Alabama Crimson Tide running back Trent Richardson holds the BCS trophy after defeating the LSU Tigers during the NCAA BCS National Championship college football game in New Orleans January 9, 2012.
There’s something to be said for display cases, especially when you’re trying to show off your $30,000 crystal football. The University of Alabama learned that lesson on Saturday when an unsuspecting player’s father shattered the Crimson Tide’s BCS national title Coach’s Trophy.
During the team’s annual A-Day scrimmage, the father snagged his foot on a rug directly underneath the trophy’s stand. The jolt was enough to dislodge the Waterford crystal ball from its podium (when touring the country, the ball is affixed to the stand with “museum gel”). Instead of falling harmlessly onto soft turf (maybe a pillow-like surface could be brought in for future public displays), the ball smashed to the hallway of the Mal Moore Athletic Facility.
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The university has another version of the eight-pound ball, located at the Paul W. Bryant Museum and will immediately order a replacement for the broken trophy, which is handmade in Ireland.
This isn’t the first mishap involving the crystal football. Florida schools have had a hard time holding on to their crystal, as two were stolen from Florida State in 2004 and in 2008 a University of Florida recruit dropped one of their versions. In defense of Florida and Alabama, however, most schools don’t even have a crystal ball to break.