About a year and a half ago, a good friend of mine disappeared.

I didn't know him personally - and he certainly didn't know me - but soon after he burst onto the scene in 2009, he came to occupy a certain place in my professional life.  His various overzealous bloviations providing me fodder for countless column inches and hours of monologue.

But as I said, sometime over the last two years, he disappeared.  And I've missed him since.

Today, though, I weep no more.  For my friend has returned to us all.

"Watch out for the Jets, man.  That's what I'm telling you....Nobody's really talking about us now, but they're going to," Rex Ryan said this morning at the NFL owner's meeting - bursting out of the darkness and back into the spotlight he so loves to occupy.

He's back!

Back to tell us all how great this franchise that hasn't won anything since the Florida A&M University band played the Super Bowl halftime.  Back to tug on Superman's - Belichick's - cape.  Back to confuse the hell out of everyone with what he's saying and doing about his quarterback situation.  Back to guarantee a championship for this team on which Vegas wouldn't bet your money.

Here I thought 2012's 6-10 season had killed his spirit, and taken from him all of the bluster that made him seem such a buffoon.  I thought, with great sadness, that the rosy glow of over-confidence that had become the defining characteristic of Rex Ryan's tenure with the Jets had been dimmed forever.  That we'd never again know what it was like to hear a coach declare a team who lost two AFC Championship games the greatest in the world.

Thank God I was wrong.  Thank God 2013's 8-8 season that ended without a playoff appearance was all he needed to put the laughably absurd wind back in his sails.

Thank God the real Rex Ryan is back.

Extravagant predictions for all!

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