Quote:
Originally Posted by sports-rings
That's a strong accusation.
How do you know they were fake?
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It's not a "strong accusation" - it's something I discovered by doing simple research prior to bidding.
Before bidding I first looked for photos showing balls in use in that game - once I found a ball with referee marks, I looked at those spots on every photo that showed those areas of the ball. I then re-watched the entire game several times, again checking the spots where the referee marks should be, and they were in the exact same spot on every ball where those areas could be seen - there was no variance (and there were plenty of ball shots).
The two Hunt balls had no marks at all. I asked Hunt about it, as I wanted any excuse to win one of the balls, but the gist of the conversation was that the balls were given to them as authentic game-issued. Even if a ball DOES have referee marks, that is no guarantee that it actually sees action on the field - you have to be able to photo-match it to be sure. But no marks at all?
Like most of the balls that show up in auctions, they were likely game-prepared, but not chosen as one of the balls that would be available for the game - thus, no referee marks. I'm sure Hunt is innocent of any wrong-doing, but the auction houses really need to start holding the NFL and the team equipment managers responsible for providing what they say they are providing. It would be simple for the NFL to assign a photographer to take photos of pre-marked items that the NFL wishes to sell to the public - just put an easily identifiable mark on the item, be it helmet, jersey, shoe, football, etc, then have the photographer concentrate on photos that show that mark on the item while in use. Then you remove the item from play and send it to the auction house you contracted with, along with the photo evidence. But without such a process, it would still be a simple task for anyone to do the same legwork that I did, the auction houses included.
Is there a remote chance that there were balls used in the game that had no referee marks and never showed up in any film?
The bottom line is that I'm sure no one really cares, so let's get back to talking about Mickey Mantle forgeries, because that's interesting stuff.