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A championship ring is a ring presented to members of winning teams in North American professional sports leagues, and college tournaments. Since only one championship trophy is awarded by the league to the winning team, championship rings are distributed as a collectible memento for the actual players and team officials to keep for themselves to symbolize the victory. Winners' medals (and runners-up medals) are not awarded in North American professional sports, in contrast to Olympic team sports and European club association football tournaments such as the Premier League and UEFA Champions League. In addition, the championship in North American pro team sports is the culmination of the regular season and playoff tournament, while in European club football the league championship and domestic/continental cups are separate competitions. For North American pro teams, the playoff league championship is the single most significant part of the season. Indeed, most teams and fans in North America do not consider division titles or conference titles to be notable honors at all, and therefore in practice teams in major North American professional sports consider themselves to compete annually for only a single honor, the league championship, which is determined by a playoff tournament that is seeded based on regular season performance. This is in sharp contrast to European football clubs who celebrate and compete for both regular-season "league" titles and playoff tournament "cups", as well as international tournaments in some cases. In North American sports vernacular, a player's aim of wanting the "ring" is synonymous with winning the playoff league championship, and it has entered popular lexicon (retired basketball center Shaquille O'Neal was quoted as saying "My motto is very simple: Win a Ring for the King", former NHL goaltender Patrick Roy remarking "I can't hear what Jeremy says, because I've got my two Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears"). An individual's number of championship rings, rather than number of championship trophies, is often used by sportswriters as a tally of a their personal success, since it is more appropriate to write that it is the team/franchise and not the individual who wins the championship trophy (i.e. number of NBA Championship rings rather than Larry O'Brien Trophies won by former NBA coach Phil Jackson).〔()〕 The four most-well known championship rings in North American professional sports are the NFL's Super Bowl ring, the NBA Championship ring, MLB's World Series ring, and the NHL's Stanley Cup ring. ==Description== Championship rings are typically made of yellow or white gold with diamonds. They usually include the team name, team logo, and the championship number (usually indicated in Roman numerals for the NFL's Super Bowl wins). Championship ring policies differ between the four major professional leagues. NHL and MLB owners pay for the cost of the rings. The NFL pays for the cost of 70 rings to the winning team, at roughly $5,000 apiece, depending upon the fluctuating cost of gold and diamonds; teams can distribute any number of rings but must pay for any over the 70-ring limit. The NBA standardized its championship ring from 1969 through 1983; presently the winning team selects its own design and the league covers the cost of the rings. The winning team can typically present rings to whomever they choose, including usually, but not limited to: players (active roster or injured), coaches, trainers, executives, personnel, and general staff. Some teams have also been known to give rings to former players who are not officially part of the winning team, as well as current players who may not qualify to have their name engraved on the Stanley Cup or Larry O'Brien Trophy.〔(Heard in the press box (in Pittsburgh) )〕〔(Former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason gets a Super Bowl ring at an emotional party )〕 Occasionally, rings are even given to fans as part of a charity raffle.〔(New Orleans Saints raffle Super Bowl ring for Gulf spill charities ), mnn.com; accessed November 12, 2014.〕 L.G. Balfour of Attleboro, Massachusetts and Jostens of Minneapolis, Minnesota are the two companies that have produced the majority of championship rings for the four major professional sports leagues.〔 Tiffany & Co. and Intergold (now a Jostens subsidiary) compete with Balfour and Jostens in the design and manufacturing of championship rings. Tiffany has been gaining momentum with NFL teams, having made the Buccaneers XXXVII, Giants XLII, Saints XLIV, and Giants XLVI rings. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「championship ring」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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