The Giants and E-Lie Manning Lawyer Up on Memorabiliagate

Jerry Thornton 4/14/2017 1:15 PM

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PFT – The Giants recently opted not to comment on the pending litigation regarding allegations of fraudulent memorabilia sales. After Thursday’s release of an email that has been characterized as a smoking gun regarding quarterback Eli Manning’s knowledge of and involvement in such a scheme, the Giants are commenting.

“The email, taken out of context, was shared with the media by an unscrupulous memorabilia dealer and his counsel who for years has been seeking to leverage a big payday,” said Karren Kessler, spokesperson for the law firm of McCarter & English, which represents the Giants. “The email predates any litigation, and there was no legal obligation to store it on the Giants server. Eli Manning is well known for his integrity and this is just the latest misguided attempt to defame his character.”

NY Daily News – “I have no comment,” Eli’s father, Archie, texted to the Daily News Thursday.

The memorabilia business is competitive and lucrative, but by its nature raises questions of what is real and not real. That’s why Steiner Sports, which has a contract with Manning, goes to great lengths to authenticate the items it sells.

Oh, hell no. This will not do. America needs answers. The integrity of the NFL is at stake. Crimes have been committed. There are real victims here. The NY Post talked to a guy who spent $4,300 on a fake Eli Manning game helmet that is a worthless as if he took it out of the box and put scratches on it himself. Eli ripped off his public and people he did business with. The Giants covered it up. Defrauding people is racketeering. Deleting emails is conspiracy. This calls for a lot more than hiding behind lawyers and “no comments” from Papa Archie.

We deserve more than these non-denials and smearing the accusers. I mean, imagine how poor Mark Brunell is feeling right now? He’s probably been crying all morning. Newspapers right now are probably preparing “What to Tell Your Kids About Memorabiliagate” columns as we speak. We need answers.

If the Giants and Manning were really innocent, he’d come out and talk. He’d do a press conference where answer questions like:

“This has raised a lot of uncomfortable conversations for people around this country who view you as their idol. The question they’re asking themselves is, ‘What’s up with our hero?’ Can you answer right now, is Eli Manning a cheater?”

 “What do you say to the skeptics that say, ‘The Giants have had violations before. How can we possibly believe what Manning and the Giants are saying now?’”

“For the fans that are watching and looking into that camera, what do you say?”

But instead, all we get are deflections, lies and deleted emails. What’s that old expression, “The coverup is always worse than the crime”? If you’re going to rip people off, tamper with equipment and cheat football fans everywhere, the thing you need to do is admit it, apologize and accept your punishment from the commissioner, no matter how severe it is.
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