Which Images Make Your Grid of Champions?

You may have heard that the Patriots are world champions once again. Really. It was just a few weeks ago. That gave Boston sports teams nine world championships this century. That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? This has led to lots of people posting pictures on social media commemorating the nine titles. Maybe with pictures of all the logos, or players, or magazines. The great part about it is that since there are now nine, they fit into a nice 3x3 grid. A Grid of Champions.

That got me thinking. How cool would it look to have a matted display of pictures of the championships in that 3x3 grid. If you used 8x10 pictures, for instance, you could lay them out, and the final piece would probably only need to be about 3’x3’ (or, as I like to call it 36”x36”). That’s not a ton of wall space when you think about it. That would be fun.

But the big question. Which images would you pick?

I’d want them to specifically represent the championships. I don’t want a picture of Tom Brady playing against the Bengals. I could pick some sort of collage photo showing all the players from the various teams. But, I don’t particularly like those. I thought about using the last play of each game. That would work pretty well for the Red Sox titles…Foulke tossing it to first or Koji striking out Carpenter. It even works for the first two Pats championships. Vinatieri jumpining for joy. But, what about the last Pats championship? Brady taking a knee? Or the Bruins…there isn’t even a last play really. So, that wouldn’t work. I thought of the pig pile pictures, but the sports other than baseball don’t really do those. First pitch/puck drop/kickoff/tipoff? Not a bad idea, but they’d look pretty bland since they’d all be pretty similar.

Then I thought of that great picture of Butler’s interception. You know the one. Butler has the ball, and both he and the intended receiver are falling to the ground. What about a picture of the seminal play of each championship? That has promise. But, what images to choose.

Some of them might be listed above. Hard to argue with the two Vinatieri kicks from the Super Bowls. But, would a “tuck rule” picture be even more iconic? Would that be OK? Would you put in a picture of Roberts stealing second over any specific image from  the 2004 World Series? Tough call. Personally, since I was at one game of each of the Red Sox championships, I’d tend to gravitate to images from those games. But, if I had to make choices, what would I go with?

For the first two Patriots titles, I think it would be the final kicks. Closely cropped, right before the kick. For 2004 I think I’d stick with Foulke about to underhand it to Mientkiewicz. That was such a fantastic moment. The third Patriots title? I’m going to be honest with you. I can’t think of a single play that stands out in my mind. Maybe a nice picture of a Branch catch.  For the 2007 Series? A Beckett pic? How about a shot of Lowell diving head first into third? Good choices. But, I think I’ll have to go with Papelbon jumping in the air after striking out the final batter. For the Celtics title? Unfortunately, the image that stands out the most is Paul Pierce coming off the court with the injury…or his triumphant return. But, that seems like a morbid thing to celebrate. It would have to be the GAP threesome. There has to be a shot of the three of them together somewhere. I’ll use that. For the Bruins? I’m tempted to go with the pre-game shot squirting Boston water on the ice. But, that’s another weird shot that would break up the feel of the grid. So, maybe a great shot of a Thomas save, or him raising his arms in triumph. The 2013 Red Sox? I like the shot of the three Red Sox players all making the “safe” sign as Gomes scored the third run. And, the last Patriots title gets the Butler interception picture that started this all.

That’s what I’d go with. At least for now. I’m still tempted by earlier rounds shots like the Roberts steal, or Torii Hunter’s tumble, or the Edelman touchdown pass. They weren’t in the championship round, but they were pretty iconic.

Would you put them in your grid?

Which nine pictures would you pick?