At the conclusion of Euro2008, we got to see Spain lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy. Which was nice and all, but the people at my house agreed that it pretty much pales in comparison to The Stanley Cup.
I personally think that the stature, history and stories associated with the Stanley Cup make it the best trophy given out for sporting events - what do my fellow dopers think?
Not bad, but I’ll go something with more history and over a century of rivalry.
The Ashes unchanged since 1882.
I’m sorry, but I think the Stanley Cup is the ugliest price there is to win! I’d vote for this one.
Best looking trophy - The Lombardi Trophy given to the winner of the Super Bowl. Simple elegance.
Best trophy to win - Stanley Cup. Unrivalled traditions in North American sport, plus, if you’re on the winning team, you get to take it home for a day, and do anything you want with it, within reason. Babies have been baptized in the Stanley Cup. How cool is that?
**chowder ** is going to be so annoyed if I don’t mention this one of course.
Sorry, I don’t think the Stanley Cup compares.
Agreed completely.
Although I was always disappointed at how lame the World Series trophy looks. Baseball is America’s oldest and most celebrated sport and they can’t do better than a bunch of tin flags that look like it could fall apart at any minute?
Especially when dragged behind a car in the parking lot of Yakee Stadium by a certain Mr. Costanza.
No love for the Claret Jug?
The Claret Jug is nice. It’s still the Stanley Cup, though.
I’ve always like the Bendix Trophy, given for air racing in the 30’s and 40’s. (The Schneider Trophy, too.)
The Borg-Warner Trophy, for the Indianapolis 500, has all the winners faces on it.
I saw coverage of the end of the British Open, where they had an engraver on hand so the winner’s name would already be on the Claret Jug when it was given to him. That’s kinda cool.
But it’s hard to beat the Stanley Cup. It has a great mix of popularism and elitism. I heard of one hockey player (may have been Ray Borque) who knew several players who had been on winning teams. And since each player gets to take it for a day, he was in a room with the Cup several times. But he wouldn’t touch it. He felt that was an honor that had to be earned. And somewhere I saw a list of names that are misspelled on the Cup.
It isn’t a championship trophy per se, but I really like the Heisman trophy.
IMHO, the Borg-Warner trophy is the ugliest prize evah.
I like the Webb Ellis Cup.
Sorry, but you are all wrong, and comprehensibly so. 
The ONLY possible “best champioinship hardware.”
Takes a bit to Master it …
The Stosh (Stanly Cup) is given to each player .one after the other during the off season. It goes from Sweden,Canada,USA and all around. It is taken to schools,bars and everywhere. Many people have drunk out of it. That makes it special.
PS It went to my kids high school a few years ago.
I like the air racing one!
The Heisman is pretty cool too. That pose is just iconic.
The thing I’ve heard with the Stanley Cup is that if you touch it before you earn it, you won’t ever win it. And that pose that everyone makes when skating it around is just amazing.
Another vote for The Ashes.
We dunno who made it or what’s in it. It may have been inspired by cremationist propaganda. It’s tiny (six inches tall). It’s not actually awarded to anybody, since it would break and it’s private property and not an official trophy anyway.
