A forgotten trophy

Sometimes it's fun to write the off-beat story item that comes from an obscure detail. Here's one from Sunday afternoon's Charlotte Knights-Ottawa Lynx game that didn't make it into the paper:

Today's game was the last meeting ever between the Knights and the Lynx, which will move to the Allentown, Pa., area next season. And it also marked the retirement of an obscure trophy. Ottawa and Charlotte, which both entered the International League in 1993, were supposed to play annually for the Expansion Cup, awarded to the winner of the season series.

But the trophy hasn't been engraved with a winner -- or presumably awarded -- since 2002 and has been sitting for at least the past year on a shelf in the Knights Stadium press box. For the record, the Knights and Lynx tied this season's series 4-4, and Ottawa finished with a 76-73 advantage all-time.