Cups and Trophies Crashed to the Ground

Don’t you hate it when that happens? Today’s WSJ reports that the Coaches Trophy, awarded to Alabama after winning the BCS National championship in January was knocked over and shattered by the father of a Crimson Tide player. The $30,000 crystal football trophy wasn’t the first that was broken by a bumbling fan.

I remember going to football’s Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa in 2010 with Northampton photographer Paul Shoul . This football game that brings together arch rivals Alabama and Auburn and this is a part of the country where football trophies are sacred.
Later on that year a fan from Alabama actually poisoned a grove of Oak trees where Auburn fans used to celebrate team victories.

In 2008, a Florida recruit broke the Gator’s trophy won in 2006. There are even worse things that can happen to cups and trophies. Last year a Spanish soccer player dropped the trophy that Real Madrid had won for the annual Copa del Rey tournament from the top of a bus. Then the bus ran it over, making it almost flat.

In Canada, the big prize in football is the Gray Cup. In 2006, a player accidentally broke that trophy after they won it in 2006.