Why did they change the Lamar Hunt trophy from an all-American classic oak design to a cheap piece of Chinese crap that you might find at Walmart?
Is this some concession that Hu forced out of Obama? Another sign of fealty to our Chinese overlords? Another blow to the sacred notion of American exceptionalism?
Note that I don’t know where either trophy was made and I’m not going to google it. The old one looks like something that was hand-crafted by God-fearing non-unionized midwestern workers, the new one looks like it was made by Godless Chinese prisoners. And that’s good enough for me.
Paul in KY
I’m going to go out on a limb here & predict that the new trophy costs less to make than the old one.
NickM
Why “non-unionized” workers? It looks built to last.
General Stuck
I doubt we have the manufacturing capability to make a frisbee. Other than maybe some clown cars filled with Wallstreet tycoons.
scarshapedstar
…The Old One demands blood sacrifice! N’krumah Ph’taggn…
(Damn, seems that thinko was already fixed)
Steve
@ General
Well I don’t know about frisbees specifically, but I do know we manufacture more goods than any other nation.
geg6
And, really, who cares? Not the Steelers, who don’t even bother to showcase their Lamar Hunt trophies, at least not anywhere the public or even a reporter (who has access to the inner sanctum) might see them. I mean, when you have 6 Lombardi trophies, why take up space with the 9 AFC Championship ones?
(Said by a Steeler fan who knows we have had more than our share of football riches.)
MattF
And where did the big ‘A’ go? Is this some effete snob’s concept of ‘taste’?
Steve
@ Doug
I think the owners are signaling how hard times are for them, that they are having to cut back on expenses, which is why the players should give up even more money to them in the next CBA.
eemom
Uncle Conrad and Aunt Jenny would not approve.
eemom
Uncle Conrad and Aunt Jenny would not approve.
eemom
fywp
fywp
Zifnab
And what the hell is that thing sitting on? Is that a granite counter top?
Chinn Romney
They’re saving the good stuff for the return of the New England Patriots. Don’t worry, it shan’t be long now…
mikefromArlington
Maybe someone should drag a dead body to their next meeting to change their minds.
DougJ DougJson
@eemom:
It’s worth saying twice. I’m impressed you got it .
Dennis SGMM
Jane Hamsher used the power of her mighty blog to make them change the trophy.
Cris
You can’t tell from the photo, but that football is actually crafted from a single crystal, inexplicably cut against the axis and impossible to fabricate given the level of technology of the civilization that created it.
Martin
Maybe they noticed that the brass engraving on the front of the old one was crooked.
morzer
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110121/GPG0101/101210536/Momentum-builds-for-game
Violet
@morzer:
Tiffany’s? Isn’t that elitist?
Martin
@morzer:
Why not just give them a replica Vince Lombardi trophy with one of those greeting card chips in it that says ‘You’re gonna lo-ose!’ in the Nelson Muntz voice repeating over and over.
Dr. Squid
It’s stumpy and hollow, which is how the team that loses the Super Bowl feels. So it’s appropriate.
Culture of Truth
Hey they’re fighting over a diamond-encrusted ring.
morzer
@Violet:
Beats me. I think both versions of the trophy look pretty unimpressive, personally. The old one looks like some sort of failed design for a ball-washing stand on a golf course, and the new one looks like something on clearance in the soap dispenser section of Target.
Culture of Truth
The Lombardi trophy has a solid look, at least, although, really, you know, it’s a silver football. The NBA has an even bigger gold basketball. The World Series trophy is less tacky, but I can’t look at it now without picturing George Costanza dragging it through the Yankee parking lot.
RobertB
I actually like the new one better, and see the intent that it’s kind of a reminder of the Lombardi Trophy.
Steeplejack
Clearly this was a move directed against Cole’s poor, put-upon Steelers by the haters in the AFC power structure.
Scott Alloway
Lombardi Trophy? The Stanley Cup. That’s a serious piece of work. Kinda like a layered wedding cake for your fifth or sixth marriage, what with all the previous winners (exes) on it.
Culture of Truth
Yes the Stanley Cup is sufficiently awesome. The World Cup is aesthetically apealling but surprisingly small.
Just Some Fuckhead
This is an interim design until the new design featuring seven NFL officials hoisting a Steeler on their shoulders is completed.
James Hare
@Steeplejack:
Yes, the poor put-upon Steelers. Us Redskins fans only wish the football gods would wreak such terrible vengeance upon our team.
Ash Can
Hey, if it were the Bears’ name on the equally new-fangled Halas Trophy this morning, I wouldn’t care if the damned thing were a used styrofoam cup from McDonald’s. However, since it’s the Packers’ name (and I admit I like the Packers, although not as much as the Bears, of course), I don’t care if it’s a solid-gold Calder sculpture.
And Scott Alloway @ #28 is right — nothing beats Lord Stanley’s sterling beer stein.
Steeplejack
@Cris:
Win!
Jim C
The old Hunt trophy reminds me ofthis one a great deal.
That one may look good in the picture, but when players were hoisting it this fall, hat looked undersized compared to the platform, like they ran out of time to put a properly scaled bronze on the base.
This, on the other hand, is more like what they should give out!
geg6
@Scott Alloway:
Back when the Pens won the Cup in 1991 (or it may have been ’92), I was at a party at Phil Bourque’s place where they had the Cup. It was a crazy party (the Cup spent quite a bit of time in the pool) and I got to drink champagne from the Cup. It really is something else, as far as a sports trophy goes. Amazing history on it. Pretty damn cool to drink from it, too. A moment I’ll never forget.
eemom
@DougJ DougJson:
I do believe I have that whole movie memorized.
Culture of Truth
Reports are now that Cutler is very cleverly faking a torn MCL. Is there nothing he won’t stoop to??
Steeplejack
@Jim C:
Linky no work. You fix. (The second one.)
morzer
@Culture of Truth:
Wrong thread.
Joel
Normally I wouldn’t care about the outcome of this Superbowl. But with pride of NFL’s own Roger Clemens at stake, I’m going to have to root for Rodgers and the Packers.
_PK_
American pro sports trophies are all crappy. Real trophies, like the Stanley Cup or Grey Cup, let you drink beer out of them.
stuckinred
Hu cares?
Allan
The old trophy was woody. The new trophy is tinny.
Jim C
@Steeplejack:
It wasn’t doing that for me, but now I see the problem.
I sent another set of links, but I think they got held up. Provided they are lost in the ether, “This” was Floyd of Rosedale.
@Allan:
Aaahhh! ::runs from room::
Paul in KY
@geg6: Very, very cool, you lucky lady.
Also, congrats on getting hitched (or engaged) past weekend!
Paul in KY
@_PK_: I wish they’d have trophies (here in U.S.) that looked something like some of the old air race trophies I saw at the Air & Space Museum.
Art Deco masterpieces (4 & 5 feet tall).
Svensker
So the old one’s on top and the new one’s on the bottom? Just checking, never having seen one, IYKWIM.
The top one looks like a lump of shit. At least the bottom one has some design and looks like it’s related to football.
JR
Oak’s nice.
Davis X. Machina
You wanna trophy? — I got your trophy right here:
The FA Cup.
Svensker
@Culture of Truth:
You know what else was aesthetically appealing but surprisingly small?
ET
It looks like they changed both trophies this year after looking at the NFC trophy for this year and last.
I can only hope that looks less cheap in person, otherwise I would be bummed.
ChrisB
@geg6: Yeah, the Stanley Cup is the best. I love the white gloves worn by the security guards when it’s presented and the fact that every player gets a turn with it and real fans often get to drink out of it.
Dr. Wu
It’s clearly an homage to the “artsy-fartsy thing” from _Risky Business_.
TooManyJens
Y’all with your football trophies are pikers. Now here’s a trophy:
http://woodlawnvase.com/
JW
Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. I think both trophies suck and I used to be an art director, so I’m right. :]
hilts
OT
Kentucky TV station makes huge blunder with their chyron displaying final score in Steelers/Jets game
Screen Capture of the chyron
h/t http://louisvilleky.com/2011/01/bad-day-for-the-jets-and-wlky
Dave
Nothing compares to the trophy for the Flint City Megabowl. THE FLINT CITY MEGABOWL!!
hilts
OT
Why No One Remembers the Mark Sanchez Rape Case
http://deadspin.com/5739780/why-no-one-remembers-the-mark-sanchez-rape-case?skyline=true&s=i
The MSM has one standard for Ben Roethlisberger and a different standard for its favorite pretty boy Mark Sanchez
me
@hilts: Freudian slip?
stuckinred
@hilts: What bullshit.
twiffer
little known fact*: oak trees come from china!
*little known, mostly because it isn’t true**!
**well, some are native to china. but oaks are found throughout the northern hemisphere.***
***i’m over-explaining, aren’t i?
Roger Moore
@Paul in KY:
There’s always the Borg-Warner trophy. It even has bas-relief portraits of every past winner on it. How cool is that?
S. Marchio
Who cares………..Go Packers!
Keith G
@geg6: Some drink from the cup, some make a deposit.
http://deadspin.com/5024589/thats-a-stanley-cup-you-can-keep
geg6
@Paul in KY:
Definitely not hitched. And not really even engaged.
I don’t believe in marriage. So you can’t really call it an engagement ring (and it doesn’t look like one either). It’s what I’d call a commitment ring. We’re moving in together and he surprised me with the ring this weekend as a gift to commemorate our commitment. It’s lovely, though, with black onyx surrounded by diamonds in platinum.
Yutsano
@geg6: Can we still squee anyway? We promise not to go too overboard. :)
Jager
@Scott Alloway:
The Indy 500 Trophy is like Lord Stanley’s Cup, the winners’ names (and faces) on it. Maybe they just knew how to make better trophies in the early part of the previous century, also.
Paul in KY
@Roger Moore: Another great trophy. I forgot that one.
Paul in KY
@geg6: I know you’re very happy, so congrats on the free ring & what it represents!!
Attaturk
Roger Goddell is a god-damned busy-body that can’t leave well enough alone. That’s why both conferences redid their trophies to that piece of even crappier crap.
geg6
@Yutsano:
Squee away! I kinda squeed myself.
@Paul in KY:
Thanks! Yes, I am very happy. My John is the bestest man on earth.
TR
I don’t think anyone has congratulated you for the Pulp Fiction quote in the headline, DougJ, so let me be the first.
Batocchio
I did notice the trophies had changed – I’m assuming to look more like the Lombardi trophy. The old ones did look more solid. I propose a blogger outrage over this. Perhaps DougJ can repost this over at RedState?
leon
BUSH BROUGHT FREE TRADE WITH CHINA, BUT I GUESS THAT WOULD REQUIRE READING TO FIGURE OUT.
goatchowder
Is your Aunt Jenny a millionaire? Cause your uncle Marsallas is…