Rating the Super Bowl Rings

[Witness York]

This being Super Bowl week, I thought I would offer my thoughts …

Most Beautiful Super Bowl Ring_ 1.) 1971 Dallas Cowboys. A gorgeous design that is timeless. The diamond-studded blue star surrounded by diamonds is mesmerizing. This ring is as stunning now as the day it was issued. 2). 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers. A classic and tasteful ring. The five trophy setting against the backdrop of the black onyx makes this ring the most beautiful of the team’s six Super Bowl rings. 3). Tie between 2009 New Orleans Saints. Understated elegance. This ring is an example of a team logo that was made for a championship ring .. and 1986 New York Giants. The next to last Super Bowl ring to feature a large highlight stone, the diamond-studded trophy set against the blue stone makes for a classic appearance.

Ugliest Super Bowl Ring_ 1). I hate to criticize any ring but the 2000 Baltimore Ravens has to top the list. Some logos are just not meant to be the centerpiece of a ring, even worse when the logo is studded with jewels. The Ravens’ logo is cartoon-ish at best and detracts from the beauty of the rest of the ring. 2). 2011 New York Giants. This style just does nothing for me. Innovation gone bad. 3). 1997 and 1998 Denver Broncos. Though not as bad as the Ravens’ ring, these two suffer from the bad logo syndrome.

Most Disappointing Super Bowl Ring_ 1). A tie between the 1981 San Francisco 49ers and the 1982 Washington Redskins. The cross-finger football-shaped design had been used to death by 1981. While both rings are beautiful in their own way, the basic designs lacked originality. 3). 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers. I have a salesman sample of this ring and I can attest it is a beautiful ring. The disappointment is that after waiting 42 years for a championship, team management chose a solitaire diamond design, eschewing the multiple-diamonds effect that had become standard by 1974. This ring is the last Super Bowl championship ring to contain a single diamond.

Silliest Super Bowl Ring_ 1). 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers. I call this the Scattershot Ring because it looks like a jeweler threw a handful of diamonds at the ring and set them wherever they landed. In the Age of Excess, this is excess gone bad. 2). 1990 New York Giants. Two football-shaped diamonds set within a blue football makes for a clumsy design. 3). Tie ’89 and ’94 San Francisco 49ers and ’92, ’93 and ’95 Dallas Cowboys. All of them are beautiful rings. I pick these only because the ring tops only feature the team name and not the title won. At least the Dallas rings include the entire team name; the Niners didn’t even go that far.

All Time Ugliest Championship Ring Ever Made_ Though not a Super Bowl ring, the 1978 Dallas Cowboys NFC championship ring is nonpareil for ugliness. Too ugly to describe. WHAT were they thinking? It is as if management was punishing the team for not winning back-to-back Super Bowls.