04/24/24
June 09, 2009
Larry O'Brien Remains the Least Revered Major Trophy in Sports: Though it doesn't get the treatment of the Stanley Cup, the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy has been awarded since 1978 to the winner of the NBA. The Lakers and Bulls have hoisted it six times each, a record Los Angeles is two wins from breaking. It's 14.5 pounds of sterling silver and vermeil with a 24 karat gold overlay, according to Wikipedia, and a new one is made each year. In an act that NHL players would consider extremely bad luck, NBA players from the Lakers and Orlando Magic have posed with the trophy in commercials that are airing during the finals.
posted by rcade to basketball at 02:37 PM - 17 comments
Actually, the World Series trophy is one of the cheapest looking roadside flea market hunks o junk you could hope to find.
If you look at it with A-Rod in mind, it looks like a poke throne just waiting for him to take a multi-injection seat upon it. Ring around the rosie.
posted by beaverboard at 06:34 PM on June 09, 2009
Ha! That's funny! Poke throne!
posted by THX-1138 at 06:45 PM on June 09, 2009
The Stanley Cup is the only major trophy with any sort of past to it, and the fact that players get to take it home just adds to the stories surrounding it.
I know several people, including myself, that have been able to hoist the Cup themselves, what other trophy ever gets handled by fans?
I agree that poke throne is an apt description of the Commissioner's Trophy...ugly!
posted by dviking at 07:03 PM on June 09, 2009
While I'm not much of an NBA fan, not surprisingly I had no idea what the Larry O'Brien trophy was. Comparatively, I find a lot of non-NHL fans know exactly what the Stanley Cup is.
The fact that a new O'Brien trophy is made each year certainly adds to the idea of it not being coveted.
posted by BoKnows at 07:07 PM on June 09, 2009
Not to nitpick, but the superstition about the Cup is that the players can't touch it until they win it. They can pose with it, as long as there's no contact. Haven't seen the NBA ads, but if they're not touching the LOT, they should be OK...
Also, isn't the Stanley Cup the only trophy out of the 4 majors that's handed off to the players first, instead of the team owner?
posted by MeatSaber at 07:35 PM on June 09, 2009
The fact that a new O'Brien trophy is made each year certainly adds to the idea of it not being coveted.
I'm too lazy to look, and besides, the Penguins are headed to a power play, but don't they make a new Lombardi Trophy every year too?
posted by tommybiden at 08:21 PM on June 09, 2009
Haven't seen the NBA ads, but if they're not touching the LOT, they should be OK...
They're holding it in their hands and sometimes even lifting it.
posted by rcade at 09:28 PM on June 09, 2009
They're holding it in their hands and sometimes even lifting it.
Blasphemers!!!!
posted by MeatSaber at 10:49 PM on June 09, 2009
but don't they make a new Lombardi Trophy every year too?
The Stanley Cup is the only one that isn't new every year, it's also the only the winners have to give back.
posted by dviking at 10:56 PM on June 09, 2009
From the trivia page on the movie Slap Shot ...
The Championship Trophy presented at the end of the movie was, in reality, the Lockhart Cup, which was representative of the North American Hockey League championship. To this day, it sits in the basement recreation room of Danny Belisle, where it has become a flower pot.
Incidentally, Danny Belisle, who played an extra in the movie, is currently a scout for the Red Wings.
posted by Ricardo at 11:59 PM on June 09, 2009
Couldn't they call it the Lawrence O'Brien trophy instead?
posted by Newbie Walker at 07:29 AM on June 10, 2009
The best trophies are able to hold the beverage of the winners choice.
posted by mjkredliner at 03:04 PM on June 10, 2009
I always imagined the MLB trophy falls apart as soon as you get it home. It's the one trophy that looks better as a cake than the real thing.
posted by yerfatma at 04:06 PM on June 10, 2009
I thought I heard the announcers say during Game 1 or Game 2 that the trophy was being renamed in honor of Bill Russell. That would've been cool. Russell's an icon, while I've been writing about this trophy a couple times on SportsFilter and I still don't know who Larry O'Brien was.
posted by rcade at 10:24 PM on June 10, 2009
I think Larry O' Brien was once Post Master General for the U.S. Am I correct here?
posted by THX-1138 at 01:27 AM on June 11, 2009
rcade: The Bill Russell trophy will be awarded for the first time this year. Trophy goes to the player voted the MVP of the Finals series.
THX-1138: Larry O"Brien was Postmaster General under President Lyndon Johnson. Onetime NBA Commissioner. Last but not least, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee at the time of the Wategate break in. It was O'Brien's office that was the burglar's target.
posted by Newbie Walker at 07:32 AM on June 11, 2009
I think it would be the least revered trophy because it really has no storied past. I mean, it wasn't even called that until 1984, right?
As far as NBA championships are concerned, the Lakers and Bulls are tied for winning the O'Brien, but of course it is the Celtics with the most actual NBA titles.
I did find it interesting to learn that it was supposed to represent a basketball (of course) about to enter a hoop and net (did not know that). I think that's a cool thing to depict with championship trophies. Like for the NFL you could have the football about to cross the goal-post. Or for baseball you could have a syringe about to enter A-Rods ass.
(sorry-I feel dirty just for having written that-I take it back)