Trophy

ACCIDENTS happen, but when it's a $30,000 mistake — it's perfect High and Inside fodder. Such is the case after the father of a current player on Alabama's football team tripped on the rug that displayed the Crimson Tide's reward for winning January's BCS National Championship. The coveted crystal football was jarred off its stand and shattered following Alabama's annual A-Day game on Saturday, according to a university spokesperson. The football- ­shaped trophy, awarded by the American Football Coaches Association, is made of Waterford Crystal and valued at $30,000.

For years, the Lower Merion High School athletic department has been an unofficial custodian of the district's hallmarks in student achievement, stockpiling trophy after trophy and plaque after plaque in the glass cases lining the halls outside the boys' gym. But the task has gotten, well, a bit burdensome, especially for the overflowing display cases. So department and school district officials have decided to offer some of the awards to whoever wants them. "The bulk of the awards are individual awards that were either never presented to people or the people didn't take them," athletic director Thomas D. McGovern said Tuesday in explaining what was going to be given away.

I'M GRATEFUL to Steve Rosenberg. He denied my son a trophy. Nine-year-old Michael Jr. is a terrific boy. And he plays sports with a pretty high level of concentration and effort. But when it comes to his most recent baseball season, his team's efforts weren't worthy of recognition. He had a terrific coach in a volunteer named Joe Katz. Most guys coach because they have a son on the team. Katz did it because he loves the game and wanted to teach the fundamentals. And every week his team got better.

The Ryan Howard off-season awards tour is all but complete - as is the Phillies first baseman's haul from his MVP season. Last night, Howard rounded out his collection of hardware in style, officially receiving the Kenesaw Mountain Landis National League Most Valuable Player trophy, the award voted to him by the Baseball Writers Association of America after his breakout 58-home run, 149-RBI campaign in 2006. Surrounded by family, manager Charlie Manuel and a large contingent of Phillies front-office personnel, Howard was presented the plaque at the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America's 84th annual dinner by no less than Tony Gwynn, an outfielder who is scheduled for induction into the Hall of Fame this summer.

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS seems like a long time, doesn't it? Since the Flyers last won a Stanley Cup in 1975, the famed trophy has been awarded 33 times to 13 franchises in 12 cities. (There was no champion in 2005, because of the lockout.) There have been 1,405 names engraved on the Cup since '75, according to legendsofhockey.net, not counting the name of Bazil Pocklington, who had his name crossed out. Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington had his father's name included when he submitted the list to the NHL in 1984.

A prized trophy won by Seabiscuit, one of thoroughbred racing's greatest champions, has been recovered after turning up on an Internet auction site 50 years after it was stolen in a California burglary. The original thieves remain unknown, and FBI officials said it appeared no one would be charged with a crime. Efforts to find the trophy, one of several awarded to Seabiscuit during an amazing turnaround career, began last year and triggered an FBI investigation that stretched from New York to California.

Larchmont might have had only one individual winner Thursday at the South Jersey 1-meter diving championships, but it still got the trophy it was after: the one that goes to the team champion. Host Larchmont scored 45.5 points at the meet, just ahead of second-place Deer Brook (43.5) and third-place Barclay Farms (42). Larchmont's sole winner was Daniel Curcio, who won the 9-and-under boys' novice division with a 91.50. Four Larchmont divers finished second: Josh Bryan in the boys' 9-and-under Junior Olympic division, Seth Korona in the boys' 16-18 novice division, J.T. Mulholland in the boys' 12-13 Junior Olympic division, and Jen Stearly in the girls' 14-15 Junior Olympic division.

CHEERLEADERS Rachel Cohen (left) and Jill Needleman accept the first-place Central League trophy for Marple Newtown. The event was at Haverford High March 9.

Episcopal Academy's Eugene Burroughs, honored as the city's top basketball player, holds the Markward Club trophy with club secretary Andy Dougherty. Flanking them are Archbishop Ryan's Chris Mooney (center), the Catholic League winner, and Mastbaum's Kevin Benton, the Public League pick.

William N. Jess, 46, chief of the Newfield Police Department, died Monday at West Jersey Health System, Voorhees. A resident of Gibbsboro, Mr. Jess was a patrolman with the Gibbsboro Police Department for 10 years. He joined the Newfield Police Department in 1982, serving as a patrolman before being named chief in 1983. He also worked briefly for the Camden County Sheriff's Department in 1981. While working in Gibbsboro, Mr. Jess received many awards, including one from the mayor for saving the life of a young choking victim.

ACCIDENTS happen, but when it's a $30,000 mistake — it's perfect High and Inside fodder. Such is the case after the father of a current player on Alabama's football team tripped on the rug that displayed the Crimson Tide's reward for winning January's BCS National Championship. The coveted crystal football was jarred off its stand and shattered following Alabama's annual A-Day game on Saturday, according to a university spokesperson. The football- ­shaped trophy, awarded by the American Football Coaches Association, is made of Waterford Crystal and valued at $30,000.

MELBOURNE, Australia - Novak Djokovic ripped off his shirt and let out a primal scream, flexing his torso the way a prize fighter would after a desperate, last-round knockout. This was the final act in Djokovic's 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory over Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final - a sweat-drenched, sneaker-squeaking 5-hour, 53-minute endurance contest that ended at 1:37 a.m. Monday morning in Melbourne. Djokovic overcame a break in the fifth set to win his fifth Grand Slam tournament and third in a row. None, though, quite like this.

LOS ANGELES - The Heisman Trophy that seemed to be Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck's to lose may be lost Saturday night to a Baylor quarterback. Momentum in recent days has shifted swiftly and favorably toward Robert Griffin III. Heismanpundit.com, a site run by former Southern California assistant sports information director Chris Huston that tracks college football's most coveted award, has predicted a victory for Griffin. In a final survey of 13 Heisman voters, Griffin received eight first-place votes to four for Luck.

"Hockey runs my life and takes me everywhere I want to go. " - From Matt Read's bio on Twitter (@read1mat) Matt Read is going places, all right. And though it's several months away, one of those places may be Las Vegas, where they honor the NHL award winners after the season. The Flyers have never had a player win the Calder Trophy as the NHL's best rookie. Not Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, or Ron Hextall. Not Mikael Renberg, Mike Richards, or Jeff Carter. Not anybody.

JOE PATERNO'S name is off the Big Ten's football championship trophy. League commissioner Jim Delany said yesterday that it is "inappropriate" to keep the name of the former Penn State coach on the trophy that will be awarded Dec. 3 after the first Big Ten title game. Penn State fired Paterno, its longtime coach, last week and investigations are under way into allegations of child sex-abuse involving Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions. The trophy had been named the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy.

WIMBLEDON, England - One might reasonably have expected Petra Kvitova, not Maria Sharapova, to be betrayed by nerves in the Wimbledon final. This was, after all, Kvitova's first Grand Slam championship match, while Sharapova already owned three major titles, including one from the All England Club. So Kvitova decided to pretend she was heading out on Centre Court to play in the fourth round. That mind-set worked. So, too, did nearly everything Kvitova tried once play began, particularly her big, flat, lefthanded ground strokes that pushed Sharapova back on her heels.

LAS VEGAS - Ian Laperriere's walk, from seat to stage at the Pearl Theater, was a long one. But the images, replayed during the introduction of the finalists, remained just as gruesome for the crowd at the NHL Awards in the Las Vegas Palms Casino and Resort as they did on April 22, 2010, when Laperriere stopped a frozen chunk of vulcanized rubber with his face. With blood pouring out of his eye socket, Laperriere asked trainer Jim McCrossin if his right eye was still there after diving to block a Paul Martin slap shot in the waning minutes of an already in-hand series-clinching win over the Devils in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

AT THIS TIME last year, the Flyers were still neck-deep in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The final was under way against the Chicago Blackhawks and the notion that two hockey cities were in a contest for the great and iconic silver trophy was unquestioned. To be in the middle of it was to experience what the NHL has always hoped to be: not dominant like the Eagles and the NFL, and not necessarily threaded into the city's fiber like the Phillies and baseball, but real and meaningful nonetheless - real and meaningful and recognized for the spectacle that it is. With that . . . . . . same time, next year.

HARRISBURG - Conference trips to faraway places like China, India, and Ireland. Tickets to pro football games. Passes for pricey receptions and galas. Dinners galore. Even in these belt-tightening times, such gifts and travel are all part of the life of a Pennsylvania legislator, according to the latest statements of financial interest filed with the State Ethics Commission. In annual filings that were due Monday, some elected officials reported no gain in 2010 aside from the paycheck that comes with the job. Others accepted meals, trips, and assorted trinkets.