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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- He may be Rex Ryan's nephew and Buddy Ryan's grandson, but 16-year-old James Ryan is a hockey fan first and foremost. So a couple of years ago during a bye week, Rex and his sons thought it'd be fun to fly out to St. Louis, where James lives, and surprise him."Ovechkin and Washington were playing the Blues, and this kid's a hockey nut, and the Capitals were awesome and we had tickets right by the bench," Ryan told FanHouse on Friday. "But he was too sick. He'd just come out of surgery. So we just sat there and all watched the game together on TV and it really lifted his spirits. I guess he'd been sick the whole time, and then when the boys and I came in, we just sat around and talked hockey and watched the game."
James Ryan, you see, has been fighting cancer, and spent two years from 2007 to 2009 getting regular radiation and chemotherapy treatments. So while Ryan's NFL coaching schedule keeps him busy, he and his sons have always made sure to find time to share their sporting lives with James.
"We take him with us on vacation," Rex Ryan said. "We've gone now to back-to-back baseball All-Star Games, home run derby and all that kind of stuff. Last year we took him to Carolina with us, we go every year. He's just a great kid."
According to a story in Thursday's New York Daily News, James Ryan will be in attendance Sunday when the Jets play the Colts in the AFC Championship Game in Indianapolis. The paper says James has been cancer-free for more than a year, though it also says his chemotherapy didn't end until September of 2009. It also managed to coax a prediction out of him.
"Darrelle (Revis) will have a pick-six, (Mark) Sanchez will throw a touchdown pass, and Shonn Greene will run one in from 25 yards," James Ryan told the News. "24-17, Jets."Rex Ryan said he had his nephew in training camp in Cortland, N.Y. last summer working with his son, Seth, as a ballboy. But he knows James, a former hockey player who wants to go into coaching, has his eyes on another sport.
"Probably a hockey coach," Rex said.
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