Because this is the Super Bowl, and because it’s very cold outside, obviously New York Jets coach Rex Ryan was out on 39th and Broadway serving ice cream in a New Era truck. And because this is less than a block from Vox NYC’s office, I obviously had to go check it out.
This is what it’s like to get free ice cream from Rex Ryan
We braved the cold weather to bring you the “scoop.”
Mike Ehrmann
I arrived to two lines, one that stretched half a block up 39th street towards 6th Avenue that was waiting for ice cream and one filled with TV cameras and onlookers that decided “Nah. Too cold.” Neither line was really that long, for some reason. Maybe this really isn’t a cold-weather town.
Like any good reporter, you have to take in the scene, so I initially started in the onlooker line. People came and went pretty quickly; as you’d expect, they had the whole process streamlined. Seahawks jerseys. Broncos jackets. Jets gear, because of course anyone who had just learned about Rex Ryan serving ice cream in Times Square had a spare Geno Smith jersey lying around in their office. Someone even sauntered in front of the line with a Dolphins jacket, which Rex laughingly pointed out before whisking the guy away.
Eventually ... well, the line wasn’t too long, and how can you pass up free ice cream from anyone, much less Rex Ryan? So, into line I went. A line that was about this long, a lot shorter than I expected.
Come on, New York. This is ice cream with Rex Ryan. You can bear the cold for a little longer than this, can’t you?
Alas, several minutes later, after absorbing a few J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS chants (and some “GO BRONCOS” in response, because these are bitter rivals after all), an angry security card telling a CBS-2 camerman to back off to keep the line moving and more, we hit paydirt. I asked to be surprised with the flavor and I was served vanilla. They probably know me too well.
That was an attempt to spread the SB Nation BRAND worldwide, but the blurry camera didn’t cooperate. Neither did my mouth, which froze up in my seven-second chance to engage Rex, except for a line about how ice cream is great in cold weather that he ignored.
Oh well. Next time a famous football coach serves ice cream in the middle of New York City on a 40-degree day, I’ll be ready.
