Another Grey Cup ring available on Ebay

[West Coast Blue Fan]

Looks like Alondra Johnson's 2001 Grey Cup ring is available on ebay according to tsn.ca

TSN Article

Here is the link to the ebay auction...

Ebay

and for Robbie.....here are the pics

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

why would you give up something like that?

[joesports]

Brutal.

CFL players don't retire millionaires, obviously, but you'd like to think something like a GC ring would be priceless to them.

Either he's in dire straits, or it's an "ex" of some sort trying to unload it. :no:

[Robbie]

So it looks like the last time the ring appeared on eBay, as discussed in this thread, the ring was not sold:

http://www.lionbackers.com/cheer/viewtopic.php?t=11263

I wonder if Alondra Johnson still has his 1992 and 1998 GC rings.

[West Coast Blue Fan]

Looks like another ring.....this time a 2006 BC Lions Grey Cup ring. $15K and change and it's yours.

Seller is located in Hamilton....maybe Markeith Knowlton? Just a guess by the sellers name.

Anyways here is the link;

EBAY

[David]

Wow. This is sad.


DH 8)

[MacNews]

I am embarrassed by this move...it gives the impression that the BC Lions brand (In this case a Grey Cup ring, of all things!) has such little value that you can sell it on Ebay, along with those ugly ties your in-law gave you for Christmas.



I would be too vain to ever sell a championship ring, even if it was for winning an office-softball game. 8)

[sj-roc]

I don't see any reason to get one's back up over players selling their hardware. I suppose I'd sympathise if they're doing it out of financial necessity, but players are so surrounded by the trappings of athletic stardom, who could blame them if they simply don't look at it in awe? MK does seem a likely suspect given the Hamilton origin, though I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Joe Smith's ring on there next.

[Wakesbetterthanyou]

hmmm, could be bobby o's.....maybe he needed to get some money back after signing kenton keith.....

[Hambone]

Bling like championship rings has different value to different folks. For some players it's a cherished heirloom that they would never dream of parting with. For others once the initial joy of winning it starts to wear off it's merely an expensive bauble that usually has to be locked away out of sight at home or in a safety deposit box down at the bank. Maybe once or twice a year they break it out and show it off. Then it's back into the safe it goes.

Certainly I would not be surprised that a Grey Cup ring may not hold the same meaning to a player like Knowlton, hailing from the northeast corner of Texas, than it might for a homegrown Canadian. For a player making millions in any of the other pro leagues it's easy to put a ring away as its value is more in terms of sentimentality than actual $ value. The first reaction of the fan is that the player has become so poor and destitute or simply ungrateful they have to sell the ring. Sometimes I think we forget that an import DB like Knowlton is making an average middle-class working man's wage of maybe $65K. In that regard he's no different than many of us trying make ends meet while carrying out a modest lifestyle. For him that $15K bauble can represent a significant asset in his personal finances. That ring collecting dust could become that elusive downpayment on a new house for him and/or his family.

[bclions16]

How long have these rings been given out in Canada as part of a Championship? Given how gaudy they are, they just seem un-Canadian to me.
If I met someone wearing a ring of that size and blingatude, and it wasn't attached to a sports championship, I would trust them as much as a used car salesman in a shiny suit on a dirty weekend in Las Vegas.
If it were me winning a championship, I'd rather take the cash and hang a beautifully framed team photo with plaque on the wall.

PS: Hambone's comments are spot on.

[Hambone]

How long have these rings been given out in Canada as part of a Championship? Given how gaudy they are, they just seem un-Canadian to me.
If I met someone wearing a ring of that size and blingatude, and it wasn't attached to a sports championship, I would trust them as much as a used car salesman in a shiny suit on a dirty weekend in Las Vegas.
If it were me winning a championship, I'd rather take the cash and hang a beautifully framed team photo with plaque on the wall.

PS: Hambone's comments are spot on.

I think most of us have probably been faced with having to sacrifice something we valued highly and worked hard to get to better ourselves be that something a vehicle, boat, piece of property, cherished memorabilia or what have you. My 17' Campion became my mortgage downpayment.

I'm not sure when the ring thing started to happen. I'm thinking the mid 70s maybe for the CFL? The 1964 Lions championship team didn't get rings until just last year I think. They probably originally started out fairly modest like a college class ring and just keep getting gaudier and gaudier each year. I recently saw a guy having lunch in Regina sporting a Calgary Flames 1989 Stanley Cup ring. It was quite small and conservative. It turned out the guy was a Flames' scout in for the Pats' game that afternoon. Scouts may have been issued smaller versions of whatever the players received then. I've seen Dave Ridgway's 1989 ring. It wasn't quite the size of the ones of recent years but nonetheless was pretty impressive. If he punched you it would definitely leave a mark!