After winning just the second pair of back-to-back championships in Major League Soccer history, Houston Dynamo players wanted to be sure their 2007 MLS Cup championship rings reflected the feat's significance and rarity.
So they made sure team captain Wade Barrett and veteran defender Craig Waibel sat down with Houston-based Diamond Cutters International, the same company contracted to create the Dynamo's rings in 2006, to provide some input.
The resulting collaborations, which will be presented to the players at a 7:00 p.m. pre-game ceremony Saturday night at Robertson Stadium, are certainly worthy exaltations of the team's memorable first two seasons.
"To win one championship takes a terrific team effort and attitude," Barrett said. "To win two means doing it again, and each season is very different and special. We wanted a ring to represent that."
The players' main goals - that the ring be different from the 2006 version and highlight the repeat championship - meshed almost immediately with the Diamond Cutters vision.
"We just told them we wanted it to represent back-to-back championships, and we wanted it to be different from last year," a typically understated Barrett said. "It was a collaboration of what we wanted and their artistic design, and I think their execution was great."
Waibel was a bit more blunt in his evaluation of the finished product, which the players saw for the first time last week.
"I don't know who designed these rings," he said with a laugh, "but they're brilliant."
The rings were cast in white gold with a yellow plumb gold background on the top, which features the word 'Dynamo' and two MLS Cup trophies, decorated with 64 individual diamonds. One side includes a player's name and number, while the other has "Back-2-Back" and "2-1," the score of the championship game.
Ever the fan favorite and a veteran of ring ceremonies, Waibel has won four MLS Cup titles - one with Los Angeles, one with San Jose, and two with the Dynamo - and has also celebrated a U.S. Open Cup and a CONCACAF Champions' Cup title in his career.
"It doesn't get old. Every championship I've won is special in its own way," Waibel said. "With every championship, I lift my chin up a little bit more. It's very, very special. It's something that every professional athlete dreams about. But we're always thinking about the next championship, too."
Waibel said he hopes fans will be on hand to share in the ring ceremony.
"Our fans are obviously a big part of all our success," Waibel said. "There was a lot of orange in D.C. last year, and in Dallas [in 2006], it felt like the whole place was orange, so the fans also made a big contribution to those championship games."
