A Sea Of Red

Ed Dantes hit on a great idea in the Memorial Thread with the following:

Ed Dantes wrote:I move that...
AND WE NEVER PAINT OVER THE ROCK AGAIN!



Let's get a new rock. I don't want to see this defaced with something like "dorm 13-2 rules" or... whatever.

Best idea of the week.

Perhaps move the rock to outside the FOC where the players exit...start a tradition of players rubbing the "Jerry Rock." It would be in a prominent place (if not the FOC...perhaps the courtyard?)...
...they could put clearcoat paint over the memorial so it will stand the test of time.

Yes, yes, yes, i love it!

I agree it would be a shame to paint over it. I wouldn't be opposed to having someone skilled with an airbrush touching it up before preserving it. The other side with the red power tie is great!.

I actually like the red tie side the best.

i was very surprised to even see someone paint the black suit and tie over top of the original tribute to dr. falwell... although the suit and tie was very fitting.

i love the idea of getting a new rock.

i think the red power tie was painted over the side you see in that pic

Moving the rock would take a lot.....a couple of my buddies dug that thing up a few years back and rolled it down the hill....it has multiple steel rods now through the bottom with tons of concrete to secure it........it would take some work to move that thing.

Maybe I'm a horrible person, but I disagree with not painting over it. Yea, we feel like crap now, but Jerry would want us to move on and express ourselves. If we beat Toledo, I'm sure he'd love to see, "Go LU Football" on the rock instead of something for him.

My concern with this thread has been that theologically I'm not sure I'm down with touching a rock on our way out to the field.

What meaning would it have? If it would have no meaning, why would we do it? Are we rubbing it for good luck? Are we calling on the spirit of Jerry to be with us? It doesn't give us special powers... it'd become a tradition for tradition sake and I'm not sure it'd send a message that lines up theologically with our University.

To me I see a distinction between having a tradition that simply honors our founder but I can't see one that calls on people to touch a rock on the way to the field.

I will say however that this red tie symbolism has been cool to see... on the rock as well as on the ribbons.

I'd say it would be completely symbolic- with no theological meaning behind it. And thats ok with me. Not everything has to have a deep theological meaning, IMHO.

Guys touching the rock as they ran by it would be a way of keeping "touch" with Jerry and his memory, or- conversely- keeping Jerry "in touch" with the program.

I think it would be great

at my high school we have a little plaque/display in memory of the guy our football stadium is named after. the football team runs from the locker room, out of their way, to each touch the display before they hit the field. they don't worship the guy or anything, but it's pretty cool that they all do it every game.

it's very symbolic in the sense of remembering the guy that basically built our football program to what it is today.

i think i agree with jon. i wasn't going to say anything, but since he brought it up... i dont think Jerry would have wanted the rock moved. the rock is a tradition that they finally got established at LU, and moving it would erase that. and Jerry would not want that. I think we should definitly do something, like a falwell flame or something, but i don't think the rock is appropriate

Once again, I may just be a horrible person, but there comes a point when there's such a thing as "too much." If we had the eternal flame at his graveside, the flame at the football stadium, and a rock, that's a little much. Jerry wouldn't want all of that. Most of you are speaking from emotion saying you want this named, that tradition, that renamed, this built, etc and it gets to a point where, when the raw emotion wears off, too much has been changed, too much has been built, etc and we stop doing what he wanted us to do and instead do things to glorify Jerry.

i didn't think it'd be a bad idea to move the rock, but now that jdub mentioned it... that is a tradition that is already established. it would be drastic to move the rock that has been painted for so many years by so many people. how crazy would it be to see another rock there besides THE rock?!

good call.[/i]

My theological thoughts don't come b/c I'm trying to be an alarmist or make things bigger than they are... in fact I'm not saying that it WILL be this way... but theologically we can't check scripture at the door in an emotional effort to pay honor. Touching a rock (or sign as Notre Dame does, or a Turtle like MD, etc.) can seem innocent at the first level (3-5 years from now)... but when it's institutionalized I wonder if we're not trying to create a religious experience through that moment.

Again I'm not saying I'm right on it... just showing some of you where I'm getting my yellow flag...

Numbers 21:8-9
" 8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."


At first people use the bronze snake as God asked. They remembered God through it. They'd get bitten, looked to the snake as God's provision (much the we we look to Jerry and thank God for using him) and ultimately through that faith act (which was good) they'd get healed.

Watch later however when time goes by and they got so used to looking to that snake (as people who would be disconnected from immediate memories of Dr. Falwell would look to the tradition of touching a rock before a game).

2 Kings 18:3-4
"3 [Hezekiah] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it."

The immediate generation was fine. It was later generations who had lost touch to the original point of the snake who began to treat it in a way it was never meant to be treated. It became part of their life experience. In many ways their minds became numb to the act and they thought it was the snake (or in our case rock) that had some significance.

All I'm saying is that for us... sure.. it'd be done in the right vein but as SJ pointed out, we can't react in emotion by doing everything. In my estimation I don't think Jerry would ever want us to ignore potential pitfalls in favor of an emotional reaction. We have to be cautious of the ways in which we honor him not to ultimately dishonor him in the process.

Believe me guys, I'm not an alarmist in any way and I'm not trying to rain on a party... I just feel uneasy about it and wanted to clarify why. I'm cool with others not feeling the same way and I wouldn't make this a hill to die on... it just sits uneasy with me, that's all.

I think a rock coming out of the FOC is a great idea but not so much with a memorial to Dr. Falwell. His lore is cemented in the retired jersey on the press box. I'm all for remembering him but that's probably a bit much.

The spirit rock is one of the few traditions on this campus -- let's not destroy it.

I am all in favor for another rock, where the players run by, though.

Perhaps a Rock Royer tribute? We've discussed that plenty of times on here as well.

TDDance234 wrote:The spirit rock is one of the few traditions on this campus -- let's not destroy it.

I totally agree. Keep the rock where it is and paint over it. It's what Jerry would have wanted. I'm not going to say people would start idolizing it. I'm just saying it is a fun tradition at the school that needs to say.

For the record, I wouldn't want be the one to paint over the tribute, though.

01LUGrad wrote:

TDDance234 wrote:The spirit rock is one of the few traditions on this campus -- let's not destroy it.

I totally agree. Keep the rock where it is and paint over it. It's what Jerry would have wanted. I'm not going to say people would start idolizing it. I'm just saying it is a fun tradition at the school that needs to say.

For the record, I wouldn't want be the one to paint over the tribute, though.

Ditto.

My wife saw the rock today, and she thought the red tie was a red arrow pointing toward heaven. She was actually disappointed when I told her that I think that it was supposed to be a neck tie.

Cider Jim wrote:My wife saw the rock today, and she thought the red tie was a red arrow pointing toward heaven. She was actually disappointed when I told her that I think that it was supposed to be a neck tie.

Whenever I wear a tie, it usually feels like an arrow pointing upward.