Iowa Corn cans new Cy-Hawk Trophy
Four days after being unveiled, the redesigned Cy-Hawk Trophy is history.
The Iowa Corn Growers Association, the new Cy-Hawk Series sponsor, announced today in a press conference that it has heeded fan’s overwhelming scorn and will go back to the drawing board. According to the DMR, the trophy will “be sent back to the shop with instructions, based mostly on negative fan response, to come up with a few new concepts and let the public decide on a winner.”
Thank God. Though the trophy — which many thought resembled a Keepsake Ornament — will apparently “still be ‘part of an expanded partnership’” between sponsoring corporations and the universities, it will not be the centerpiece in the annual football rivalry. That spares Cyclone and Hawkeye fans from years of national embarrassment: they will not have to fight for the ugliest trophy in all of sports.
I have to say, though, I am surprised Iowa Corn backtracked. However, it is in its best interest not to be associated with something so universally despised. (“Iowa Corn? Yeah, they’re the ones who made that butt ugly trophy.”) In an era when corporate self-esteem has ballooned to a level of assumed omnipotence, I have to condone Iowa Corn for admitting it screwed up. I also have to admit having a little empathy for the actual people who designed and built the trophy. Somewhere out there the trophy’s creators are feeling the weight of artistic failure. However, I wonder to what extent they were acting as artists and not salaried graphic designers in the marketing department.
An interim trophy will be used this year (I can only imagine what that will look like) and ideas for a replacement are flying. The P-C’s Pat Harty suggested a trophy honoring each school’s sporting legend: Nile Kinnick and Jack Trice. One lucky Palo resident had his “I” trophy design showcased on KCRG this evening, which I thought was also ugly. And Mervgotti’s sick mind thought up “The Corn Hole.” (I do not want to get into detail.) I have no doubt a lot of good ideas will come from the public, and one may even be accepted and used; I suppose that is the next best thing since the series lacks any organic symbolism or stories for a trophy. But I wonder: does the series need a trophy?
The Iowa Corn Growers Association, the new Cy-Hawk Series sponsor, announced today in a press conference that it has heeded fan’s overwhelming scorn and will go back to the drawing board. According to the DMR, the trophy will “be sent back to the shop with instructions, based mostly on negative fan response, to come up with a few new concepts and let the public decide on a winner.”
Thank God. Though the trophy — which many thought resembled a Keepsake Ornament — will apparently “still be ‘part of an expanded partnership’” between sponsoring corporations and the universities, it will not be the centerpiece in the annual football rivalry. That spares Cyclone and Hawkeye fans from years of national embarrassment: they will not have to fight for the ugliest trophy in all of sports.
I have to say, though, I am surprised Iowa Corn backtracked. However, it is in its best interest not to be associated with something so universally despised. (“Iowa Corn? Yeah, they’re the ones who made that butt ugly trophy.”) In an era when corporate self-esteem has ballooned to a level of assumed omnipotence, I have to condone Iowa Corn for admitting it screwed up. I also have to admit having a little empathy for the actual people who designed and built the trophy. Somewhere out there the trophy’s creators are feeling the weight of artistic failure. However, I wonder to what extent they were acting as artists and not salaried graphic designers in the marketing department.
An interim trophy will be used this year (I can only imagine what that will look like) and ideas for a replacement are flying. The P-C’s Pat Harty suggested a trophy honoring each school’s sporting legend: Nile Kinnick and Jack Trice. One lucky Palo resident had his “I” trophy design showcased on KCRG this evening, which I thought was also ugly. And Mervgotti’s sick mind thought up “The Corn Hole.” (I do not want to get into detail.) I have no doubt a lot of good ideas will come from the public, and one may even be accepted and used; I suppose that is the next best thing since the series lacks any organic symbolism or stories for a trophy. But I wonder: does the series need a trophy?
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