All 46 Superbowl Rings To Date And Some Fun Facts About Them.

Don't fret, further in this post, each of the above rings are shown enlarged for detail.

A NEW MORE DETAILED POST WITH BIGGER PICS AND MORE INFO CAN BE FOUND HERE

One of the most recognizable pieces of bling are given to the players of the National Football League's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Who makes them? Who gets them? What are they worth?

The rings almost always include the team's name, logo, and Super Bowl number (usually in Roman numerals). Most of the rings also have larger diamonds or diamonds made into the shape of the trophy, that represent the number of Super Bowls that franchise has won.

For example, Pittsburgh's 2008 ring has six trophies and six large diamonds, representing the six Super Bowls they have won to date:

above: The Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl XLIII ring weighs 104 grams and incorporates 63 round, brilliant cut diamonds totaling 3.61 carats.

I don't know how much the total carat weight varies year to year or the actual market value, but here are some facts about the rings, courtesy of Wikipedia:

•The NFL pays up to $5,000.00 per ring, with up to 150 rings per team. The NFL pays for the cost of 150 rings to the winning team, at roughly $5,000 apiece, depending upon the fluctuating cost of gold and diamonds. If the rings are over the $5,000 limit, the team owners must make up the difference.

•Recent rings have been appraised in excess of $20,000, with some valued at $45,000. but manufacturers keep this information confidential

•The rings are made by the company of the winning team's choosing. The majority of the Championship Super Bowl rings have been manufactured by Jostens in Denton, Texas. They've made 28 of the past 43 rings.

•The Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl rings were manufactured by Herff Jones (based in Indianapolis), at their Warwick, Rhode Island ring plant.

•Austin, TX based Balfour Company has manufactured numerous Super Bowl Rings

Tasteful? No.
Impressive? Yep.

The rings are made after the game for obvious reasons, so this years' ring is not included among the images below, shown in chronological order.

Rings from 1966-1974:

Rings from 1975-1983:

Rings from 1984-1992:

Rings from 1993-2001:

Rings from 2002-2009:


UPDATE: Here are the 45th (2010) and 46th (2011) Super Bowl rings:

Go Granny. Cloris Leachman Takes On The Go Daddy Girls For Network Solutions.

This Super Bowl season, Network Solutions has created a purely social media campaign to go up against the big guns [e.g. Go Daddy]. They've just released a new mockumentary internet video campaign starring their very own Go Granny, played by Academy Award winner, Cloris Leachman.



Go Granny looks back on her wild past as the original “Domain Name Girl.” With the message— get serious about your small business, she's joined by the NetSol woman, BlogHer's Lisa Stone, female entrepreneur and internet superstar.



You can also check out @Go_Granny’s wild escapades on Twitter.

To join the Twitter Takeover, follow the hashtag #gogranny on:
Friday, Feb. 4 at 6 pm
Saturday, Feb. 5 at 3 pm
Sunday, Feb.6 at 3 pm

Network Solutions

Tom Otterness Designs A Hip Home For Cookies. The Mama Bear Cookie Jar.

It's not easy to find a hip cookie jar that isn't ridiculously kitschy. This is the only one I've ever seen other than the Bunny Rabbit Cookie Jar by Momoyo Torimitsu. And it's a beauty. The white ceramic "Mama Bear" was fashioned after sculptor Tom Otterness' original bronze version.



The beautifully designed ceramic cookie jar measures 12.5 in (31.75 cm) h x 9.5 in ( 24 cm) w x 9.5 in (24 cm) d. The exterior white glaze is contrasted with a cadmium yellow interior glaze that emits a magical warm honey like glow when the top is opened. It is an open edition with a decal signature on the neck and ships is a beautiful box designed by the artist. Retail price is $185. (click here to order)




The edition was inspired by Otterness’ bronze “Mama Bear” [shown below] and shares the artists ability to attract the viewer to a wonderful inviting image while subtly introducing a mother’s concern for her children and their future in our environment.


images courtesy of Cerealart and Tom Otterness

On February 9th, Cerealart Projects will begin shipping The“Mama Bear” Cookie Jar by Tom Otterness


Artist Bio [courtesy of Cereal Art]:
Tom Otterness (b. 1952 in Witchita Kansas) is an American sculptor whose works adorn parks, plazas, subway stations, libraries, courthouses and museums in New York---most notably in Rockefeller Park in Battery City Park and in the 14th street/ 8th Avenue subway station---and other cities around the world. He was the first artist ever to have contributed a balloon to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. "...he made a giant Humpty Dumpty suspended in an upside-down tumble, as though he might have jumped from one of the swanky Central Park West rooftops..."

His style is often described as cartoonish and cheerful but tends to carry a political punch.His sculptures are filled with multiple meanings and allude to sex, class, money and race.These sculptures depict, among other things, huge pennies, pudgy characters in business suits with moneybag heads, helmeted workers holding giant tools, and an alligator crawling out from under a sewer cover. The main theme of his work seems to be the struggle of the little man against the capitalist machine in a difficult and strange city. His aesthetic can be seen as a riff on "capital realism" and blends high and low, cute and cutting.

In 2005, "Tom Otterness on Broadway", his largest exhibition to date, featured 25 different works installed between Columbus Circle and 168th Street in Washington Heights. The project was sponsored by the City of New York Parks and Recreation Department, the Broadway Mall Association, and Marlborough Gallery, and traveled to three other cities - Indianapolis, Beverly Hills, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Grand Rapids exhibition featured more than 40 works across two miles of the city's downtown area and at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.

Known primarily as a public artist, Otterness has exhibited in popular exhibitions in locations across the United States and around the world, including New York City, Indianapolis, Beverley Hills, the Hague, Munich, Paris, Valencia and Venice. His studio is located in Brooklyn.

Beginning Feb 23rd Mr. Otterness will be exhibiting at The Marlborough Gallery in NY.
Tom Otterness: Animal Spirits
Marlborough Gallery
40 West 57th street NY
February 23, 2011 - March 26, 2011

Tom Otterness

Prime Cable Network Promotes Popular TV Series With Mini Dioramas

To promote the PRIME series available on Belgium's PRIME Telenet network, Prime TV, director/designer/animator Steven Huybrechts filmed and composited miniature sets with tiny figurines to represent their line up of television series.

A smart and entertaining solution, this meant they didn't have to get clearance for clips from the actual shows, or book the actual actors, saving lots of red tape, moola and time.

The :60 television ad - shown after the screen grabs - features the following shows [shown in alphabetical order]:

Boardwalk Empire:

Breaking Bad:

Californication:

Deadwood:

Dirty Sexy Money:

Hung:

Lost:

Mad Men:

Matroesjka's:

Modern Family:

Pillars Of The Earth:

Six Feet Under:

Sons of Anarchy:

Spartacus:

The Pacific:

Weeds:

4400:




Credits:
director: Steven Huybrechts
producer: Sofie Gebruers
cam: Geert Verstraete
edit: Tom Willems [represented by Caviar Content, Brussels]
soundfx: Yve@Sonicville
compositing/fx: Steven Huybrechts
client: Ludo Luykx PRIME

A special thanks to Fubiz for bringing this to my attention

2011 Super Bowl XLV TV Spots: What To Expect [UPDATED]

As we get closer to the XLV Super Bowl, commercials that will air on the championship game are starting to leak onto the internet. Most of those advertising on the year's most expensive media buy [$3 million for a 30 second spot] are no surprise, given they are the same brands that have been dominating the air time between the game for the past few years. But there are a few companies advertising on the game for the first time ever and some new faces shilling for old brands.

This new ad, airing during the game, for the 2012 Volkswagon Passat features two things that are hard to ignore; children and The Force:


Volkswagon will also attempt to bring back the allure of the beetle by teasing you with this agile CGI generated bug:


Coca Cola introduces an ogre in one of their two spots that will air during the game:


Kia Optima is presently running this teaser to get you to tune in to their spot:

The still below gives you an idea of what's to come from Kia:


As always, there will be lots of automobile ads and the expected beverage ads; Coke, Pepsi, Pepsi Max and Budwiser to name a few. Doritos will continue with their user-generated spots [you can vote for your favorite at www.crashthesuperbowl.com].

This Chevy ad that will air starts as a simulation of a cheesy dealership spot and segues into a promo for the next in the Tranformer's movie franchise:


Audi uses the children's book Goodnight Moon as inspiration for this spot which spends almost 60 seconds telling you they are not Mercedes:

Audi will be featuring other spots on the game that take a swipe at "old school luxury." The still below is from their :60 second spot "Release The Hounds" in which 2 stuffy wealthy fogies attempt to break out of a luxury prison:


This Honda CR-V ad, "Forecast" will break on the Superbowl as well:


If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix it

The talking babies for ETrade are back for the fourth year in a row with 2 new spots:


Careerbuilder brings back the chimps:


Danica Patrick appears again [this time with Biggest Loser's Jillian Michaels] for Go Daddy and once again attempts to drive you to their site with a promise of a titillating 'web only' ad:


And Budwiser's classic Clydesdales are back as one of Bud's five spots to air, this time in a Western Themed spot:


The New
Some of the newer companies [ and concepts] that will air include the following.

Mercedes Benz USA is advertising in the Super Bowl for the first time this year, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Karl Benz's patent. Two of their five new models will be revealed in the :60 second spot:


Another car company to advertise in the big game for the first time is Suzuki. They will be taking on snowmen, in a spot called "Wicked Weather.":


Kim Kardashian will be shilling for Sketcher's Shape-Ups:


The new edition of the highly addictive game Angry Birds, Rio, will reveal a level code in their spot:


Stella Artois will feature a serenading Adrien Brody:


And Justin Beiber teams up with Ozzy Osbourne for Best Buy:


Bridgestone tires will appeal to your love of woodland creatures with their beaver spot:


And Faith Hill will appear in a spot for Teleflora:

images and info courtesy of CNN and individual brands

No need to DVR or Tivo the game for the commercials anymore since so many sites dedicate themselves to posting and sharing the commercials.