The Land of Lincoln Trophy is presented to the winner of the Northwestern v. Illinois game. Now may I ask, if you win, do you really win?
The Big Ten is having another down year with their vanilla type offense and no standout team. So in keeping with the conference’s theme of plain, the Big 10 is introducing a new piece of hardware for its collection of rivalry trophies.
Now Michigan and Minnesota battle for the Little Brown Jug and Michigan State faces off every season against Penn State for the Land Grant Trophy, both need some work, but the historical value is appreciated.
What is the big disappointment is the new prized possession for the winner of the Northwestern v. Illinois game, the Land of Lincoln Trophy. In an effort to curb discrimination, the new trophy will replace the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk trophy to rid of any negative Native American imagery one might deduce or infer (it took some time though as this trophy was first awarded in 1945).
I’m not sure which bureaucrats from the Big 10 selected this rivalry trophy, but the Land of Lincoln Trophy is about as exciting as Illinois’ 2009 record. I don’t know how any player can get pumped up for a replica of Lincoln’s stove pipe hat mounted on a piece of oak. This trophy is the exact antithesis of what football represents.
If the two teams are trying to remember Lincoln or somehow honor him even though he has no relationship to college football, perhaps an image of Lincoln posing like the famous Desmond Howard Heisman pose would suffice. Anything, but this bookshelf end or door stop looking piece of junk.
Just like the conference’s performance, this trophy is a huge letdown.
