New York tabloids had the same perfect headline pun for Eli Manning's memorabilia scandal

Reports broke Thursday about a shady apparent memorabilia scandal in which it sure looks like star New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning was complicit.

We'll give you one guess at Friday morning's headline pun.

Let's give up a slow clap for New York's leading tabloids, the Post and the Daily News, which blessed the world with identical front-page puns. (E-Lie, get it? Because ... well, we'll get to why in a second.)

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Where else you gonna find the tabloid headlines besides Twitter dot com?

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Har har har. Great minds, as they say, think alike.

Now, as for what Eli is accused of -- it's not quite as funny. In fact, it seems like a cynical and shameless ploy to take advantage of people's sporting fandom. From the Post's report:

A smoking-gun email from Eli Manning proves he quarterbacked a conspiracy to defraud collectors by pawning off phony game-worn gear as the real deal, according to court documents obtained by The Post.

The two-time Super Bowl MVP, who has a contract with memorabilia dealer Steiner Sports, instructed a team manager to get the bogus equipment so it could be sold off as authentic, the papers say.

"2 helmets that can pass as game used. That is it. Eli," Manning wrote to equipment manager Joe Skiba from a BlackBerry on April 27, 2010, according to the documents.

Less than 20 minutes later, Manning wrote to his marketing agent, Alan Zucker, who requested the helmets, saying: "Should be able to get them for tomorrow."

You can read the full report here.

Meanwhile, we can only assume Manning's reaction looked something along the lines of this timeless screenshot.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable