Back in 2008 the New York Giants stunned the New England Patriots, beating them 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII to ruin the Pats' attempt at a perfect season. It was the first of a pair of heartbreaking Super Bowl losses to Eli Manning for Tom Brady and company. New England fans did not take it well.
Patriots fan Sean Murphy and an accomplice really did not take it well and wanted to rewrite history a bit. So they stole 27 of the Giant's championship rings, claiming the team didn't deserve them.
According to Bloomberg's Zeke Faux, Murphy, a career "cat burglar," read in an article that the Giant's Super Bowl rings were being manufactured in a E.A. Dion Inc., a Rhode Island jewelry store. He decided then that he would set out to snatch them.
Bloomberg set the scene saying, "Inside the building, Murphy and his buddy found gold rings, gold necklaces, gold plates, boxes of gold beads and drawers full of melted-down gold. Unable to crack the safe, they lifted it onto a jack and pushed it through the loading dock onto their 24-foot box truck. Murphy was sweeping dust off the workstations when his accomplice came out of an office, his hands glittering with diamonds."
It continued:
"There was a Super Bowl ring engraved 'Strahan' and a few others that read 'Manning.' By the time Murphy had finished loading up the box truck, he had more than $2 million of gold and jewelry and more than two dozen Super Bowl rings. 'F--k 'em,' he thought. 'They don't deserve them.'"
The Giants claimed the rings were meant for the staff and not the players, but Murphy says he still has some rings, including one intended for Michael Strahan.
Murphy was eventually caught after his ex-girlfriend, who he gave one of the rings to, told investigators about the various crimes he committed. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in January of 2009 for another crime. That later got reduced to 13 years
Murphy wants to stop the life of crime, but says when he gets out of prison he will likely wear one of the rings he stole occasionally.
"There's a lot of ways to make legitimate money out there. I'm just going to keep my hand out of the illegal cookie jar now," he told Bloomberg.
