Here We Go Again

The fraudulent A.J. Hawk jersey that was the subject of my last post is back on eBay again. The listing mysteriously disappeared shortly after my previous blog, but after laying low, the seller is hoping for another to chance to dump this on an unsuspecting bidder.

In my previous post, I hopefully demonstrated how this jersey could not have been worn in the game indicated by the seller (8/28/06 at Cincinnati). Absence of a sleeve repair where a noticable hole had been torn is crucial here. Also note the grass staining on the eBay jersey. The Bengals play on FieldTurf, not natural grass. Furthermore, look closely at how the nameplate is sewn on the eBay jersey. Compare this to the screenshot below, from the Bengals game:

The nameplate here is much closer to the transverse horizontal seam, with more of a gap of space showing around the bottom of the letter K and a bit further towards the end.

Despite not having been worn for the Bengals game, could this jersey have been worn in another?

After viewing relevant photos and video, there were only three games where Hawk wore a white jersey in 2006 where the NFL "Equipment" shield was located on the V-collar (and not replaced below): The Bengals game, the 8/12 preseason game vs. the Chargers, and the 9/24 regular season game at the Lions.

Below is a screenshot of Hawk from the Chargers game. The alignment of the nameplate is similar to that of the jersey from the Bengals game:

Below is a shot of Hawk from the last game where he wore a road jersey that didn't have the NFL shield (at the Lions). If you look closely you can see the repair from the sleeve tear from the Bengals game (located at about 5 o'clock from the Reebok logo), as well as new velcro inserts sewn onto the inside of the jersey, indicated by the horizontal seam that runs across the 5 and 0). My conclusion is that the same jersey was worn for all three games, with the velcro added for that first regular season road game at Detroit. For the next road game at Philadelphia, likely the same jersey was modified, with further customization moving the NFL Equipment shield below the collar (where it has been worn on Hawk's jerseys ever since).

In slightly better news, the eBay listing for the 2001 Herbert Goodman throwback jersey that I mentioned in the previous post has been modified to reflect the fact that it was never game worn. Now if we can just prevent this Hawk jersey from becoming the latest "game used" Whack-A-Mole...