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July 2004
STATE OF THE GAMEThe Value of the Trophy
By Lyle Phair | From 
Forgive me, but I’m starting to think we
have all gone a little “cup crazy.” With all due respect
to those in the trophy business who sell the things, and to all
those well-intentioned coaches, parents and league or tournament
directors who buy the awards to hand out, I can’t help but
feel that we have all gotten a little obsessed with the prize.
Not that I am a scrooge or a grinch or anything.
It’s just that I have a hard time grasping the true meaning
of the trophies – if there is such a thing – when big,
shiny trophies or other awards are handed out for virtually everything
that kids do. Maybe I don’t need to understand. Maybe I am
just old-fashioned and will never understand. I don’t know.
When it comes to trophies, the sport of hockey
probably has the most famous trophy of them all: the Stanley Cup.
Think about it for a minute. Do you know the name of the trophy
given to the Super Bowl Champion, the NBA Champion or the winner
of the World Series? You might, but probably not.
The National Hockey League has done an outstanding
job of marketing their league playoffs around the Cup, using themes
like “Cup Crazy” and referring to the postseason as
the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Finals. That doesn’t
happen in other sports. The championship trophies in other sports
don’t have their own keepers who parade them around the world
on tour for all to see. If you have any interest in hockey, you
are well aware of the Stanley Cup.
For players, winning the Cup can be the most rewarding
moment of their career. Forget getting drafted, or playing in the
best league in the world, or scoring their first goal, or the boatloads
of money that they make for playing a kid’s game. Getting
one’s name on that prestigious cup is a huge part of what
it is all about.
Personally, I can’t remember winning a whole
lot of trophies during my competitive hockey playing days, although
I was lucky enough to play on teams that won more than their share
of games. As kids we may have won a couple of team trophies at tournaments,
but in those days there were no individual awards. In my teens I
played on a few baseball and hockey teams in Midget and Junior that
won the provincial championship and although I can’t remember
ever seeing a team trophy, in those cases I think we did get individual
medals.
At the college level, I was fortunate enough to
play on some excellent Michigan State teams that won four consecutive
CCHA Playoff Championships and three consecutive Great Lakes Invitational
Tournaments. Although I played in the early ’80s, it wasn’t
until about three or four years ago that I actually took a really
good look at the CCHA championship trophy. I don’t think I
have ever seen the GLI trophy. In fact, I don’t even know
if there is one.
To me a trophy is more of an afterthought. I guess
it really doesn’t mean that much to me – kind of like
a cup of coffee after a good meal. You already had the meal and
if you have the coffee or not it’s no big deal. The same goes
for hockey. Playing the game is the important thing and what comes
after is really not that important. Or at least it’s not to
me. But I am sure many others look at it from an entirely different
perspective.
In fact, to witness the value placed on trophies
all you have to do is look around when walking through the lobby
area of pretty much any rink. In most there is a designated area,
sometimes a huge, brightly lit area, for the trophy case. And in
that case are some of the biggest, shiniest hunks of wood, plastic
and metal ever assembled as trophies. Apparently size does matter.
I apologize for being cynical, but when I look
at the size of the trophies and then read what they are for, it
just doesn’t equate. They read like a resume: finalist, consolation
champion, third-place team, fourth-place team and so on. There are
trophies for everything, sometimes even just for entering a tournament?
Big ones. Do we really need them? And what do they really signify?
Recognition is the answer that most people would
give. In fact if you look up the definition of trophy, it says ‘something
gained or given in victory or conquest especially when preserved
or mounted as a memorial.’ And maybe that is true. But do
we really need this much recognition?
I have had several people tell me that the presence
of a lot of trophies in an arena signifies success and that the
teams, players and programs from that arena are successful. They
are winners. Maybe. Maybe not. I guess it depends on how you define
success.
But maybe we are on to something with all these
trophies. Maybe every coach and every player and every team should
get a trophy at the beginning of every league or tournament that
they play in. Heck, maybe they already do? Then with that hunger
satisfied, we can just enjoy playing and watching the games without
having to worry about whether we will get recognized or be considered
successful.
In terms of individual trophies, it’s very
common in today’s culture for every participant to receive
a trophy. This I really don’t have a problem with, especially
at the younger ages as long as the trophy is not portrayed as the
reason the kids are playing the game. To me, it’s more like
dessert. The meal was good and I am full, but oh by the way there’s
dessert. It’s not the main course, but it adds to it.
At the National Hockey League level, we often
hear our hockey heroes talking about the quest for Lord Stanley’s
Cup and how if they don’t win it, the season is not a success.
And that is true. They are paid – and in most instances paid
very well – to try to win the cup. Anything but victory should
not be looked at as a success for them.
At all levels of the game, playing to win is important.
I think that goes without saying. (I know because my 6-year-old
takes no prisoners when we play Trouble). I think that no matter
the age of the competitors, every time the puck is dropped it is
safe to say that both sides are playing to win. But if they don’t
and if at the end of the season, or the end of the tournament, they
don’t earn a trophy, was it still worth playing? I hope so.
Because to me, just playing the game is reward enough.
This article appears in the June 2004 issue
of New England Hockey Journal. Click
here to subscribe to the magazine.
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