The T. Rex

The John M. Sweeney Trophy

The T. Rex is the championship trophy of the Times Football League. It is presented to the current TFL champion at each convention, who gets to display it proudly until July 20 of the following year. Then it is returned to TFL headquarters so it can be prepared for the next champion at the next convention.

The names of all the winning teams are etched on the sides of the T. Rex base. The TFL decided on a T. Rex because it is the animal that most resembles John Sweeney -- the TFL's first champion. Here is how TFL Today columnist Donkey Hota (a close friend of Denver's Mike Taylor) put it in the 1998 media guide:

"Similarly, the league's championship trophy, the T. Rex, is a tribute to Sweeney's physical form -- most notably an ample midsection framed by comparatively tiny arms. These arms took on a reptilian quality during his furious three-finger pecking frenzies on the computer keyboard. Sweeney didn't tap the keys. He pounded them. Sweeney on deadline was not unlike a tyrannosaurus rex at suppertime."

The T. Rex sculpture was done by San Francisco-based artist Tony McVey. It was assembled by Trophy Awards, Inc. in Covington, KY.