Memphis Roar

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

- Thomas Jefferson

In this case, we aren’t talking about a tree but a rock. A huge rock (about 15 feet long and 8 feet tall) that sits at the corner of Volunteer Blvd and Temple St to be exact. This rock stands as a cornerstone for The University of Tennessee’s fraternity row. “The Rock” is painted many times each day with annoncements, bithdays, game times, and pretty much anything anyone wants to paint on it for everyone to see.

Enter Brad Andrews and one of his best friends.  “We have both been huge Tigers fans and lived in Memphis our whole lives, but now we are freshmen at UT Knox,” said Brad. ”We refuse to wear orange and still follow our Tigers very closely.”

To so many fans, the game between the Tigers and the Vols is so much more than a game. It’s East vs. West. It’s pride on the line. It’s bragging rights on Monday morning when you get to the office. 

Brad explained, “It started out as just an idea between my friend and I at the beginning of the year when we were talking about the upcomming season. We kept talking about the idea of painting the rock Memphis blue on the night before the game between a small group of Tiger fans on campus.”

The magnitude of this game came through early Saturday morning, shining in blue and grey. According to Brad his parents are also ”huge tiger fans” and gave him blue and grey paint for Christmas. “I knew exactly what it was for,” added Brad. 

Color is considered one of the most useful and powerful design tools. People respond to different colors in different ways, and these responses take place on a subconscious, emotional level. Blue and grey. Those two colors are not the colors to flash in front of a pack of Tennessee fans if you want a ”friendly” emotional response.

Here is Brad’s recollection of how the events of that night took place:

” The big weekend finally came, and we planned that we would paint the entire rock blue with a huge gray M in the middle during the early hours of Saturday morning.  We did not sleep, and I managed to recruit 5 other friends to join us, so a total of 7.  We met up and went to the rock at 4am Saturday morning.  We completed out masterpiece at about 4:30 after a few verbal threats from passing cars.  No one stopped us and we returned to our rooms with the mission accomplished.  Expecting it to be painted over pretty quickly we took many pictures. However, when we went to get in line for the game at 9:30 it was still there.”

Thanks to Brad and his six other friends, the city of Knoxville has been refreshed with the colors that make this state so great; the colors that Tiger fans wear, and bleed….and slop on public landmarks.