Give It Back!

In 2005, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft joined several other American business leaders at a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Kraft showed the Russian leader one of his Super Bowl rings. For whatever reason, Putin left with the ring. At the time, Kraft released a statement saying that he had given Putin the ring as a present to show his respect for the people of Russia. That's very sweet. Kraft is telling a different story now.

Kraft now says that the Super Bowl ring was not a gift. "I took out the ring and showed it to (Putin), and he put it on and goes, 'I can kill someone with this ring,'" Kraft said. "I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out." Nice. The George W. Bush White House urged Kraft not to make an issue over the theft because of concerns about the incident damaging U.S.-Russian relations. Very nice. Kraft said that he intended to do whatever he could to get the ring back from Putin, until the White House urged him to let it go.

The Russians returned Kraft's volley. A spokesman for Putin told CNN that he was personally with Putin when the ring changed hands and that Kraft's story is false. He claims that Kraft gave the ring to Putin as a gift.

I think that this is a bunch of hooey from the Russians. Saying that one could use a gift as a murder weapon makes zero sense to me. Maybe, it's a sign of thanks in Russia. Who knows? If Kraft wanted to give a Super Bowl ring as a gift to Putin, it makes much more sense that he would have had one made up special for Putin. They "only" cost about $15,000. Putin took Kraft's ring. There was always only one of those. A gift like that would be nothing but symbolic for a clown like Putin. That ring was special to Kraft.