The Stanley Cup--hockey's crown glory-- is the oldest trophy in north american sports. In its current form the trophy weighs 15.5 kilograms (approx 35 pounds). It is made of highly polished silver-nickel alloy. Unfortunately the way things are going right now, it doesn't seem like they will play hockey this year. Another lockout imposed by the owners....
Just a heads up, that post you quoted is from 2002 So don't expect a response. Someone felt like raising this thread from the dead.
I care.. Personally, I know I am in the minority but I would rather RB with the Supporters Shield than MLS Cup. Even with an unblanaced schedule, it is MUCH tougher to win the Shield than the Cup. If San Jose were to get bounced inthe first round of the playoffs, is there really anyone out there that would dispute they have been the best team all season long?
A couple years from now, no one will care who won the Supporters Shield this year. "Best regular season team" isn't remembered or celebrated the way a league champion is. No one really cares that the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls tied for the best record in the NBA last season. No one cares that the Vancouver Canucks have had the best record in the NHL the past two seasons in a row. No one remembers the Philadelphia Phillies won over a hundred games last year. None of those teams will be remembered as champions.
The NHL is the only other league that gives a trophy for the best regular season record with the Presidents' Trophy but it's not really a viewed as a major award.
Depends on how much you value it. I remember SS winning teams and consider their achievements to be on par with MLS Cup. Those other sports are different. In MLS the SS winner gets a trophy and now a CCL berth with the associated allocation.
MLS Cup is still #1 for me, especially now that the schedule is unbalanced again, but I still care about the Shield. It terms of silverware, I'd rate it as the second most important trophy in MLS. And CCL seeding seems to agree.
It's an important trophy, but not the biggest prize. The CCL berth makes it more meaningful, but only as meaningful as a CCL berth can be. No one really cares much for the CCL besides die-hard fans. If the CCL grows in prestige, so will the Supporters Shield. But even then, it will not be on par with MLS Cup, because most people don't view a regular season prize to be worth as much as the grand finale to decide the league champion. Plus, with unbalanced schedules, you can always debate whether a team truly is the "best" team in all of MLS, based on strength of schedule and other factors. You can't debate the MLS Cup playoffs as much. You might not agree with a 6th seed winning the Cup, but you can't debate the fact that a 6th seed outperformed and outlasted the rest of the top teams in a tournament to decide the league champion. The league, the teams, the players, the fans, etc have all agreed that MLS Cup is the prize that determines the league champion. It will not lose that legitimacy to a regular season trophy. If anything, the SS winner is the one who needs to legitimize their regular season performance by following up with an MLS Cup title.
The players do care, obviously... http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/10/22/wondo-sjs-shield-seasons-worth-celebration
Well, NHL have this instead.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cup_(ice_hockey) More of them at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Professional_Hockey_Championships http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_games_played_by_NHL_teams
We now need two Supporter's Shield, one for East and one for West. Then they should be called the Conference Champions. I would give them berth to Copa Libertadores eventually.
If memory serves, isn't Hans the one who said that the SS winner was the "true" champion and he'd be gung ho to win it, at the expense of MLS Cup?
I do very much so. It's the league's job to make it important, they should talk about it much more, make it a big deal on the field with celebration, sadly sometimes a team wins it without playing because of other results but once the team gets home they should present the trophy with all the hoopla MLS cup gets, now if they do something similar already, then the league has failed because I haven't seen it.
I don't think it will lose relevance. The relevance peaked during the two years of balanced schedule; it went down a little with the current schedule, but it is what it is, and people accept it. However, I don't think it will gain relevance, either, which I think is what bothers people who are bothered. At least until MLS itself makes a bigger deal out of it, which I don't think they will for fear of diminishing the MLS Cup.
Also because it isn't their trophy. Their award. I'm glad they've acknowledged it and given it some meaning with a CCL spot but I just can't see them doing more.