I’m sure by now most have heard about and seen the Iowa Corn Growers Association’s new Cy-Hawk Trophy. It was unveiled at the Iowa State Fair. The cover should never have come off, but it did, and those who were affiliated with the decision had to bear 4 solid days of bashing locally and nationally.
The sculpture on the trophy is beautiful (if it were above my grandmother’s fireplace). There is an Iowa family all around a bucket of corn. When I see it, the last thing on my mind is what the trophy is SUPPOSED to represent: football rivalry. I don’t understand who in their right mind would look at this and say, “Yep…this is exactly what the people of Iowa would want for their superbowl.”
As soon as the pictures got out on the internet shortly after the trophy was unveiled, the groans of displeasure took off like wildfires. Messsage boards were booming, sports radio had their top story, and I’m sure the Iowa Corn e-mail box was full. Not only was this blowing up locally, but it gained national attention as well. ESPN blogger David Ubben did a piece on it that was quite amusing. He spoke about an e-mail that he got from from an Ames native, Jared, who wrote something along the lines of “I hope Iowa State wins the game and the trophy this year, so they get to be the ones to throw it in Lake Laverne.” David went on to say that he thought it couldn’t be that bad and that Jared was blowing it out of proportion and being unreasonable. He decided to take a gander at the precious moments figurine himself and went on to apologize to Jared for not believing him. He like many others said that it was the worst sports trophy around.
It didn’t take long before a press conference was announced. It was announced that the trophy would be changed. They decided that they will take it to the people (probably should have thought of this the first time around). They are using the ideas that have been thrown out in the last 4 days and will let the people vote.
I for one am happy that the social media was able to single handily change the outcome of this situation. I don’t think this would be the case even 10 years ago. The irony is that it took a trophy that was meant to promote the rivalry between Iowa’s two biggest schools to actually unite Cyclone and Hawkeye fans.
