Mac the Knife

Neither of these would be chosen. They're both awful, particularly the Seahawks design.

I finally know what the new AFC & NFC trophies remind me of...

New edition to my collection. Didn't even know this ring existed until it was offered to me. 2002 Wisconsin basketball big ten champions

Not to pick on you but rather to help: it's "addition," not "edition."

The original Halas/Hunt Trophies were contrived in the 80's, if I remember correctly a few years before the Rozelle (SB MVP) trophy was. The new designs blow, but the old ones weren't all that great, either. The originals were big and fairly bulky; the new ones meanwhile are too small. Tiffany should've went with something a little less abstract.

IMHO, If the Seahawks repeat, they should go with an identical top design, save having two Lombardi's instead of one. I think aside from the use of their "G" you could really determine much from the Packers design though - it looks considerably different from its previous rings, so who's to say they'll go in a new direction?

The Patriots and Colts are also question marks, as the players seem to have a great deal of input into the designs. The career durations of players being what they are, roster turnover for both teams has been significant since either last won a Super Bowl (8 years for the Colts, 10 for the Pats). Consequently, while I think you're right to an extent, past designs may not be very indicative.

There's not been a single Cowboys ring design I've cared for - and not because I dislike the team. The vast majority of SB rings, along with conference championship awards, have been beautiful aesthetically. But each of the Cowboy rings, along with some others (e.g., the 49'ers ring from XIX, the Washington ring from XXII, and the Giants ring from XXV) are designs I look at and wonder, "Man, imagine what designs they turned down to choose that one."

I have no connection to this at all but thought it was interesting.

My personal over/under on how long before the folks at NFL Business Ventures (nee NFL Properties) shuts this operation down because it's not licensed? 10 1/2 days.

I like the design. It's busy without being TOO busy. Maybe some customization could be had by changing the stones surrounding "National Champions" with stones reflecting team colors, but otherwise pretty solid.

Apparently the winning team will have little input on what appears on the CFB playoff championship rings...

Jostens just announced that they've been selected to make the championship ring for the new playoffs in college football. Here's what they put on their Facebook page. This might be replacing the one the ncaa gives to all teams. Not the team designed ring. I like it better than the old one of that's the case.

Simulpost!

_{Since the 2 Big XII Teams today got snubbed in the first College Football Playoff because the Big XII did not crown a true single Championship I thought I would let you all know it wasn’t always this way. The Big XII was formed in 1996 and from 1996 to 2010 they did have a Big XII Title Game. This photo I created of these player rings that I have in my personal collection represents the Championship Rings from the first 12 years of the Big XII. After teams left the Big XII leaving the conference with only 10 schools the conference stopped with the title game in 2011, I would guess the fallout of todays news the Big XII might try to add 2 more teams in the future as this was one of the main reasons why the conference stopped having a Title Game. Or I can see the conference once again have the Big XII Title Game next year even though they would have to determine a South and North division again. Experts say with 10 teams it makes having a title game a bit tough but I would guess the Big XII offices this week will be very busy with calls from angry fans, alumni and even teams wanting answers about the future of the Big XII Conference.}

There are a number of things I hate about collegiate football, too many to count actually, but a few that stick out...

- The NCAA requires 12 teams in a conference to stage a championship game. Let the conference figure out its own structure.

- The Big 10 having 14 (is it still only 14?) members, and the Big 12 having only 10. There ought to be a law against that; false advertising or something.

- The ability of 11 teams from one conference to qualify for one of the 39 different postseason Bowl games. Come to think of it, the fact that there are 39 :censored:ing Bowl games annoys me.

/getoffmylawn

I was surprised to see former MLB player Gene Tenace selling few of his WS rings. This guy had some amazing WS championship rings.

He won 3 rings with Oakland A's as a player from 1972-74, another with St. Louis in 1982.

He wins 2 rings as first base coach with Toronto Blue Jays.

He goes back to St. Louis as a coach and gets another WS ring in 2006 and a 2004 NL ring.

Total of 7 WS rings and one NL ring with 3 different clubs.

Unfortunately he has severe arthritis in his hands and more often than not he can not wear the rings, also he is selling his rings in various auctions, I don't know why. He was one of those guys who always wore one of his rings. He was in the big leagues for 40+ years as a player and coach, he does not look like someone who would have had a lavish life style and lost all his money. Last I had heard, he was retired, living in a small town in Oregon by choice, who knows....maybe he gave it to charity instead of bunch of rings sitting in a box somewhere never seeing the light of day....hope all is well with him.

He's estate planning. If he dies, his heirs would have to have the rings appraised, and depending on the overall size of his estate could be taxed on them. If he sells them himself and keeps things liquid (e.g., putting the cash in a safe somewhere), he bears any tax liability from sale income (as opposed to incurring liability from the inheritance and the sale), and he can tell his heirs "When I die, that money is at X."

some are replica super bowl rings from China, some are minor league, some are college rings. anything of value is kept at a bank vault.

I've had thoughts about doing this myself (i.e., buying Chinese replicas of my Raider rings), but the quality of the reproduction has always seemed pretty spotty (not that I expect perfection). How have yours compared generally?

I've always thought that a Steelers championship ring should consist simply of the Steelers helmet logo; a circle, filled with nothing but appropriately colored stones (grey outline, gold/red/blue hypocycloids, the rest diamonds). No "World Champions," "Pittsburgh Steelers," no 6 or 7 stones being larger than the others. A "logo ring," commemorating the championship on the shanks alone.

I sure hope this is the last championship ring that Herff Jones ever gets to make.

It is so disappointing that a company would take so little pride in their work, especially when their work is design and creativity.

At first I thought it is Spurs to blame, don't appear anyone in that franchise would be interested in designing a piece of jewelry.

Actually, teams have an extremely high level of involvement in the design process, which is why there are so many atrocities amongst championship rings in recent years. Herff Jones simply did what their clients asked.

I am not sure how it works or how demanding the teams are, however, if you look back at the super bowl losing rings from superbowl 38 (Panthers), 39 (Eagles), 40 (Seahawks) and 42 (Pats) and 43 (Cardinals), jostens kept making the same ring over and over again.

Did every team say, I want the same ring? Perhaps Jostens gave them a price discount because they already had the molds? I have no idea, I'm just speculating, but how in the world was the same ring produced 5 times for 5 different teams?

From the 1970 New York Knicks Ring to 1983 Phily 76'ers Ring the NBA World Championship Ring looked like the same ring or nearly was the exact same ring made by the Balfour Ring company. So i am guessing that either the NBA Teams in those years were extremely lazy or Balfour had a contract with the winning NBA Team to produce nearly the exact same ring design for those 14 straight years. The 1984 Boston Celtics NBA Championship made by the same Balfour ring company was a totally differnet and unique design and ever since than the ring designs have all been different.

My guesses, and admittedly they're only guesses, are that...

In the NFL's case, while the league allocates a certain amount toward championship rings for Super Bowl winners, it's up to the individual teams to fit the bill for 'mere' conference championship awards. Add to this that most players refuse to actually wear them, seeing them as a "loser's ring," and yeah, I think there might be something to that idea. It'd also explain why the Steelers went with watches a few years back.

In the NBA's case, the league itself handled the purchase/allocation of championship rings each year.

I sure hope this is the last championship ring that Herff Jones ever gets to make.

It is so disappointing that a company would take so little pride in their work, especially when their work is design and creativity.

At first I thought it is Spurs to blame, don't appear anyone in that franchise would be interested in designing a piece of jewelry.

Actually, teams have an extremely high level of involvement in the design process, which is why there are so many atrocities amongst championship rings in recent years. Herff Jones simply did what their clients asked.

Super Bowl XXXVIII: February 1, 2004 - Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas

Carolina Panthers - 29 New England Patriots - 32

This Super Bowl to me fells like the beginning of the end for good looking fields. From this point on the fields begin to degrade, as the helmets go, then at least some interesting endzone designs go after Super Bowl XLI, then of course we get to Super Bowl XLV, which puts the fields on life support, and finally the field for Super Bowl XLVIII just kills it.

< Super Bowl XXXVII First Post Super Bowl XXXIX >

The Super Bowl logo for this was pretty cool, giving the whole space vibe since the Super Bowl was in Houston.

It's a shame the Astrodome never got a Super Bowl, because I think it could've supported at least one Super Bowl since it was, at one point deemed the "8th Wonder of the World".

Todd Radom did the logo for XXXVIII. That wasn't his first choice, though - and having seen one of the other concepts he did for it, I agree with him.

Super Bowl XXXVIII: February 1, 2004 - Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas

Carolina Panthers - 29 New England Patriots - 32

This Super Bowl to me fells like the beginning of the end for good looking fields. From this point on the fields begin to degrade, as the helmets go, then at least some interesting endzone designs go after Super Bowl XLI, then of course we get to Super Bowl XLV, which puts the fields on life support, and finally the field for Super Bowl XLVIII just kills it.

< Super Bowl XXXVII First Post Super Bowl XXXIX >

The Super Bowl logo for this was pretty cool, giving the whole space vibe since the Super Bowl was in Houston.

It's a shame the Astrodome never got a Super Bowl, because I think it could've supported at least one Super Bowl since it was, at one point deemed the "8th Wonder of the World".

... you know, I never really thought of that before. The Astrodome was around the first time Houston hosted.

Why was it at Rice?

Seating capacity. The NFL at the time had a very rigid requirement that a stadium hosting a Super Bowl seat at least 72,000. The Astrodome was nowhere near that number.

Cool, you go to Clarion. I went to Lock Haven. I remember when you beat us in football 69-0 (I think it was 1988 and I was working in the LHU Sports Information Office). That led to a food fight riot in the dining hall that night after the game.

I went to IUP. I remember when we beat both your asses on a regular basis.

I think it's news that the league was actually ready to load trucks. That's a new detail. We knew that if the vote failed the team would move, but we didn't know that if the vote failed the team would move that day.

But yeah, the basic idea was already known. Misleading thread title aside.

^^^

This. Granted I trolled ya a little on the headline, but the real story was just how close the move really was. Not one of us anticipated that had that vote gone down, we'd have had another Bob Irsay-like evacuation on our hands then and there. Would've been fun to watch, though.

If Tiffany is going to be making championship rings they need to do a better PR job promoting their work.

Unlike Jostens that puts out a news bulletin detailing the rings, Tiffany does a very poor job.

Only piece of information is that top of the ring is 32 MM wide and there are 132 diamonds. No mention of what kind of gold, how many grams and how many carats of diamond. From what I see, ring is slightly larger than the NYG 2011 ring which was 30 MM round ring and weighed 92 grams of 14 K gold.

If this ring is 32 MM wide, then top to bottom of the tip should be about 37-38 MM, that would be very impressive as it would make it about the same size of the Pats 2004 and Ravens 2012 rings.

I found a couple of pics of shanks but looking for better ones before i post them.

I am really baffled by the design, they look like cuff links not championship rings.

Tiffany doesn't need PR promoting their work.

How close were the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes to relocating a year ago? Bob Irsay having the moving vans idling in the parking lot close...

http://seattletimes.com/html/hockey/2024716050_seattlenhl07xml.html

Where exactly is Holly Springs?

Basically it's in the Raleigh area.

That's pretty sweet, right there.

If the VP is such a VIP, shouldn't we keep his PC on the QT? For if it leaks to the VC, then he might become an MIA and then we'd all be put on KP.

According to this article, Terry Bradshaw donated his championship rings.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/wac/2006-04-10-bradshaw-donation_x.htm

He donated his replacement rings. One of the originals went to his brother, another to his father, and a third to some other relative. Either way or both, he doesn't have 'em.

Plenty of champions don't wear their rings. No shame in that at all. Bradshaw never wears them, nor does Ronnie Lott.

There's reason for that. In Bradshaw's case, he doesn't have any of his four. He gave away his first three to relatives, and lost the fourth in his last divorce settlement. In Lott's case, his hands are so mangled from his playing days (including a digit he had amputated just so he could keep playing) that I doubt any ring would fit properly.

The Raiders just yesterday released something to the effect that they're working on a deal to demolish the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and put up new stadia for the A's and Raiders on the site. By 2018.

To which someone in the City of Oakland said something to the effect of it's either a bluff, or "they're on crack."

You can't help but laugh.