By the end of this beautiful Super Bowl Sunday, either the Kansas City Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers are going to be sporting new Super Bowl rings sometime next year. From the plain, original ring the Packers received after winning Super Bowl I to the rings covered in diamonds that we see teams commission today, every single ring has special memories and charm to it. Having six victories in the Super Bowl themselves, the Steelers’ entire history can be seen when looking at their hardware. However, it seems that not every design is given as much love as the others.
If you’ve watched cable television during the last 15 years, you’ve probably come across Pawn Stars at some point. If you haven’t, the premise of the show focuses on a family-run pawn shop trying to negotiate the prices of various heirlooms or trinkets that are brought to them. Rick Harrison is one of the stars of this show, and in a recent appearance with NBC Sports, he gave his opinion on what the ugliest Super Bowl ring is.
“The Steelers won a Super Bowl ring, and they had [Ben] Roethlisberger help design the ring. It’s probably the ugliest one,” Harrison stated about the championship ring from Super Bowl XL. “If you play football, stick to that. Find out what you’re not good at in this world and don’t do that.”
While Harrison doesn’t specify which ring — Roethlisberger won two — it appears he’s referring to Super Bowl XL. According to this post and several others, Roethlisberger and RB Jerome Bettis were part of the committee to help design the ring. Apparently, Harrison doesn’t consider emotional worth when valuing items and doesn’t seem to care for Roethlisberger’s abilities as an artist. Considering Roethlisberger created most of his art on the football field, it’s doubtful he’d care much for Harrison’s opinion. In 2008, WR Hines Ward was put in charge of the ring’s design.
The ring itself displays the five Lombardi Trophies the Steelers had at that point, a nod to how desperately the franchise wanted to capture “one for the thumb.” It also features a more modern look compared to the four they captured in the 70s, showing just how much time had passed and how hard that team worked to finish the story.
It’s fair for Harrison to criticize how the ring looks, but to many Steelers fans, it could have been a rock covered in mud and it would still be beautiful. It represents such an incredible journey for both the team and its fans that beauty itself cannot express. It signals perseverance, brotherhood, trust, and so much more. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and no matter the opinion of any reality television star, to those who understand the story, the ring from Super Bowl XL couldn’t be more gorgeous. And Shaun Alexander can continue to be salty that he doesn’t have one.
