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No, Dwayne Johnson hasn't gone Master P on us to pursue an NBA career. The Raptors have literally purchased a giant rock to help inspire the team and bring them together as a unit. I guess this is better than Triano's "protect the house" garbage from last year, and from the comments of the players, they seem to be buying into it. Whatever it takes.
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I heard that it can play center. -
For those too lazy to click
Source: TorontoStar.comTwo weeks ago, Raptors coach Dwane Casey sent someone to Thornhill to find the rock.
The employee tasked with identifying the team’s new talisman, Graeme McIntosh, was given some rough measurements and a few lines of century-old verse.
“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps 100 times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the 101st blow it will split in two, and I know it wasn’t the last blow that did it, but all the blows that have gone before.”
It’s uplifting stuff, but not much help when you’re standing in a muddy graveyard of landscaping detritus just off Hwy. 407 trying to find the only vaguely rectangular boulder in the spot with a flat bottom.
Eventually, McIntosh found something that looked about right. He texted Casey a cellphone pic for approval. They got the rock with delivery thrown in for under $500. That’s less than a buck a kilo — reasonable money for a genuine pagan icon.
On media day, the Raptors were already speaking of Casey’s idea and his motto — “Pound the Rock” — in reverential tones. Casey introduced the new good luck charm and its backstory during a team meeting on the first day of camp.
Since the athletic mind is primed for allegory, it was a hit.
“I loved it,” said guard Leandro Barbosa. “And you know what the funny thing is? There’s a real rock!”
Some were keen on the mystical end of things.
“I don’t know about that,” said Jerryd Bayless suspiciously, when asked about the meaning of the rock. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to talk about that.”
Related story: Pro sports teams roll with the rock
The veterans on hand just liked the motivational kung-fu of their new boss.
“Dwane Casey is a mastermind,” Jamaal Magloire said, drawing out the key word.
Going forward, all huddles will break with, “One, two, three, pound the rock.” Players have been instructed to touch the rock going in and out of the dressing room. They’ll play 33 home games. So that’s 66 blows per player. As expected, the rock won’t be ready to split until some point next season.
It’s not a new idea. The quotation comes from Jacob Riis, a sort of 19th-century Oprah Winfrey. The Miami Heat have pounded Riis’ fictional rock. San Antonio also has its own rock.
“San Antonio’s rock is outside their building. I thought we should bring the rock inside,” Casey said Monday, in a tone suggesting a good idea raised to the level of inspiration.
Who’s going outside to pound the rock during the winter? Nobody. Toronto has the league’s first 365-day-a-year rock.
Initially, Casey hoped to stand the rock up in the middle of the Raptors’ dressing room. It’s only a foot across at its base and about waist high. It weighs 1,300 pounds. Someone pointed out that it might tip over and pulverize a $50 million foot.
So instead they leaned it up against a wall just inside the dressing room door. It still looks a little precarious. Sometime this week, building ops will get around to planting a couple of anchors around it.
Magical objects in sport are an old idea, but few Raptors could remember any personal talismans. The exception was Linas Kleiza. His alma mater, Missouri, apparently has more rituals than the Freemasons.
“There was a sword,” Kleiza said.
A sword? A real sword?
“Yes, we carried it around,” Kleiza said without the slightest hint of mirth. “Oh, we did all sorts of things.”
What other sorts of things?
“Oh, just things,” Kleiza said, retreating into the Jerryd Bayless world of ideas best left unexplained.
For some reason, all of these magical objects must be dangerous. Swords. Rocks. The Jacksonville Jaguars had a motto, “Keep chopping wood,” and props, a log and an axe, in the dressing room. They had it until punter Chris Hanson got a little excited and accidentally planted the axe in his leg.
Memo to building ops: Put the rock on top of your work-order list.
But be careful while you’re doing it. Right now, it’s just a dangerous slab.
If the Raptors go anywhere during Casey’s reign, it will be transformed into The Rock.
I think this is awesome - a little cheesy - but still awesome. The message is clear: keep banging away. And what else can you ask of a young team?
The older vets don't need this kind of stuff. For many of them that is why they have lasted so long in the league. The key here is the young guys. The rock gives them a bond, something to remember when times get tough - and they will. That rock is not going to be split this year. For the core moving forward it is something to remember for the next couple of years and if that rock is not split in possibly 2 and maybe 3 years, few in the organization from BC to Casey on down to the young players currently on the roster will likely no longer be here.Comment
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well at least its better than having "the Brick" i guess. LOLComment
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Props for the thread title. One thing I'm noticing about Casey he is a Tony Robbins in the waiting. First the whole "Not rebuilding but building" thing then this. I get what he's trying to do -- create culture where it's sorely lacking. But, now we're going to be the dinosaur team with a rock in the dressing room. Is that a good thing?Comment
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like this!?
So excited for the season to start!
I have an extra pair for preseason game if anybody is interested.
Section 319 Row 16
for $10!Entourage: Harvey - "E (BC) was right, there's genius in this (Bargnani)"
Ari - "You wanna buy it?"
Harvey - "I do, for a dollar"Comment
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If history is any indication then if there's a loose rock Bargnani is probably the least likely person to be on the scene first.Initially, Casey hoped to stand the rock up in the middle of the Raptors’ dressing room. It’s only a foot across at its base and about waist high. It weighs 1,300 pounds. Someone pointed out that it might tip over and pulverize a $50 million foot.
Interesting symbolism. Casey is creative, I'll give him that.Comment
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I sure hope he has more substance behind him than Tony Robbins does.blackjitsu wrote: View PostComment
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What about a giant cup of Tim's or the Stanley Cup made of tin foil?“The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.” - Martin Luther KingComment
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I'm all for motivating & team unity & all that, but since when was 'pounding the rock' a good thing? I've always equated it with a PG who stood at the top of the key, dribbling away, waiting for something to happen. Is it just me?TRUE LOVE - Sometimes you know it the instant you see it across the bar.Comment
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I'm all for good inspirational ideas. But I'd be more impressed if Casey actually came up with this idea, instead of stealing it from San Antonio and Miami...Comment
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You sure they made it up... and together?Comment
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