Justin Tuck: Giants want to make it a dynasty

The New York Giants had their second Super Bowl ring ceremony in four years Wednesday night at Tiffany & Co. and— when Justin Tuck took a look at both of his 14-karat white gold bands on his fingers— the first word he thought about was "dynasty."

"You get that first time and you're in awe, like, 'Oh God, this might no ever happen again,'" said the defensive end.  "You win a second one and you're like, 'Hey, maybe we can do something here.'

"Our thing now is we want to make it a dynasty."

While the Giants were mingling around the podium inside the famous Fifth Avenue building showing off their new bling— encrusted with  four diamond Lombardi Trophies,  a circle of 37 blue sapphire stones and the words "All In" and "Finish" engraved on the inside— Tuck was talking about becoming  one of the players who could make Giants history.

In a quiet moment away from the chaos, Tuck told quarterback Eli Manning of the future, "We have to play the games, so we might as well win them."

Manning was surprised when someone brought up the conversation with Tuck.

"Well, I thought that was a confidential conversation," laughed Manning.  "Justin was just talking to [owner John] Mr. Mara and he was saying no Giants player has three championships with the Giants."

"So we're setting the stakes high and make sure we stay motivated."

While the phrase "All In" was inspired by a speech given by a New Jersey teacher to a few players near the end of the season, head coach Tom Coughlin started using the word "finish" back in training camp.

"It means everything to me," said Coughlin.  "The word 'finish' really captures a lot of emotion for me. The fact our players can quote to you what this means to them and how they were reinforced by this over and over,  I think that says a lot.  I'll always look upon that."

Don't look now coach, it sounds your players will be using another word next year— dynasty.

Giants Super Bowl XLII Ring On Sale For $47,995

A diamond-studded Tiffany ring presented to one of the New York Giants players after the team upset the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII is up for sale.

All it takes to get one of the historic ring is a deep-burning love of Big Blue and $47,995.

Tiki Barber, are you listening? 

"For whatever reason, back in 2008, we received eight players selling their rings within six months after they received them," Tim Robbins of Champions-Rings.net.  "The majority of them were still playing for the team, which is rather unusual."

According to the New York Daily News, one of Robbins clients bought the  ring back then, but last November, looking to turn a profit, decided to sell the ring back.  It now sits on a shelf among 1,200 or so championship rings that range from NCAA Championships to the Super Bowl.

Robbins said the rings are also awarded to team staff members— which are different from the ones the players recieve— and he was kind of surprised by the number of Giants that season who were looking hock their bling.

If you are a fan of TV's Pawn Stars, you already know that the players' rings are more valuable than the staff's.

The white gold and diamond rings are manufactured by the same famous silversmith that also makes the Lombardi Trophy every year.

"The Giants rings, being made by Tiffany, it was a little surprising to see that many," said Robbins.  "But there are so many die-hard New York Giants fans that it didn't take that much time to sell them at all."

"And if you wear this out," Robbins said.  "It's the best icebreaker in the world."

But this is a special ring— nicknamed a "10-table ring" by former Giants player Michael Strahan because he wanted people ten tables away to see his pride and joy.

Robbins said the ring has been on the market for over three months and blames the slow economy for it sitting on the shelf so long.  Normally, Giants rings "don't have a tendency to last that long," he said.

In 2008, when the rings were presented to the Giants players, they had a value of over $25,000.  The face of the ring features three Super Bowl trophies— one for each of the team's titles.  One side is engraved with the score of the game (Giants 17, Patriots 14) and the other side says "Eleven Straight on the Road" in reference to the NFL record set by the team in 2007.

 Strahan, Eli Manning, Amani Toomer and Shaun O'Hara were all consultants on the design of the ring.

Players sell their rings for a variety of reasons claims Robbins and it's not always financial hardship.

"You have players where their religion prohibits them from wearing jewelery," he said.  "So they just don't need the ring."

Robbins stands by his firm's privacy policy and won't disclose the name of the player who came in and unloaded his ring.  He just said the unnamed player wasn't a starter in the Super Bowl.

One person we can definitely leave out of that discussion is good ol' Tiki.