When Don talked about winning a trophy with his hometown fantasy league, I imagined a 10-inch tall, silver trophy, with a marble base. Every year the winner has had his name engraved on it, beginning with the 88-89 season.
The first year Don won The Trophy after we were married was the 2010-2011 season (he previously won it in the 2003-2004 season). I was flabbergasted when he came home with a 3-foot tall trophy and proudly placed in on the end table in our living room! Thinking he was excited and would only leave it there for a few days, I didn’t question its location. A month or so later when I suggested taking it downstairs to our sports room, I found out he fully intended to leave it on display in our living room for a year. I decided I could live with that.
Don’s expertise and good luck turned one year into three years. Toward the end of the third year, he announced that if he won The Trophy again, we were going to buy a new cabinet to set it on and install recessed spotlights to shine on it. Now we were heading toward a standoff – this was way too much for me! We did not have to cross that bridge because Don didn’t even make the play-offs that year. He missed them by only one game, and even I was sad when he had to give up The Trophy to the new winner!
We are not the only household that has had differing opinions about where The Trophy should reside. One of Don’s league-mates came home to discover The Trophy was missing. When he asked his wife where it was, she calmly replied that she had thrown it away. Thrown it away?! No, it was down in the basement where it sadly stayed for the duration of the year.
On the other end of the spectrum, the last winner took it home and slept with it next to him in bed! Obviously, no one knows if this is really true; however, I suspect Don would do the same if I wouldn’t protest.
With the season starting tomorrow night, The Trophy is now up for grabs again. If the football gods smile down on Don, we may be shopping for recessed spotlights in a few months.