Missing Super Bowl Ring

[mybills]

Pats rookie linebacker Tully Banta-Cain told police that his SB XXXVIII ring was taken from the rest room at the Providence Place Mall. Banta-Cain said he took it off on Saturday 6/19/04 as he washed his hands and forgot it. Then he said he returned "minutes later" and it was missing.

The ring has his name on it & his #48 along with the phrase "15 straight undefeated at home".
The 14-carat white gold ring has 104 diamonds. The team wouldn't say how much it cost, but it was worth more than $15,000 which was spent on each of the 2001 SB rings.

[CWOUSARET]

idiot - typical PATSIE!

[mybills]

I never take my 2 diamonds off never mind 104! lol.
And he did in a PUBLIC restroom! He deserved to have it stolen. What a dumbass!

[Cntrygal]

Originally posted by mybills
I never take my 2 diamonds off never mind 104! lol.
And he did in a PUBLIC restroom! He deserved to have it stolen. What a dumbass!

Who takes their rings off to wash their hands? I never have.

[saviorbledsoe]

I thought they only get the rings the next season? Or is that only NBA?

[Ickybaluky]

The team received their rings about 10 days ago.

The ring has been returned, BTW:

Requires registration, so here's the story:

BY AMANDA MILKOVITS
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- There it was, the Super Bowl XXXVIII ring, glittering with diamonds encrusting the New England Patriots logo -- and sitting alone beside a sink in a men's room in the Providence Place mall.

What would you have done if you found it?

On Saturday night, Lou Schorr, 53, of Waltham, Mass., had finished eating at the mall's food court with friends when he headed to the third-level restroom to wash his hands. He removed his own rings and stuck his hands under the faucet, when he noticed a chunky ring sitting by the sink.

A teenager fiddling with his hair a few sinks away said the ring didn't belong to him. Schorr put his own rings back on, and then picked up the abandoned ring. He felt the ring's heft in his hand and, as he turned it around, he saw the Patriots logo.

Schorr is no sports fanatic, though he said he's followed the Patriots over the last two years and watched them win two of the last three Super Bowls

"I said, 'Is this real? Is this what I think it is?' " he recalled yesterday.

Schorr wrapped the ring in a paper towel, stuck it in his pocket, and rushed out of the bathroom. He didn't consider going to the mall security office. He just grabbed his friends and headed to the car.

In a lot a few blocks from the mall, Schorr pulled the ring out of his pocket. Junk jewelry! his friends cried.

Schorr hid the ring in the car's trunk and drove home.

Meanwhile, the ring's owner had realized it was gone.

ROOKIE LINEBACKER Tully C. Banta-Cain had only possessed his championship ring for a week.

Patriots owner Bob Kraft had given all the players their rings at his home on June 13. Each one is made of 14-carat white gold and has 104 diamonds. The cost of the rings is undisclosed; suffice it to say that they cost more than the $15,000 spent on each of the 2001 Super Bowl rings.

On Saturday night, Banta-Cain was shopping at Providence Place when he stopped at the men's room on the third-level of the mall. He took off his ring to wash his hands.

"The ring is so beautiful, you don't want to get it wet, you don't want to get any soap on it," said Patriots spokesman Stacey James.

But Banta-Cain forgot to put the ring back on. He realized his mistake a minute later, James said, and went back to the restroom to get the ring. It was gone.

That night, Banta-Cain filed a report with the police and checked with mall security to see whether anyone had turned it in. No one had.

Back at home in Waltham, Schorr was checking the football team's Web site for photos of the ring. They matched.

He put the ring under his pillow and went to sleep.

SUNDAY MORNING, Banta-Cain spent three hours in church, James said, praying for the return of his ring.

Meanwhile, Schorr and his friends were getting their photos taken with the ring. They all had ideas about what he should do, he said.

One told him to hide it in a safe deposit box for 10 years, he said. Another said to have the diamonds removed and replaced with cubic zirconia, he said.

Schorr knew he wanted to give the ring back to its rightful owner. He planned to call the Patriots Monday.

That gave him a day with the ring.

It was Father's Day. Schorr put the ring in his pocket and drove his mother to visit his father's grave in Worcester. On the way back, they stopped at a Bugaboo Creek Steak House in Shrewsbury, Mass.

Schorr noticed the tables of fathers and sons, some wearing Patriots shirts and jackets. He walked up to a few tables and asked the youngsters whether they were really Patriots fans. They were! their fathers assured him, Schorr said.

Schorr took out the ring and showed it to them. People were in awe.

Was he a player, they wanted to know. Nah, Schorr told them. He sells heating and air conditioning systems for a company in Canton, Mass.

"This is going back to the player," he said to them.

Schorr slept with the ring under his pillow again Sunday and then took it to work Monday. A coworker is a friend of James, the Patriots spokesman, so Schorr said he told the fellow to get in touch with James.

The Patriots wanted to send someone to collect the ring. Not just anyone, Schorr told him. He would only give the ring to the player.

When Banta-Cain got to the company office he hugged Schorr so hard the salesman thought he'd choke. He gave the player his ring back. The linebacker stayed and signed autographs for people and posed for photos.

"He was so thankful, such a gentleman, so polite, so soft-spoken, such a great representation of what the Patriots are all about," Schorr said.

The Patriots promised Schorr tickets to their opening game against the Indianapolis Colts. They'd intended to keep the ring's lost-and-found story quiet, until word about its disappearance made the media yesterday.

James said he couldn't recall another case of a player losing his Super Bowl ring.

All day yesterday, Schorr gave interviews to media throughout New England. Banta-Cain, meanwhile, declined to speak. He had other things to do yesterday, James said.

The linebacker was at a bank, putting his ring in a safe-deposit box.

[Earthquake Enyart]

You have to give the guy credit. A lot of the young guys don't even wash their hands anymore.

[mybills]

In a lot a few blocks from the mall, Schorr pulled the ring out of his pocket. Junk jewelry! his friends cried.

[Ickybaluky]

This is what the rings look like. The picture is of Bob Kraft's ring, the player rings have their own names and numbers.

[saviorbledsoe]

Those are sweet rings! Cant wait to see what the Bills rings will look like this year. :)

[Voltron]

Originally posted by saviorbledsoe
Those are sweet rings! Cant wait to see what the Bills rings will look like this year. :)

What color is the sky in your world?

[Dozerdog]

Why didn't the guy give it back earlier? What was this guy's name? Gollum?

I would have given a nice reward & tickets & stuff had he done it- but the guy slept with it / showing it off for a couple of days- kinda perverted if you ask me.

[marshall]

I wouldn't have given it back at all. It just might seem suspicious that it would go on sale on eBay, days later.

[BLEDSOE'S BATTALION]

Where would rather be than right here right now!!

All I have to say about that Patriot is one word.....


WHAT A LOSER!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, so that was TWO words:confused2 :confused2

NEVER FORGET SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 GOD BLESS AMERICA

[SABURZFAN]

Originally posted by BLEDSOE'S BATTALION
All I have to say about that Patriot is one word.....


WHAT A LOSER!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, so that was TWO words:confused2 :confused2

welcome to the Zone.your mathematical skills just overwhelmed us.