The Best and Worst Sports Trophies | The Bill Simmons Podcast

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Kevin Wildes and David Jacoby to discuss what makes a good sports trophy and how they would improve the NBA Conference Finals MVP award.
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[@solowayguitars]

The Stanley Cup trophy began as a simple bowl. It became huge because they kept adding rings to the base so they could engrave the names of all the participants of the winning team to the bottom ring. So yes, it's now not only huge but it continues to get bigger over time but it was never just a "huge" trophy just for the sake of the size.

[@macwatson7227]

They actually take the top ring off when it’s full now. The ring is put in the hall of fame. The cup will stay the same size it is now.

[@solowayguitars]

@@macwatson7227 Cool. Thanks.

[@rickyl8111]

@@macwatson7227 someone paid attention to Pat McAfee show

[@josephgrmovsekcollaredcons6085]

@@rickyl8111 No, Canadians are taught this in school and it’s knowledge is required for graduation from high school

[@thegreatone9923]

We can all agree the Stanley Cup is the greatest and most iconic trophy in sports

[@danielroth3714]

Champions league trophy better

[@Jorge-lh6px]

@@danielroth3714 no lol, and this is coming from a football fan.

[@deadstar1641]

World cup

[@bkc6873]

World Cup by far

[@santiagomonduela]

World Cup by a lot of far, but I agree the Stanley Cup aesthetically is the most beautiful

[@adamj2691]

I don't even like hockey that much but it's clearly the Stanley Cup and it's not really even all that close.

[@flylogan2954]

As a canadian hockey fan, you have my respect

[@tylernoble8137]

Surprised you didn’t get any blokes claiming World Cup

[@JeremyCuddles]

Stanley Cup is peak championship trophy. It's massive, easily recognizable and even if you don't know it one look and you're thinking "Holy shit that is sick." It has great history cause it has the names of the players/teams that won it previously. You can drink out of it. It is far and away the best trophy in sports and it's not even close.

[@DemolitionLovers905]

Yes

[@CloneCoalition21]

Kevin Wildes is tv's most under the radar hilarious man

[@jamal4717]

He might be the best in TV right now

[@JeremyCuddles]

I agree, it annoys me that he doesn't get as much air time as Broussard and Nick Wright. He's way more interesting than both of them. I say this as a fan of both Nick and Broussard.

[@Lenrom12]

I love Wildes man dude is just great energy

[@bluecloud6437]

mediocre speaker, kind-hearted soul, appealing quirks no doubt. would not mind having had him as a father

[@Tony-fq5bn]

Lolol, I feel like SImmons and Wilds are so simpatico everything Wilds said, Simmons was just like, "yes I love where your going" every time Wilds said something🤣 Jacoby spoke for like 10 sec and Bill was like, "alright we interrupted Wilds!"

[@QuestionEverything562]

Because Jacoby is a friggin artard, he never has a good take and is blatantly bias. His arguments are so weak.

[@limitedbom2206]

I think there’s a lot about the Stanley cup that is great. You see it and know exactly what it is, it looks good, and when there’s a winner, they hand it to the captain first, and there’s a tradition to the celebration.

[@QuestionEverything562]

Yes, timeless classic celebration played with Queen's We Are The Champions.

[@EmmanuelPerez88]

The Larry bird trophy should be Bird in the middle of a post fade away, Magic’s should be magic mid pass on a break looking away. Mini person

[@QuestionEverything562]

Great idea, that would have been perfect. Larry's mid-range fade or his triple threat step, Magic with the baby hook or throwing that Showtime pass (Magic really jumped as he would send those lightning passes down the court). But ya, I like yours the most because those were the actions they were most known for.

[@MacNif]

Obviously, not sure how they screwed it up

[@auburnmann3630]

1. Stanley 2. Lombardi 3. Larry 4. World Series (US centric North American Sports Leagues)

[@justincurrie1025]

The Stanley cup is the best trophy in sports. Not in the sense that it's more valuable or significant than other championships but the ceremonial raising it over your head and everyone gets to have it for a day. So many iconic stories and mishaps. It's the undeniable gold standard

[@Noin007]

I remember Mark Cuban talked about not doing a ring for the Mavs and the players damn near mutinied on him. Pretty sure the players are pro-ring.

[@jwyh4162]

Here's the context. Cuban wanted to do something different and bigger than a ring, so he suggested to get championship bracelets instead. The Mavs' players were not in any kind of uproar over the idea. They were just like, "No thanks, we just want the traditional ring."

[@gucciak-4740]

Makes sense. People talk about rings and that’s the common buzzword for winning a nba championship. Why change a classic and working thing?

[@RobertTaylor87]

Jacoby's Illmatic shirt 🔥🔥🔥

[@djbasrur]

To Bill's point about necklaces vs rings: the Bucks did that with their ring last year! The top comes off and you can then wear it as a pendant. Pretty cool idea tbh.

[@HakeemRDaud]

they mentioned it in this very podcast episode btw

[@DavidGonzalez-do2dc]

I’m not even a hockey fan and even I know the best trophy is the Stanley Cup.

[@September2004]

Thanks for that. 😀 As a non-hockey fan, what stands out for you about the trophy that makes you conclude it's the best? (I agree but I'm a biased hockey fan.)

[@DavidGonzalez-do2dc]

@@September2004 Many different elements: 1) The history. I like how the names of each team (winner) is on the trophy and they’ll just keep adding rings when they’re out of room. 2) I really like the celebration with the players. Like having each individual guy skate and hold it up is awesome as well as the cool stuff they do with it in the off-season. 3) The look. The other four major sports have interesting/good designs but imho I think the Stanley Cup looks the best visually. It could be argued that it might be the most easily identifiable trophy to non-sports fans. But that’s just a theory.

[@KTF0]

I have to agree with the new NBA trophies. Big fail on all of them. I get that you don't wanna outshadow the Larry O'Brien trophy, but. they did give a participation trophy vibe.

[@notsoy]

How you gonna name awards after two iconic superstars who saved your sport and NOT make the trophies miniatures of them? What a huge flub. Magic and Bird even both have several iconic plays to work with!

[@Gutirinthians1]

The world cup trophy is the best imo

[@franciscolombardi5858]

no question

[@danielroth3714]

It’s too small. Champions league and premier trophies are better

[@rodbat9075]

Or ballon d’or

[@youngbull16]

Along with its history and all it stands for, knowing that 75% of the trophy is made from gold makes it that much better.

[@bkc6873]

Even the Jules-Rimmet is clear of any US trophy

[@stephenbrown1136]

Kup is hands down the coolest trophy. It immediately becomes part of the party. Holds 14 beers.... need I say more

[@Mo13uckets]

Jacoby is my guy but I didn’t realize he was on the screen until 2:38 😂

[@josephgrmovsekcollaredcons6085]

Stanley Cup is the best by every metric with the names of each Player becoming literally part of it for history. The worst is anything the Celtics win or have one

[@eliotkern]

This was one of the best segments I've heard in ages 🤣

[@NBAkingsfan10]

These 3 are so great together!

[@markspringer8296]

I remember the Seinfeld episode when George pulled the world series trophy behind his car. That thing is fragile AF.

[@BWalker9313]

Stanley cup is the best, no question. World Series is the worst. My only problem with the Bird and Magic trophies is that Jerry West is the logo, Bill Russell is the finals MVP, they call it the Larry O'Brian trophy, the named the All-Star trophy after Kobe, they have an award named after Kareem, they seem to be doing all these trophies after someone. When will the Lebron James trophy come out? The Michael Jordan trophy? The Steph curry award? Sooner or later, there will just be way too many trophies, and they'll become meaningless

[@QuestionEverything562]

I think the scoring title and the logo should be MJ's Jumpman logo. I don't even think there is a trophy for the best regular season scorer, it definitely should be Jordan because he was a 10x scoring champion, and simply is the greatest scorer of all-time.

[@BWalker9313]

@@QuestionEverything562 the trophy should be in the form of the last shot jordan took against Utah. Would love amazing

[@QuestionEverything562]

@@BWalker9313 I like that, I agree. That's an iconic scoring moment, holding the gooseneck pose after that clinching 98' shot.

[@christianknight7120]

For me the best sports is tied between the Stanley Cup and the Soccer World Cup. The Stanley Cup just for its sheer size and the world cup is just a beautiful looking trophy, simple as that

[@CC-oi9mc]

The Stanley cup no question and I ain’t even watch hockey but I associate that sport and league WITH the trophy , for every other league I don’t even think about it or remember what it looks like . It has a legacy that speaks for itself everyone knows “Stanley cup”

[@September2004]

True. Noticed how at 6:18, they hadn't talked about the Cup for almost 4 minutes and then when they went back to talk about it, they didn't even say the word 'Stanley' Just, 'The Cup,' and everybody knew he wasn't talking about the World Cup. That's iconic.

[@September2004]

Thanks for that. 😀 As a non-hockey fan, what stands out for you about the trophy that makes you conclude it's 'no question'? (I agree but I'm a biased hockey fan.)

[@CC-oi9mc]

@@September2004 because it's the only thing that everyone knows about Hockey except for Wayne Gretzky so that is probably due to the NHL really featuring the stanley cup in its marketing, they name the finals after the trophy - the NBA finals isn't called the Larry O'Brien Tournament or anything like that.

[@September2004]

@@CC-oi9mc Oh... but there should be more than that, no? I mean the World Cup meets your criteria but it's definitely not greater (more famous I think) than the Stanley Cup.

[@CC-oi9mc]

@@September2004 no one in America cares about soccer

[@MosheXX]

7:20 that’s actually a good idea…

[@witchdoctor813]

Wildes needs a podcast. I still go back to the older "Half-baked ideas"episodes.

[@btowhidi_1713]

I agree.. everybody and their mother has a podcast .. don’t understand how come he doesn’t

[@nbarealtalker]

You can drink champagne out of the Stanley Cup. I rest my case.

[@Mr.MooseTheGreat]

The Stanley Cup is the best trophy is sports

[@SteveJarek]

The cup idea is great for current day. Everyone wants something that’s Instagram or TikTok friendly. So flexing drinking out of your trophy for the next week is going to get millions of views at the club, out for breakfast the night after, etc. it’s good exposure, something usable vs something that sits in a closet somewhere.

[@ntfrst]

2 best trophies are the Stanley Cup and the Grey Cup. You can drink out of both, and they're both huge-over 30 lbs. each. Names of winning players are on both as well.

[@bookaufman9643]

I don't think that you should make the conference championship trophy a drinkable trophy because you should only be celebrating after you win the title. The final trophy needs to be the one you can drink from. I think a couple trophies that look like Larry Bird or Magic Johnson would be pretty cool. The Eastern conference trophy could be a flat trophy of Bird stretching out his damaged back for his final run with the Dream team. That would make it the first horizontal trophy which may not look good but is special because it is the first. I think the Western conference Magic trophy would be best if you used a shot of Magic's face every time the words Rob Pelinka are brought up it could be the Magic Johnson cringe cup. It wouldn't be pretty but it'd be iconic.

[@QuestionEverything562]

💀💀💀

[@hmx619]

The biggest mess up is the new season trophies there basically glass plaques! Even mvp is a plaque!

[@Austinwhite918]

This segment was born for Bill Simmons

[@newagestudios408]

The Larry OB trophy is definitely my favorite 🏆

[@AI_Spongebob989]

I don’t watch hockey, but if you can drink champagne out of your championship trophy, that’s an S tier trophy right there.

[@louielyons9365]

World cup trophy is the best one you've mentioned

[@sndthunder]

The WWF Championship Belt is the coolest looking trophy. Im not even a wrestling fan but that belt is cool af.

[@keonrose7896]

So the NBA missed an opportunity for a couple of good mini person trophies. A mini Magic and a mini Bird trophy in their most iconic poses. It actually bothers me that they didn't do that.

[@ingibingi2000]

Doing watches would be pretty dope, old time baseball there was some pocket watches

[@betancourtgonzalez]

Bill, Google Jerry Rice. He wore one of his SB as a necklace. Pretty badass I agree

[@Khail707]

Ring, bracket or chain. This a new era

[@codymarmon3194]

Lord Stanley's is the best trophy

[@September2004]

Opinions: 1. I agree that the Bird and Magic Johnson trophies suck and there shouldn't be conference trophies anyway. 2. The two most polarizing trophies are the World Series and the World Cup trophies. I've been on both sides on both trophies and I think it's because: World Series: It's not a great sports trophy. But it could be a great trophy in a different category. Like something for the United Nations. World Cup: The gold surface is gorgeous but its design is weird. It's not instantaneously clear that those are people below the planet.

[@Fernando-fr5cu]

The Open championship trophy in golf is iconic.

[@gators9570]

Yeah the Claret Jug and green jacket if we’re counting it are two of the coolest trophies in sports

[@September2004]

0:18 Somehow didn't have Bird and Magic present the trophies. 0:58 Major Sports Categories: WHIMP 1:08 W: Wearables 1:32 H: Huge 1:57 I: Iconic 2:08 World Series Trophy debate 2:20 Stanley Cup’s the standard. 2:31 Keeper of the Cup 2:56 MP: Mini-Person 4:00 Bill thinks they should've made the new NBA trophies drinkable and other ideas. 4:34 Jacoby: Tweak trophies every year. 5:08 Agree about not caring about conference trophies. 5:15 The Bird/Magic Trophy looks like a spelling bee trophy. 6:08 Making trophies drinkable. 6:18 Jacoby: The Cup really does play. Simmons: Wildes, you're sleeping on the Cup. Wildes: I like the Cup! (Notice how they just say, "The Cup," and everybody knows which one they’re talking about.) 6:43 World Cup Trophy debate. 6:57 NBA conference trophies should be drinkable. 7:18 Make conference trophies combinable. 7:39 Championship rings should be a necklace. 8:46 Celtics used to get watches instead of rings in the 50s and 60s.

[@IknowMoreThanYou]

Haha Jacoby and Wildes DOPE

[@TrahNO2]

It's literally the traditional Finals MVP trophy, but smaller and with the gold and silver switched.

[@michaelcollins966]

and by 'traditional', you mean 15 years old.

[@TrahNO2]

@@michaelcollins966 As of recently, it is traditional, yes.

[@trovicmi93]

The World Cup trophy is beatiful!

[@chadrossouw2732]

Champions League trophy is the best. Its the most trophy-looking trophy out there

[@denistuohy2535]

For the first two minutes Jacoby looks completely lost

[@bacardibum]

you'd think he'd have a better setup.

[@mattwilliams7454]

Championship rings converted into a charm necklace is sort of funny

[@octopus8420]

Imagine an iced out 3D figure of Larry Bird shooting and Magic no look passing, sized about a foot, as a necklace pendant. Size, wearable, mini person.

[@2prime]

drinkable trophies should be reserved for championships only not conference finalists

[@September2004]

I agree. When does a player want to drink the most? After winning the Finals trophy. I don't mind if other trophies are drinkable, I just don't think it will make a difference. It's really the championship trophy that causes them to want to celebrate. Basically any trophy that causes your team to rush the field/ice/court after winning it, then pile on and hug each other, *that* trophy should be drinkable.

[@seanmccarthy5328]

They should make the conference finals mvp trophies a chain with a pendant. Also, imagine if they had conference finals mvps when lebron was playing in miami and cleveland.

[@ScrubOT]

The world series trophy looks like an employee of the month award they give at Six Flags. I feel like if I held it too long I'd get tetanus.

[@dangelo2728]

I've always been fond of the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Its not too big, not to small. Seems like the goldilocks of all trophies, IMO

[@September2004]

I think you would be right if it was an individual trophy. But a team trophy, IMHO, should be two-handed. Since it's a team sport and no individual is bigger than the team, I feel like the size disparity enforces that. The biggest individual trophy should still be clearly smaller than the smallest team trophy. Then imagine putting all these trophies on a table with the big team trophies in the center surrounded by smaller individual trophies.

[@stephenlevine3116]

I say Stanley Cup is the best of them all. There are only 3 in existence. The teams that win are added to the the cup and its passed to the next winning team. Plus it is massive. It weighs over 30 pounds. How is that not epic?

[@mikepetitti]

Best idea was the annual version of the trophies from JJ.

[@alonzo4811]

The world cup trophy is PERFECT

[@car9melo]

Soccer world cup is the best looking trophie ever

[@YungG17]

I am basketball then football fan but the World Series trophy is fucking awesome

[@danielmaia3559]

lol what about the F1 trophies that are a statue of the sponsor logo like Santander.. Lame

[@btowhidi_1713]

The Larry bird trophy should be in the shape of an actual bird

[@canadian_tabarnak]

Anyone who says the stanley cup isnt the best trophy is ignoring history, recognizability, and size. I should also say the stanley cup there is only 1, each team has to give it back, your name is engraved with every name on the winning team, so youre holding the same cup that iconic teams like the leafs and habs have won a million of them and knowing that all these amazing teams held it as well, cant get better than that

[@pichitones]

También la world cup, es de oro sólido y solo pueden tocarla los campeones del mundo, es muy exclusivo. Y el diseño es mucho mejor. La copa Stanley sólo la pueden ganar equipos de Canadá o EEUU, en cambio la world cup es codiciada por todos los países del mundo.

[@ntfrst]

That would apply to the Grey Cup as well. My 2 favourite trophies.

[@alexanderrose1071]

No to watches, as watches can stop working if not maintained properly. Rings, necklaces, or bracelets are all good ideas.

[@jamesball9608]

Somebody needs to tell Wildes belts hold up your pants. Those are titles

[@bluecloud6437]

let em smoke a bowl out the conference mvp trophy

[@bigstupidgrin]

WIMP sounds like analytics for trophies

[@nelsonho723]

the Cup is the MVP

[@HNLAUN32]

For me its the WBC belt

[@dionysise5008]

guys check the European champions league trophy on soccer. its awesome

[@williamoxley4870]

No way. They got the trophies right. Smaller versions of the finals mvp trophy. Simple, elegant and doesn’t take away from the ultimate and more important goal of earning the Larry O’Brien and Bill Russell trophies

[@QuestionEverything562]

But why not make miniature version trophies after Larry Bird and Magic Johnson? Like small statue trophies where Larry is taking a shot and Magic is making a Showtime pass.

[@jesot]

Larry and Magic trophies 100% should have been statuettes of Larry shooting the ball and Magic dribbling the ball. They fucked up those trophy designs so bad and went super lazy.

[@rodbat9075]

Ballon d’or or World Cup trophy

[@joelanthonyalvarado6947]

Stanley cup the best!!!

[@coreyeatmon5101]

NBA MVP should look like Jordan

[@JNovoa-cu4pv]

The conference mvp trophies are the worst idea in recent sports history. Pointless accolade

[@TheSamadon]

THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ONE

[@hustlecrowe9440]

Bill basically wants the trophies to be Lil John's pimp cup

[@fedeofeast3525]

world cup trophy is iconic, but what would americans know about it

[@Deondre_Clark]

Don't watch hockey ever. Stanley Cup is the only answer. That's not even debatable

[@September2004]

Thanks for that. 😀 As a non-hockey fan, what stands out for you about the trophy that makes you conclude it's not debatable? (I agree but I'm a biased hockey fan.)

[@Deondre_Clark]

@@September2004 it's iconic. Basketball and baseball don't have iconic trophies. Lombardi trophy is pretty iconic but other than Brady throwing it while drunk players dont really do anything with it. every player getting to just hang out with the Stanely Cup and get creative with what they do is pretty cool

[@Time4SumAksion021]

bring back the watch

[@coltondodd3086]

The World Series trophy is A+ It actually looks nice bc it’s not just one price of metal and it has some complexity you know

[@ScrubOT]

It looks like an employee of the month award they give at Six Flags.

[@coltondodd3086]

@@ScrubOT yeah bc six flags copied it since it’s such a cool trophy.

[@bradantcliff2940]

If you want to see the WORST trophy in sports look up Australian cricket league the bbl. Absolutely horrific

[@rollingwins]

Jacoby

[@crazytrain111]

It should have been a bracelet. The nba doesn’t have any bracelet trophy’s

[@joshuacampbell6212]

Champions league trophy , World Cup trophy

[@BoneDog1215]

bro uncoil that headphones cable

[@KingSyilver]

World cup trophy best trophy ever

[@agustindavid]

Giro de Italia trophy >

[@BM-hc4sd]

world cup is the best

[@funmachine100]

Fifa world cup trophy is the best ever

[@JNovoa-cu4pv]

World Series trophy is iconic, I think it looks really cool. One of my favorites. I actually don’t like the Stanley Cup, looks dumb n the weight of it based on it’s size is very disappointing. I mean is it made out of aluminum or what ?

[@stillmatic166]

Cup is easily the best in sports get outta here

[@QuestionEverything562]

The World Series trophy, most people outside of America can't even imagine what it looks like. The Stanley Cup is iconic and historical because it has every past champion's name on it. It's only heavy to weaklings and sissies, not male athletes.

[@September2004]

Sterling silver. ~35 pounds and 35 inches.

[@drewdurbin4968]

There is only 1 Stanley cup in the world enough said

[@emmanuelmondesir1314]

Stanley Cup

[@knep24]

We get it Bill you hate baseball.

[@QuestionEverything562]

The NBA MVP Award should be renamed to the Kareem-Abdul Jabbar MVP Award. The man won it 6x (Most in NBA history, but he only deserved 5 of them though), and has nothing else named after him. Would be a great honor.

[@September2004]

No, actually he has a social justice award named after him. I agree with your choice for regular season MVP just like I think Jordan should be named after the Finals MVP (although Russell was also a good choice). I would name best defensive player after Russell and have a new best offensive player award after Chamberlain. Bird could either get top scorer (or All-Star 3-point award) and Magic should get top assists.

[@QuestionEverything562]

@@September2004 lmao at social justice award.... Does that even count? I'm talking about real basketball awards that are awarded for actual performance merit. No wonder Kareem is so broke now. He was too busy trying to be a defiant social counter culture figure to pay attention to his illegitimate son and business ventures. Social justice is meaningless, and often leads to going broke. It's another reason Kareem was never hired as a coach despite his high IQ. Ali was the only real brave one that cared about his people in the 60s, he actually sacrificed his career, his name, and his money to fight oppression for black America. Kareem just did it for himself.

[@September2004]

@@QuestionEverything562 Ok... not sure why I needed the rant. I did say that I agreed with you that Kareem should be on the regular season MVP trophy instead in my original reply.

[@tyjohnson3111]

Only deserved 5 of 6??? So which one is the odd man out?

[@QuestionEverything562]

@@tyjohnson3111 The 1976 MVP award, you Kareem stan.

[@ucheakusobi6281]

Even the NBA awards trophies was trash. The MVP is just a circle ball now lmao

[@QuestionEverything562]

Wasn't a player in a certain position before?