And the Most Expensive Trophy in Professional Sports is...

We like our champions in the United States, and we want them to feel like champions when they become--well, champions. How better to do that than to award them with an incredibly expensive and totally awesome trophy?

Being the competitive bunch that we are there is one very important question that has to be asked about them: whose is the best? Since fans will just say their favorite sport's trophy is the best lets ask that question in another fashion:

Whose is the most expensive?

All 32 NFL teams just drafted the next crop of superstars to help them fight for the right to (party?) hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Is it the most expensive trophy? If they made it out of platinum it might be, but the made from scratch trophy is sterling silver and comes in second at about $50,000 each.

Major League Baseball is still a long way away from crowing its next champion, but it is safe to say that two teams are out of the running already--the Houston Astros and Miami Marlins. Yes, I know, there is plenty of time for a team to turn it around and make a run for the post season still.

But let's be real folks. I love my Astros; they don't have a chance, and neither does Miami in putting their hands on the $15,000 Commissioner's Trophy.

The NBA will be handing the Larry O'Brien Trophy to the Miami Heat in a few weeks. Oh come on! Everyone knows they are going to win. As much as most of those guys get paid you would think that the league could spring for a better--or more expensive--trophy, but theirs is actually the cheapest at a paltry $13,500.

What is that equivalent to? The amount Kobe Bryant gets paid for the time it takes him to think about shooting?

Maybe it comes as no surprise as big as the darn thing is, but the award for the most expensive trophy in pro sports goes to the National Hockey League!

They may be the least watched of the pro sports, but the NHL makes sure that its champion knows its a champion with the $650,000 Lord Stanley's Cup.

Yes, sports fans. The NHL spends over half a million on its trophy!

The league is proud of this sucker too, and righteously so. Every year not only does each and every name of the winning team's players go on it, but they get to carry it around for a day during the off-season. This often provides for some pretty entertaining pics for fans to enjoy as they wait for the next season to start.

Of course the emotional value that goes with winning the trophy after a hard season and a lifetime of work is immeasurable. But if you ever found yourself short on cash and happened to have one of these laying around...


[Yahoo]