains to the ocean. Incorporating all this in one flowing tattoo basically means that you already have what you need inside you to grow to your full potential. In other words “Believe in yourself”.
Sorry I ment…”a new beginning” not “begging”
WELL SAID ‘SOMEGUY’! Why is everyone trippin on this tattoo….i think he is 1 of few people who can truly appreciate Polynesian tattooing for what they really represent…P.S. why would he want to explain exactly what this tattoo means to him on national T.V. DUHH!
Is Rex Ryan Polynesian or did I miss that
Its a Hawaiian tattoo. Do your homework dumbf–ck ignorant people! That’s how we lost our sovereignty…haoles like you who don’t know anything about native culture. Have some respect.
OR! WAIT FOR IT! It could mean nothing! But people can’t accept that a Tattoo means nothing. So he made something up regardless if it is or looks like a Polynesian tattoo
Polynesian people are native Hawiians or at least that’s what the internet says
Is that Rexy’s FOOT?
he did it to take the jokes off his wife. duh