It was lost, or something close to lost, or misplaced or something, but now it’s found. Like all of us were lost then found Saturday night.
Bloomberg.com reports that the defacto greatest ball in the history of sports has been officially located and turned over to Jay Jacobs for safe keeping / reverence. Alabama officials say they will not try to claim the ball.
Alabama Associate Athletic Director Jeff Purinton: “I don’t think they would try to get the ball back.”
According to Auburn equipment manager Dana Marquez, the ball was retrieved, appropriately enough, by a ball boy after Chris Davis dropped it upon crossing the goal line at the mind-blowing finish to the Iron Bowl. And being a the center of what America has collectively determined to be the greatest sporing thing since sliced bread homered to win the Super Bowl, the instantly legendary piece of football memorabilia has earned a handsome appraisal.
Brandon Steiner, founder of Steiner Sports Marketing, in a telephone interview said the ball could be worth $100,000 if the Tigers win the national title. Auburn is third in the Bowl Championship Series rankings behind Florida State and Ohio State.
The Tigers face No. 5 Missouri in the Southeastern Conference title game on Dec. 7 in Atlanta. They would probably need a loss from either of the top two teams to reach the championship game.
Steiner said the ball would be worth about $50,000 right now.
“It’s one of the great balls from one of the great games,” he said.
I bet you can’t guess how long we think it’d take before an Auburn fan to buy the ball were it to ever be up for sale…
You can read the whole story here.
h/t Jared Wingard. Photo: @wbonds
More OMG Iron Bowl:
* ‘Holy crap what have I done!’ Auburn fan who stole Gus Malzahn’s visor issues apology, wants to return the hat
* Cremated remains found in Jordan-Hare Stadium after Iron Bowl
* Cam Newton ‘War Eagles’ throughout his post-game press conference Sunday after Iron Bowl
* New York Post: Iron Bowl ending ‘greatest in the history of sports’
* Pensacola bridge completely covered in Auburn graffiti after Iron Bowl
* Highlights, Iron Bowl, Highlights
* Watch Rod Bramblett, Stan White and the Auburn radio broadcast booth react to the final play
* Hear Rod and Eli back to back
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Dana M. is also the guy who was shown sewing the jersey on the sideline… It’d be interesting to get a story on that as well