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- Mar 19, 2019
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Michael Strahan is now on the record: The Super Bowl XLII jersey currently being offered by Goldin Auctions is not the jersey he wore throughout the game.
Appearing on Pardon My Take, Strahan said that his Super Bowl XLII jersey currently is in the gym in his house.
He explained that he kept everything from that game, his final NFL contest, with the exception of his shoulder pads, and that he put everything in a duffel bag and gave it to a friend after the game. Strahan retrieved the jersey from the bag once he returned to New Jersey.
“I take it out [of] the bag,” Strahan said, “the whole thing is wet, still soaking wet and nasty. . . . The thing still has stains on it from dirt, from Gatorade and the stench if you were to take it out of the frame.”
The lawsuit filed several years ago regarding allegedly fraudulent Giants game-used memorabilia alleged that former Giants clubhouse attendant Edward Skiba gave Strahan a replica that had been made to look like it was the real thing, down to the Gatorade stains. And the web page currently offering the jersey compares a photo of the back of the jersey from the game with the back of the jersey being sold. In the two pictures, various stains seemingly match.
Strahan acknowledged that the team had backup jerseys for the Super Bowl. It’s possible that the jersey sold by Skiba is the replica. It’s also possible that, in the chaos of a post-Super Bowl locker room, someone did indeed make the switch. If, after all, a reporter was able slip in to a locker room after Super Bowl LI and abscond entirely with Tom Brady‘s jersey, a team employee could have swapped out a replica of Strahan’s Super Bowl XLII jersey for the real thing.
At this point, we have no idea how to resolve the discrepancy. Short of DNA testing as to any dried sweat that can be extracted from the fabric, there would be no way to know which one was actually worn, and which one wasn’t. The only things that’s clear at this point is that either Goldin Auctions isn’t selling the real thing — or that Strahan isn’t in possession of the real thing.