What do you all think of the Land of Lincoln trophy?

www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-11-illinois-football-nov11,0,4736103.story

Looks small, unimpressive, and not very imaginative, maybe its the pic, and I am not just saying that because I know we would all rather have Sweet Sioux back, it just doesn't look good.

You know the original Sweet Sioux I believe was a full size wooden Indian. I wonder where they plan on putting the scores? There isn't much of a wooden base so are they going to engrave them on the Hat? Or will it be like Illibuck and get retired once every 10 years? I think it is ok, but we tend to "go Lincoln" for everything. He's the most popular president, we're the land of lincoln etc., but yes, could we be a bit more imaginative? Maybe in time it will become a venerable thing with age. Might have been cool to have a young "railsplitter" Lincoln statue instead of the Hat. I guess that should be the nickname for this trophy: "the Hat" or the "stovepipe"

It's about as lame as the idea a WDWS caller had replacing "Fighting Illini" with "The Mighty Presidents".

Never heard that one but that's the worst! Glad our name has been blessed by the NCAA so we don't have to worry about that one. Anyhow, I don't think the Hat is that bad.

I like it. I can't think of a better trophy for the intrastate rivalry of 2 schools within Illinois. I liked the Sweet Sioux from a tradition standpoint, but it didn't really have anything to do with the state. Did the Sioux even live in Illinois? I didn't think they did (I thought they were more Minnesota and the Dakotas), but I won't claim to be an expert on Native American history.

I don't think of it at all.

I think the trophy should be a smallpox blanket. It would be a more "authentic" way to honor Native American culture. Perhaps the Trail of Death trophy would be more fitting for football though.

Nicely self-flagellating. Overlooks the small fact that the Illini were destroyed by the Miami, another native group.

Just read the story, and if this is the same Dick Locher who designed the trophy, he's the current writer/cartoonist for the Dick Tracy comic strip. Very nice guy, he lives in the western suburbs, or at least he did.

I interviewed him a few years ago about the Dick Tracy museum in Woodstock, which I believe is now closed.

I think the trophy is ok, nothing special, but I was a believer in eveything "Chief", so I'm biased, as many of us are.

I agree, I don't reallly know how to go back and find past posts or threads but back when they announced the retirement of Sweet Sioux I said on this board that it would probably be something stupid like Abe Lincoln's hat... and I was right....

What they will probably do like most traveling trophies is when a plate around the base is full they will remove it and keep it somewhere.

I really don't claim to have any big idea on what it should of been but I knew I didn't want something like this.... people claim that the Chief is a stereotype?

How about two football teams in Illinois playing for Abe Lincoln's hat?

I would like to see the trophy in person to really get a grasp if it looks nice or not. It is kind of like the Red Grange statue, it looks nice in pictures but you can't appreciate it the same as seeing it in person. I am sure the same can be said for this trophy.

How is Abe Lincoln's hat a stereotype?

stereotype - a conventional or formulaic conception or image; "regional stereotypes have been part of America since its founding"

Yeah, congratulations on finding the dictionary. I still don't think you know what that word means. Again, how is Abe Lincoln's hat a stereotype? Is there some widespread perception I'm not aware of that everyone in Illinois wears stovepipe hats?

Its the perception that in Illinois everything is Lincoln this and Lincoln that so much so that two football teams in Illinois would play for a trophy that had to do with Abe Lincoln. Its not just the hat itself.

If you asked anyone in the world to come up with a trophy for two Illinois teams to play for in a game for bragging rights in the state, everyone would say something like Abe Lincolns hat or something that had to do with him. OR if you told them that the trophy was new this year I think people outside of Illinois would say "Well what else would they play for? I can't believe it was something else before that?" I just think its appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Now as stupid as I thought the idea was, the Popcorn Bowl choice was at least imaginative, and someone put some thought into it.

Maybe stereotype isn't the word, maybe cliche would be better. Does anyone else out there see my point?

Worst.Rivalry.Ever.

Oh and it looks like the top hat from Monopoly

I get it. Maybe historical myth is another way to put it. Abe Lincoln rarely wore the hat, and I think he never wore it until he became president. Another myth was that he "freed the slaves" while most historians agree that the slaves had freed themselves and the EP was merely symbolic and political move. It is interesting how national heroes evolve over time while others fight to protect their sacred images whether they are real or imaginary. Sorta like the Chief.

It kept Great Britain out of the war, which was kind of important to the scheme of things. My three Quaker (yes, the pacifists) relatives that fought in the war for emancipation, including the one who died, should have known the slaves would free themselves and not worried about it.

OK, the Illinois/Northwestern football trophy should commemorate:

1) Whitey was nasty to the injuns.
2) Whitey was nasty to the black folk.
3) ??

Dunno who else. Maybe the way whitey treated the Nisei during WWII? How about we bring in something like the extinction of the passenger pigeon, so we show we aren't just hung up on race?

Perhaps the photographer could have set it on a table, so that it doesn't look so much like a garden gnome.

First. I think we need to win it tomorrow. Second. I think we need to give it a chance. I'm sure people thought a bronze pig was a goofy idea for the Iowa/Minn rivalry at first, but with time and age, it became "venerable" or even "cool" because it was weird and goofy. Again, I think it would add to things if someone came up with a cool nickname for it.

"Stovie"

They should scrap it and bring back the Tomahawk.

What they should have done was have the image of the state on it, rather than the image of Lincoln's hat.

After all, the state is called the Land of Lincoln, not that hat.

This is just another shining example of Political Correctness run amok in this country.

Land of Lincoln trophy?

Call it the 'lol'.

I got a close up look at it in the press box. Not all that impressive. My guess is that, over time, they will expand the base of the trophy as the need to add more scores fills up the three blank sides of the base. Eventually, given a tall enough base, it will probably look more like a trophy. With 2009 being the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, Illinois being the Land of Lincoln, and Obama's constant references to Lincoln during his campaign, the stove pipe hat icon was a no brainer.

They don't need to expand it until someone else wins it. Which looks like never.