The Paul Bunyan Trophy

Submitted by Kapitan Howard on

The Paul Bunyan Trophy, IMO, is quite possibly the ugliest thing in the state of Michigan save Marky D's contemptuous smirk. For those who have not seen it:

Question: Is there a way we can win this football game and leave the trophy in East Lansing? I don't know anyone who respects the game as a Trophy Game.

Keeeeurt

October 1st, 2009 at 12:11 PM ^

I remember the first time I heard there was a trophy for this game and my honest to god reaction was WHAT???? SINCE WHEN????. No one cares about this thing.

jmblue

October 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 AM ^

The Land Grant Trophy must have been designed by a committee. I can imagine the dialogue that went into its creation:

"So what should we put on the trophy?"

"How about photos of the two campuses?"

"Statues. We need statues."

"And plaques with each year's scores on it. That's always a winner."

"And a little football figurine on top, like what we used to have on our rec league trophies."

"All right, we have a consensus!"

GOBLUE4EVR

October 1st, 2009 at 12:24 PM ^

a sweet picture on my hard drive of what is in place of the paul bunyan trophy right now at schembechler hall. if some one could tell me how get it off of my hard drive and on to here i could show all of you.

GOBLUE4EVR

October 1st, 2009 at 2:29 PM ^

here is the picture:

i got this picture from a guy i used to work with. his nephew was getting cancer treatment at u of m hospital and his brother in-law through some conections got it setup for all 3 of them to see a spring practice and to take tour of schembechler hall. and when he saw this sign in place of the paul bunyan trophy he had to take a picture and give it to me.

Seth

October 1st, 2009 at 12:32 PM ^

Somebody on the Mgoblogs wrote a diary or something from the perspective of the PB trophy. I'm gonna go find it and retroactively plus him. It was awesome...

"they're watching 300 again!"

UPDATE: Found it!.

Go Plus 'mooseman' until he qualifies for a veteran-user circle-jerk!

Excerpt?

Excerpt.

Think of the first night. Imagine The Shawshank Redemption except with more sodomy. The tribal tattoos. The acrid smell of burning couches. His self loathing over his wooden arousal at being stroked by skanky, beer swilling harlots who managed to cobble together enough sentences on their admission applications to avoid LCC. Would he ever be able to look at a beer commercial again without a flashback? "My God, is that a mullet? What IS a Brah? Are they going to watch 300 again?"

Section 1

October 1st, 2009 at 1:02 PM ^

...is a charred couch.

Nobody knows about the Paul Bunyan trophy except whichever players have to haul it off the field after the big game. It has been a sort of a nonexistent joke as long as I can remember.

Meanwhile, the game is not a joke. I do think that if this game is bigger for the Spartans than for the Wolverines, it is at least in part because there are more in-state kids on MSU's roster. This is indeed a very big game if you ask Michigan/Michigan guys like Leach, Wangler, Ron Johnson, Wheatley, the Gradys, Braylon Edwards, Glenn Doughty, H. Huckelby, etc.

Actually, because charred couches smell so bad, and the "Charred Couch" is likely to spend many, many more years in Schembechler Hall than anywhere else, we should probably establish the "PSL Trophy," in honor of Michigan's in-state recruiting classes.

Blue in Yarmouth

October 1st, 2009 at 1:15 PM ^

I think it is bigger to them because they really are like a little brother who has been brought up in the older brothers shadow. The little brother fights and claws for attention and tries to play sports with his older brother and his friends but can never quite match-up.

The little brother is jealous and wants to beat his big brother every chance he gets but what is in it for the big brother? If he throws down and beats his little brother up, he was supposed to win so what did he gain. If he loses he looks like a total fool and his little brother will never let him live it down.

The reason MSU takes it more seriously is because they have everything to gain and nothing to lose, while for UM it is exactly the opposite.

Section 1

October 1st, 2009 at 3:05 PM ^

is that "The Axe" was and is already a big-deal trophy between Wisconsin and Minnesota. (It's just an axe, and it is a badder axe than Paul Bunyan's axe.)
And I think their Axe pre-dated Paul Bunyan by, like, forever.