A Sea Of Red

I was just watching SJ's highlight video again and it dawned on me. Why don't any of our players kneel and pray after scoring a touchdown? As I started thinking about it, I can't remember the last time I saw it happen at any level. I find that pretty sad considering the history of endzone celebrations and LU.

Your video made somebody sad, Jon! And at Christmas!
Are you happy now?!

Bah, humbug!

Maybe they want to be PC

PC? Didn't we smoke them at homecoming? I doubt they'd want to be them.

01LUGrad wrote:I was just watching SJ's highlight video again and it dawned on me. Why don't any of our players kneel and pray after scoring a touchdown? As I started thinking about it, I can't remember the last time I saw it happen at any level. I find that pretty sad considering the history of endzone celebrations and LU.

Sorry, I don't know anything about the history of endzone celebrations and LU--But, there is a lot of prayer on game day if you think about it. The guys have devotion/prayer before the game at the hotel, then at home games, the crowd and team are lead in prayer before kick-off, then they pray after the game.

Just a quick history lesson for those who aren't aware. (circa 1995)

Liberty University, the Christian school founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell, filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association Thursday, challenging the enforcement of sportsmanship rules that include kneeling in prayer in the end zone among acts that constitute unsportsmanlike conduct. Liberty cited the 1964 Civil Rights Act and freedom of religion among the grounds for its suit.

http://www-tech.mit.edu/V115/N38/libert.38w.html

I guess we must've lost that one then...

Actually, they won the case.....and somewhere I've seen in the archives that it was also during the time Coach Sam Rutigliano was coach. There used to be a framed article, I believe it must have been displayed in the old Hancock trophy case, of a Sports Illustrated (??) article with Coach Sam and some players holding hands in a circle bowing their heads in prayer. We can always ask Paul about it.

Few years back I spoke with a former player (name escapes me) from the Coach Rutigliano era, and he felt this court case hurt them in past playoff selections. I’m curious if this was felt by more players/coaches. Maybe someone more familiar with this can comment on it.

That was a common sentiment, AZjonz. Frankly we never had more than a borderline case as an independent but it was felt that our suit was held against us in the process. I wouldn't rule out that possibility but it is ancient history now.

It is interesting that we no longer kneel considering the attention we generated back in the day (frankly it wasn't THAT long ago). My guess is that today's players feel it is played out and has lost its effectiveness. Personally I would beg to differ. Its more popular now to signal to the sky in reference to God as many Christians do in several sports. But the prayer is a tremendous testimony and show of respect IMHO.