Kentucky’s John Calipari has built a 21st century program that’s destined for more success

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For / U2 The Rolling Stones Satisfaction (rare) If you want to see the path that Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope of the rock group Kansas took to find true satisfaction then listen to their song “Dust in the Wind” and then read their testimony at this link […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

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2012 Press Conferences with Pitino and Calipari

John Calipari Pre-Louisville Press Conference Uploaded by uknationofblue on Mar 27, 2012 Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari talks about the upcoming game with Louisville in the Final 4. ______ Related posts: Calipari’s been to 4 final fours and his record is 1-3 so far March 26, 2012 – 9:35 am > Kentucky Wildcats head coach […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

People have been counting UL Cardinals out all along, Pressure on Calipari to win

Over and over in the 2012 NCAA Tournament the Louisville Cardinals have been counted out. Now John Clay has counted them out again. (Wally Hall of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is picking Kentucky.) The tables are now turned. Calipari’s program has the advantage in tradition, fan base and, in this case, talent. To whom much is […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

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The movie “The Grey” and the answer to nihilism

Uploaded by gwain30 on Jan 29, 2012 A review of the new Liam Neeson film, the grey, as iI say there may be some minor spoilers but nothing too drastic, enjoy and dont forget to comment, rate and subscribe ________________ Uploaded by ClevverMovies on Dec 5, 2011 http://bit.ly/clevvermovies – Click to Subscribe! http://Facebook.com/ClevverMovies – Become […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Steve Jobs’ view of death and what the Bible has to say about it jh55

(If you want to check out other posts I have done about about Steve Jobs:Some say Steve Jobs was an atheist , Steve Jobs and Adoption , What is the eternal impact of Steve Jobs’ life? ,Steve Jobs versus President Obama: Who created more jobs? ,Steve Jobs’ view of death and what the Bible has to say about it ,8 things you might not know about Steve Jobs ,Steve […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged book of ecclesiastes, inescapable conclusions, pixar animation studios, ravi zacharias, stanford commencement address. | Comments (0)

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Calipari’s been to 4 final fours and his record is 1-3 so far

> Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari celebrated with the team after the University of Kentucky defeated Baylor University in the NCAA South Regional final played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga., Sunday, March 25, 2012. This is second half action. UK won 82-70. Charles Bertram | Staff HERALD-LEADER Buy Photo Calipari is going […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

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“Woody Wednesday” Will Allen and Martin follow same path as Kansas to Christ?

Several members of the 70′s band Kansas became committed Christians after they realized that the world had nothing but meaningless to offer. It seems through the writings of both Woody Allen and Chris Martin of Coldplay that they both are wrestling with the issue of death and what meaning does life bring. Kansas went through […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (1)

SEC gets one in final four: Kentucky

We came close to get two in but only Kentucky got in. Calipari’s wife and son can be seen in this picture below: > Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari hugged his son, Bradley, and his wife Ellen after the University of Kentucky defeated Baylor University in the NCAA South Regional final played […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

“Woody Wednesday” Allen is searching for satisfaction in wrong place jh17

Coldplay – 42 Live Coldplay perform on the french television channel W9. In 1992 Woody Allen took up with one of his adopted kids and lived in with her. He was given over to the pursuit of pleasure. Actually he has made that a major focus of his life. In the latter part of his […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Brian Jones’ futile search for satisfaction (Part 3 of series on 27 Club)

Brian’s Blues, Brian Jones on guitar in the early stones years. unreleased track Brian Jones died at age 27 just like Amy Winehouse did. I remember like yesterday when I first heard the song “I can’t get no satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones. I immediately thought about Solomon’s search for satisfaction in the Book of […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

A Christian response to Papa Roach’s song “The Last Resort” (Part 1)

Insight into what Coldplay meant by “St. Peter won’t call my name” (Series on Coldplay’s spiritual search, Part 3)jh61

Papa Roach – Last Resort (Censored Version) Amy Winehouse died at the young age of 27 and she had lived a life filled with drug and alcohol addiction. This series on Papa Roach is meant to provide answers to those who feel trapped. Hopefully it will people to avoid troubles like Amy Winehouse experienced. Today I […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Tagged casual listeners, papa roach last resort, riding the fence, video music awards | Comments (0)

January 11, 2012 – 7:55 am

Coldplay seeks to corner the market on earnest and expressive rock music that currently appeals to wide audiences Here is an article I wrote a couple of years ago about Chris Martin’s view of hell. He says he does not believe in it but for some reason he writes a song that teaches that it […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Are you ready for Calipari versus Pitino?

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Gael Monfils “Tennis Tuesday”

April 3, 2012 – 1:50 am

From Wikipedia:

Gaël is nicknamed “La Monf“, or occasionally “Sliderman” due to his unusual sliding technique, especially on clay surfaces. He is of Caribbean heritage: his father, Rufin, a former football player employed as an agent for France Telecom, comes from the island of Guadeloupe, France. His mother, Sylvette, comes from the island of Martinique, France and is a nurse. He has a younger brother, Daryl, who plays tennis. Gael and Daryl played doubles together in the 2012 Open Sud de France, losing in the first round.

Monfils considers Arthur Ashe to be his favorite player. He is fond of listening to music, particularly R&B. If he did not play tennis, he would play basketball. He is a huge fan of NBA team Denver Nuggets and his favorite basketball player is Carmelo Anthony. His best friends are countrymen and former juniors Josselin Ouanna and Paterne Mamata and fellow pros Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Monfils is also a fan of football and his two favorite football clubs are Arsenal F.C. and Paris-Saint Germain.

He was coached by countryman and former ATP pro Thierry Champion (since September 2004) but they parted company in September 2006. Nevertheless, Monfils’s fitness trainer is still Rémi Barbarin. Monfils announced a partnership with a new coach, Tarik Benhabiles, in May 2007. However, for the 2008 season, Monfils has hired Roger Rasheed as his coach. In 2011, Monfils parted ways with Rasheed and announced that his fitness coach, Patrick Chamagne would take the reins as his new fulltime coach.

He has tattoos on both wrists, and giant wing tattoos on the lower half of his back. Monfils also appeared in the music video for “Hello” by Martin Solveig and Dragonette. He arrives at the end.

Monfils has dated French tennis player Alize Cornet and Slovak tennis player Dominika Cibulkova. He currently lives in Nyon, Switzerland with his Australian girlfriend Chelsea

Gaël Monfils
Singles

Country	France
Residence	Trélex, Switzerland
Born	1 September 1986 (1986-09-01) (age 25) Paris, France
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb)
Turned pro	2004
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$6,029,703
Career record	217–133
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 7 (July 4, 2011)
Current ranking	No. 13 (January 30, 2012)^[1]
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	4R (2009)
French Open	SF (2008)
Wimbledon	3R (2005, 2007, 2010, 2011)
US Open	QF (2010)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	QF (2008)
Doubles
Career record	17–44
Career titles	—
Highest ranking	No. 160 (July 25, 2011)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2006)
French Open	2R (2007)
Wimbledon	—
US Open	1R (2005)
Last updated on: August 15, 2011.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (1)

An open letter to President Obama (Part 56)

April 3, 2012 – 12:32 am

President Obama c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is going on out here.

When you look at how good the private enterprise does with deliveries and then compare it to how bad the federal government does with the same duties it is laughable. The answer to the federal post office problem is to encourage private entrepreneurs to fill the gap and provide competition for the post office in the delivery of first class mail.

I grew up in Memphis and I am very familar with a company called Federal Express and its president Fred Smith. Actually I have lived in Little Rock since 1983 and Federal Express was started in Little Rock in 1971 and then moved to Memphis in 1972. Entrepreneurs like Fred Smith need to be encouraged, not discouraged by government. Here is a funny Fed Ex Commercial from the 1980’s.

On July 3, 1981, I was in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the middle of a 20 country student tour. Our group of 48 American students had the opportunity to speak to a Communist government official for over an hour. We asked him several questions. My questions were quite direct and I share some of them at a later time.

However, I did want to share one question that I asked. I told the official about an entrepreneur from Memphis named Fred Smith. Back in the early 1970’s we heard about how Smith had this crazy idea about delivering overnight packages from LA to San Francisco via Memphis. Sounded like it would not work, but Smith was able to invest all his money and eventually it paid off. His idea was successful.

I asked the simple question: Could something like this happen here in Communist Czechoslovakia? He responded, “No. That is because no private citizen is allowed to own that much capital. The government must do things like that.”

There was no chance for entrepreneurs to exist in communist countries. I was simply pointing out that economic freedom allows an environment for entrepreneurs. Why would someone put the time and energy in putting together a grand plan like Fed Ex when the benefit and reward would just go to a communist government? Entrepreneurship should be encouraged, but many times today in the USA we find that our lawmakers pass laws that discourage entrepreneurs.

USPS: Stuck With the Government Business Model

Posted by Tad DeHaven

The U.S. Postal Service has released a new five-year plan for congressional consideration that it says would get the beleaguered government mail monopoly on sounder financial footing and thus avoid a taxpayer bailout. The plan repeats previous suggestions (i.e., workforce reductions, postal network consolidations, elimination of Saturday delivery, elimination of the retiree healthcare benefit funding requirement) and proposes an increase in the price of a first-class stamp from forty-five to fifty cents.

Whether or not it would achieve what the USPS hopes, it probably doesn’t matter given that asking Congress for greater operational flexibility is like asking a two year old to stop playing with their food. That’s why the focus should be on completely transitioning the USPS from a government-run business to a privately-run business (or perhaps businesses).

Over at the Courier Express and Postal Observer blog, Alan Robinson says that “just like all plans that came before, [the new USPS plan] started with the assumption that the Postal Service remains a quasi-governmental entity.” As a result, Robinson notes that the plan is missing two key ingredients for success that foreign posts have utilized: private capital and an expanded range of products and services.

In an essay on the U.S. Postal Service, I discuss how liberalization in other countries has enabled foreign mailers to diversify into non-postal activities:

Consultants at Accenture have found that diversification not only has a measurable impact on the performance of international posts, but that it is what ultimately distinguishes high performers from low performers. America’s relatively dynamic economy is particularly suited for the diversification opportunities that would arise under postal liberalization.

Germany’s former postal monopoly, Deutsche Post, illustrates the type of transformation possible by liberalization. Today, the private Deutsche Post World Net has changed its compensation structure, imported managers from other industries, modernized the mail and parcels network within Germany, and developed new products such as hybrid mail and e-commerce. The company now has interests in not only the traditional mail and parcels business but also express mail logistics, banking, and more.

Given that the USPS’s plan is going to be unpopular with various postal stakeholders (i.e., special interests), Alan says that they should consider the advantages of privatization:

It is clear that the business plan that the Postal Service has chosen is not the one that has worked in other countries. The plan avoids talking about either private capital or expanding the breadth of service offerings as neither is on the legislative table. Introducing thinking about how private capital could be introduced and the product offerings could be expanded forces stakeholders to think about privatization, an idea that is nearly as unpopular as the changes that the proposed business model introduced. However, as this brief post notes, privatization offers significant financial advantages that could reduce the operating and price changes envisions by the Postal Service’s business plan. Therefore, those who see the greatest harm from this plan need to see if the advantages of privatization could benefit their interests sufficiently to overcome long-held objections to the idea.

I think Robinson is right, but I suspect that the “stakeholders” believe there’s a good chance that Congress will ultimately come to their aid with some sort of taxpayer bailout. Therefore, it’s possible that they believe that it is in their best interest to continue fighting for the status quo. Unfortunately, the recent bipartisan federal bailouts of the financial industry and the automakers suggest that they could be correct.

Tad DeHaven • February 21, 2012 @ 3:18 pm
Filed under: Tax and Budget Policy

Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your committment as a father and a husband.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733, lowcostsqueegees@yahoo.com

On Bloomberg, Sessions Discusses Astounding Gimmicks In President’s Budget

Uploaded by BudgetGOP on Feb 13, 2012

Privatize the post office

The Arkansas Times rightly jumped on Republicans for whining about the local post office branches that were closing. (It is sad to me that Republican Presidential Candidates are not very brave about offering any spending cuts.) The real answer is privatizing the post office. Here is a good article from the Cato Institute: The USPS […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Arkansas Times, Current Events, spending out of control | Edit | Comments (0)

Post Office on the brink of financial collapse

October 13, 2011 – 6:52 am

Post Office on the brink of financial collapse You’ve Got (No) Mail: Is the End Near for the Postal Service? By James Gattuso September 29, 2011 The United States Postal Service (USPS) stands on the brink of financial collapse. According to the Postmaster General, by next month, USPS coffers will be down to a week’s […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged general accounting office, government accountability office, retiree health benefits, usps mail | Edit | Comments (0)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Cato Institute, President Obama | Comments (0)

Francis Bacon: Humanist artist who believed life “is meaningless” (Part 2)

April 3, 2012 – 12:00 am

Francis Bacon: Humanist artist who believed life “is meaningless” (Part 2)

I first read of Bacon’s work in a book by Francis Schaeffer.

FRANCIS BACON’S EYE OF DESPAIR By John W. Whitehead


	Of course, we are meat. We are potential carcasses. —Francis Bacon Irish-born Francis Bacon (1909-1992), possibly the greatest painter of the latter half of the twentieth century, quintessentially exemplified modern humanity’s loneliness and alienation. Indeed, Bacon is considered the greatest British painter since William Turner. Bacon’s paintings cry out for lost values and lost greatness; for a dehumanized humanity deprived of its freedom, love, rationality; for everything the great humanist painters had celebrated in Judeo-Christian and classical tradition. Bacon’s life illustrates that no man is an island. The influences on his lifestyle and work were multitudinous. One in particular was his fascination with carnage and carcasses. Bacon, in fact, became fascinated with animal carcasses in butcher shops and even expressed the beauty of the carnage at automobile accidents. He translated his interest in violence to the canvas: “I think of myself as a kind of pulverizing machine into which everything I look at and feel is fed.” Bacon also used a manual on oral disease as an inspiration for his work, along with Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion (1887). What did such books have in common? Robert Hughes in The Shock of the New (1993) writes: Detachment: the clinical gaze on the human body as a specimen, all its privacy brushed aside. Bacon thought there was a strong analogy between the body’s various availabilities—to inspection, sex, or political coercion. Bacon’s sources, thus, evoked different forms of abandonment. An early patron described Bacon’s “predilection for portraying people as though they were alone, unaware of any other presence.” Moreover, as Bacon commented to a friend, “the news-photograph of the thirties was his education in painting. It formalised disrespect. It wrenched the figures of authority out of their high places. It caught them unguarded and inconsequent, ‘racked by tics, their faces distorted, their clothes in disorder, their bodies off balance’.” Bacon, an atheist, faced constant torment, dissatisfaction and uncertainty, never knowing the security of a traditional religious belief. However, in a perverse way, Bacon was one of the most deeply religious painters of the century. The agony of his unbelief became so acute that the negative in his work—pessimism, loneliness, despair, emptiness, distortion, darkness, stark mortality—became an almost religious attribute. In fact, Bacon had an acute fascination with the crucifixion of Christ. “I’ve always been very moved by pictures about slaughterhouses and meat, and to me they belong very much to the whole thing,” Bacon once said. “I know for religious people, for Christians, the Crucifixion has a totally different signature. But as a nonbeliever, it was just an act of man’s behavior, a way of behavior to another.” Bacon, however, clearly expressed his atheistic pessimism: “Man now realizes that he is an accident, that he is a completely futile being, that he has to play out the game without purpose, other than of his own choosing.” On another occasion, he remarked: “We are born and we die and there’s nothing else. We’re just part of animal life.” Thus, Bacon, in terms of humanity and the supernatural, reached not only a position of unbelief but of despair. His paintings express modern humanity’s condition: dehumanized man dispossessed of any durable paradise. Bacon poignantly illustrates his despair in a number of his paintings. A casual glance at his Crucifixion (1933) reveals that the stick-like limbs of a luminous and fantastic insect were superimposed by Bacon onto the crucifixion of Christ. Biographer Andrew Sinclair writes: “As he said later, he wanted his pictures to look as if a human being had passed between them like a snail, leaving a trail of slime.” Despite his atheism, Bacon identified his own suffering from his homosexuality and anguish with the martyrdom of Christ. Bacon’s Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944) seems to depict the loss of all hope. One commentator notes: “The forcefulness with which these three Greek Furies…hurl their misery and rage at us proves the extent of his own loss of faith.” Bacon painted Three Studies under a tremendous hangover. “It’s one of those pictures,” Bacon later said, “that I’ve ever been able to do under drink. I believe that the drink helped me to be a bit freer.” One art analyst noted that the “figures in the three canvases were joined in the theme of the violence that men did to one another by the power of sex and hatred. The body on the right, lying head down, suggested an inverted crucifixion by Cimabue, which Bacon thought was like ‘a worm crawling…just moving, undulating down the cross’.” Bacon’s work epitomizes the spirit of twentieth century man—a grasping for meaning and dignity within an environment of dehumanization and meaninglessness. He once said: “Nietzsche forecast our future for us—he was the Cassandra of the nineteenth century—he told us it’s all so meaningless we might as well be extraordinary.” Bacon’s human corpses (his figures of Christ hung like mutton in a butcher’s shop) showed a belief in the absolute mortality of man without hope of redemption. “Of course, we are meat,” he said, “we are potential carcasses.” Bacon’s distorted and idiosyncratic images bear eloquent witness to the actual events of the post-war period and more generally to twentieth century humanity’s innate capacity for mass violence. The artist as prophet, Bacon is the extreme voice of despair in which people are totally dehumanized, blurred, decrepit banshees. Robert Hughes writes: “In his work, the image of the classical nude body is simply dismissed; it becomes, instead, a two-legged animal with the various addictions: to sex, the needle, security, or power.” While it may be true, as Bacon said, that “you only need to think about the meat on your plate” to see the general truth about mankind in his paintings, no modern artist has hammered at the twentieth century human condition with more repetitive pessimism. Up until recently, the public has been exposed to Bacon’s finished paintings. Now with the release of the artist’s sketches from the Joule Archive, we get a glimpse of the genius at work. Bacon first met Barry Joule in 1978, when the two men began a friendship that would last fourteen years. In April 1992, Bacon arranged to make a trip to Spain and asked Joule to drive him to the airport. Before they set off, Bacon gave Joule a collection of material, which Joule understood to be a gift. Bacon revealed little about the gift and died a few days later in Madrid. This amazing bundle turned out to be an old photograph album full of sketches, as well as a number of books and a collection of over 900 photographic images—many of them worked over by hand. The album’s two covers are painted with large crosses, which have given the work its current name—”The X album.” The book’s inside covers feature drawings, and the 68 pages from the album held in the Joule Archive feature a further series of boldly worked oil sketches and collages, filling the front and back of the sheets. Many of the images in the album relate to Francis Bacon’s works from the ‘50s and ‘60s, and arguably, most of the album was executed toward the end of this period. With Bacon’s Eye: Works on paper attributed to Francis Bacon from the Joule Archive (Barbican Art and 21 Publishing, 2001), we have reproductions from “The X Album.” This amazing work contains images that are, by turn, erotic, beautiful and appalling—yes, typically Bacon.

Responding to Oppenneimer and Lizza:Defending Francis Schaeffer’s influence on believers such as Michele Bachmann(Part 1)

August 20, 2011 – 8:23 pm

Today I read an article in the New York Times, “Son of Evangelical Royalty, turns his back and tells the tale,” August 19, 2011. The liberal Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times Blog called this article by Mark Oppenneimer “the best reading of the morning.” Oppenneimer asserted: Edith Schaeffer also wrote books, and in 1977, Frank, an amateur filmmaker, […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in 2012 Republican Presidential Candidates, Arkansas Times, Francis Schaeffer, Max Brantley | Tagged christian manifesto, christian philosopher, edith schaeffer, michele bachmann, ryan lizza | Edit | Comments (0)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices”

August 14, 2011 – 12:18 am

E P I S O D E 1 0 How Should We Then Live 10#1 FINAL CHOICES I. Authoritarianism the Only Humanistic Social Option One man or an elite giving authoritative arbitrary absolutes. A. Society is sole absolute in absence of other absolutes. B. But society has to be led by an elite: John Kenneth […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence”

August 13, 2011 – 12:15 am

E P I S O D E 9 How Should We Then Live 9#1 T h e Age of Personal Peace and Afflunce I. By the Early 1960s People Were Bombarded From Every Side by Modern Man’s Humanistic Thought II. Modern Form of Humanistic Thought Leads to Pessimism Regarding a Meaning for Life and for Fixed […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 8 “The Age of Fragmentation”

August 12, 2011 – 12:14 am

E P I S O D E 8 How Should We Then Live 8#1 I saw this film series in 1979 and it had a major impact on me. T h e Age of FRAGMENTATION I. Art As a Vehicle Of Modern Thought A. Impressionism (Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas) and Post-Impressionism (Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 7 “The Age of Non-Reason”

August 11, 2011 – 12:13 am

E P I S O D E 7 How Should We Then Live 7#1 I am thrilled to get this film series with you. I saw it first in 1979 and it had such a big impact on me. Today’s episode is where we see modern humanist man act on his belief that we live […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

Taking up for Francis Schaeffer’s book Christian Manifesto

August 10, 2011 – 5:01 pm

I have made it clear from day one when I started this blog that Francis Schaeffer, Milton Friedman, Ronald Reagan and Adrian Rogers had been the biggest influences on my political and religious views. Today I am responding to an unfair attack on Francis Schaeffer’s book “A Christian Manifesto.” As you can see on the […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer, Prolife | Tagged adrian rogers., ben domenech, christian manifesto, michele bachmann, ryan lizza | Edit | Comments (0)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 6 “The Scientific Age”

August 10, 2011 – 12:11 am

E P I S O D E 6 How Should We Then Live 6#1 I am sharing with you a film series that I saw in 1979. In this film Francis Schaeffer asserted that was a shift in Modern Science. A. Change in conviction from earlier modern scientists.B. From an open to a closed natural system: […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (1)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 5 “The Revolutionary Age”

August 9, 2011 – 12:09 am

E P I S O D E 5 How Should We Then Live 5-1 I was impacted by this film series by Francis Schaeffer back in the 1970′s and I wanted to share it with you. Francis Schaeffer noted, “Reformation Did Not Bring Perfection. But gradually on basis of biblical teaching there was a unique improvement. A. […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events, Francis Schaeffer | Tagged animal locomotion, eadweard muybridge, francis bacon 1909, humanist artist, schaeffer francis | Comments (0)

Prediction:Calipari’s Wildcats will win with comeback in last 2 minutes over Kansas

April 2, 2012 – 1:18 pm

Kansas will build a good lead going inside of two minutes and then Kentucky will hit some big shots and Kansas will miss some key free throws as Calipari’s Wildcats squeeze out a victory. I do think it will be dramatic and it will be totally opposite of what happened to Calipari’s team in 2008.

Remember this from 2008:

April 13, 2008

Will the NCAA title game be known for Kansas’ comeback, or Memphis’ collapse?

Simply put, Memphis blew it. There is no other way to describe when a team blows a nine-point lead in the final 2:12 because it can’t shoot free throws. If the Tigers hadn’t missed 4 of 5 free throws down the stretch, Mario Chalmers’ buzzer-beater would have meant nothing. Coach John Calipari and crew had it won, and gave it away. History will remember a great comeback, and a greater collapse. David Willis

April 8, 2008, 12:15 am <!– — Updated: 10:58 pm –>

Memphis Collapses

By THAYER EVANS

SAN ANTONIO — Ahead by 9 points with just over two minutes remaining in regulation Monday night, Memphis will forever have nightmares about squandering a chance for a national championship.

The meltdown was fueled by missed free throws and other miscues. Simply put, Kansas made plays (especially a 3-pointer by Mario Chalmers with 2.1 seconds left in regulation) and Memphis didn’t.

_____

It may look something like this:

Kansas vs. Memphis – 2008 NCAA Title Game Highlights (HD)

Memphis’ epic collapse at the end of the ’08 title game opened the door for a Kansas championship.

“Satisfaction Guaranteed” sermon by Brandon Barnard of Fellowship Bible Church (3-11-12)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

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2012 Press Conferences with Pitino and Calipari

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

People have been counting UL Cardinals out all along, Pressure on Calipari to win

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

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The movie “The Grey” and the answer to nihilism

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Steve Jobs’ view of death and what the Bible has to say about it jh55

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged book of ecclesiastes, inescapable conclusions, pixar animation studios, ravi zacharias, stanford commencement address. | Comments (0)

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Calipari’s been to 4 final fours and his record is 1-3 so far

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

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“Woody Wednesday” Will Allen and Martin follow same path as Kansas to Christ?

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (1)

SEC gets one in final four: Kentucky

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

“Woody Wednesday” Allen is searching for satisfaction in wrong place jh17

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Brian Jones’ futile search for satisfaction (Part 3 of series on 27 Club)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

A Christian response to Papa Roach’s song “The Last Resort” (Part 1)

Insight into what Coldplay meant by “St. Peter won’t call my name” (Series on Coldplay’s spiritual search, Part 3)jh61

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Tagged casual listeners, papa roach last resort, riding the fence, video music awards | Comments (0)

John Whitehead in an article noted:

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Are you ready for Calipari versus Pitino?

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Francis Bacon: Humanist artist who believed life “is meaningless” (Part 1)

April 2, 2012 – 1:11 pm

Francis Bacon: Humanist artist who believed life “is meaningless” (Part 1)

—

Bacon, however, clearly expressed his atheistic pessimism: “Man now realizes that he is an accident, that he is a completely futile being, that he has to play out the game without purpose, other than of his own choosing.” On another occasion, he remarked: “We are born and we die and there’s nothing else. We’re just part of animal life.”

Thus, Bacon, in terms of humanity and the supernatural, reached not only a position of unbelief but of despair. His paintings express modern humanity’s condition: dehumanized man dispossessed of any durable paradise.

________________________

I first read about Francis Bacon in a book written by Francis Schaeffer. I was interested in looking into his art. His art really shows where modern man has come to the place of desperation since modern man has embraced the closed system that does not include God. What is left for man but what time and chance can bring. Bacon admitted that he was very depressed about man’s future and it comes out in his paintings.

I wish he would have read the work of Francis Schaeffer. I have posted links to Schaeffer’s works below.

Photograph of Bacon taken by John Deakin for Vogue, 1962

Francis Bacon was a modern painter.

August 1, 2009 • Volume 23, Number 10

Artspace

Francis Bacon: The darker side of art

By Jenna Smith | ChristianWeek Columnist

Francis Bacon’s Painting 1946

This summer, the Metropolitain Museum of Art is hosting the first major Francis Bacon exhibition it has known in twenty years. “Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective” celebrates the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth. The British painter had the rare luxury of becoming rich and famous in his own lifetime. By his death in 1992, his paintings were already selling for millions, and their value has only risen since.

Bacon is a celebrated and controversial figure in the art world, or any world at that. One New York Times critic wrote, “If paintings could speak, Bacon’s would shriek.” Those who shudder in the presence his works are justified in doing so. The harshness of his critique of humanity is surpassed only by the grotesque nature of his images. Open bleeding flesh, exposed bones and carcasses fill the canvas. His faces and figures are often distorted, made to look broken or mutilated. The violence in his art is palpable. In a televised interview with Charlie Rose, Thomas Campbell, director of the Met, said “These are paintings that are created to evoke a reaction. Their subject matter is disturbing, unpleasant even revolting. But the surface of his paintings is also so engaging… you’re compelled to look.”

Critics, art historians and philosophers alike have offered up explanations as to Bacon’s view on life. He was abused as a child, a lifelong alcoholic who died of sclerosis of the liver, and he reached his prime as a painter during the last years of World War II.

His negative view of humankind was not unfounded. It would be false, however, to romanticize Bacon’s suffering. He rejected people’s complaints about his art being too harsh, stating, “People complain that I show the horrible side of life. I try to show the excitement of life.” In some ways, whether the viewer likes this or not, Bacon felt he was stating facts, not pushing buttons on our delicate sensibilities.

Gary Tinterow, the show’s curator, said this to Rose: “Here is the problem. He was constantly rubbing our face in our own mess, the mess that men and women are capable of doing to one another. He is constantly reminding us of our own bestiality….he would say that his art was the history of Europe in his own time.”

As if to add insult to injury, Bacon had recurring themes of Christian religious art in his work, recognizing the power of tryptichs and iconography. The crucifixion is especially present, representing for him the epitome of what horrible cruelty men are able of inflicting one upon the other. Take Painting 1946, for example. A faceless crucified figure dominates the backdrop, its skinless rib cage exposed. Above it hangs what looks like sausage from a butcher shop, and at the bottom of the canvas are two pieces of a carcass. A disfigured man holds a black umbrella in the centre of the painting. Bacon’s message is clear: we are meat.

Study After Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X (“The Screaming Pope”), 1953

Bacon also loved painting popes. His Study after Velzquez’s portrait of Innocent X evokes a renaissance portrait of this pope, except once more, there is a twist. Innocent X’s mouth is open in a scream, barely hidden by black shuttered stripes. Tinterow commented on his take of Christian religion: “He was an old-fashioned militant atheist…there was always a general squeamishness about his take on Christianity.”

What can a Christian’s response be to such art? What should it be? Can we accept the place of violence and darkness in our dialogue with art? Should we take into consideration his contribution to the ongoing debate about human existence? I would be inclined to say we must. We may not like the fact that there is little redemption in Bacon’s work, nor are we obliged to agree with his interpretation of the crucifixion. But there is undeniable power in his works, shocking us even today, some 60 years after their execution. And there is undeniable truth to his take on humanity.

Let us not be too hurt by his distortion of Christianity. He had a much bigger bone to pick with humans than he did with God. “He respected Christian ethics, and maintained that the Christian way of life was amongst the best in the panoply of ways of life,” commented Tinterow. “It’s just that his common sense forbade him from believing in the Church. He recognized, however, that the Church didn’t believe in him. The feeling was mutual.”

Jenna Smith is completing a joint Masters degree in the faculties of music and theology at the Université de Montréal. She lives in Montreal where she directs Innovation-Jeunes, an arts and nutrition centre for teens.

Responding to Oppenneimer and Lizza:Defending Francis Schaeffer’s influence on believers such as Michele Bachmann(Part 1)

August 20, 2011 – 8:23 pm

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices”

August 14, 2011 – 12:18 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence”

August 13, 2011 – 12:15 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 8 “The Age of Fragmentation”

August 12, 2011 – 12:14 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 7 “The Age of Non-Reason”

August 11, 2011 – 12:13 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

Taking up for Francis Schaeffer’s book Christian Manifesto

August 10, 2011 – 5:01 pm

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer, Prolife | Tagged adrian rogers., ben domenech, christian manifesto, michele bachmann, ryan lizza | Edit | Comments (0)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 6 “The Scientific Age”

August 10, 2011 – 12:11 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (1)

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 5 “The Revolutionary Age”

August 9, 2011 – 12:09 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events, Francis Schaeffer | Tagged humanist artist, jenna smith, john deakin, john whitehead., metropolitain museum of art | Comments (0)

John Calipari’s best recruiting class of all time fell apart

April 2, 2012 – 12:56 pm


Enlarge

John Calipari address the press on his first day as Kentucky basketball coach.

Memphis reaped the benefits of the talented recruits Calipari brought to Memphis. In 2008 Derrick Rose led Memphis to the NCAA finals and he was chosen first in the NBA draft. This is where his recruiting really took off and Jerry Meyer called the Memphis Tiger 2009 class “arguably the best recruiting class ever.” However, it all fell apart because of the private agreements that Calipari had made the families of the players he had recruited. The NCAA quickly moved to abolish these type agreements with a new rule which many have called the “John Calipari Rule.”

Below is an article that talks more about this rule:

the-calipari-rule by Glenn Logan on Oct 27, 2009 8:15 PM EDT in Kentucky Wildcats Basketball.

I did an interview for a sports radio program today, and on the preliminary call to ask if I could come on with short notice (today at 1:00), he asked me about the “Calipari Rule.”

I told him I had no idea what he was talking about, and asked him if this was something that cropped up this morning, maybe, before I had a chance to check the sports news. I have been a bit busy lately — not like I was with the Annual, but still busy. He said it had been out for a while, and told me what it was all about.

What it is is the new rule by the National Letter of Intent program that forbids side deals like Memphis (among others) was willing to grant their players — i.e. a separate agreement between the school and the player where the school agreed to cancel the NLOI if the coach left, or was fired. The term “Calipari Rule” was apparently coined by Moondog Sports.

I told him that I totally supported the stance of the College Commissioner’s Association in this case. The “amendments” (actually separate agreements since the NLI program is explicit about what signing an NLI means, and has been before now) were being put in place in order to entice players to sign a letter of intent by promising (in writing) to release them from it if the coach left or was fired.

The amendments essentially rendered the NLI something it was not intended to be. The letter of intent is supposed to protect the school, but some players (notably DeMarcus Cousins at UAB) had refused to sign letters of intent unless the school would agree to release him if the coach left or was fired. UAB, to their credit, refused to compromise the intent of the NLI program. Memphis had no such compunctions.

To what extent Calipari was actually complicit in this arrangement is something I do not know. The coach has no authority to release players from an NLI — that has to be done by the school, and understandably so since the NLI program was created to prevent athlete defections due to coaching changes or other outside influences. The schools have always retained the right to release players, and most often they do, but not always by any means.

Anyway, I fully support the right of individuals to enter into fully informed agreements, and to be forced to live with the terms of those agreements. The NLI program was being sabotaged by the very schools it was designed to protect, and even though there are tons of good reasons not to enforce NLI provisions as a matter of course when players want to leave, there are also times when enforcement makes sense (see Crawford, Joe).

At the end of the day, to Calipari’s critics, this is a fair example of envelope-pushing. There is no doubt that R.C. Johnson didn’t just unilaterally decide to modify the NLI program to gain advantage in recruiting (which ultimately came back to bite him in the hind parts — see Henry, Xavier and Dennis, Nolan) — Calipari undoubtedly was a significant part of that decision, absent other information.

But let’s be honest, loopholes exist to be exploited, and if the NLI program was unable to crack down on this issue previously, they have now remedied that situation.

And that is a good thing.

_____

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 5)

April 2, 2012 – 6:28 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 4)

April 2, 2012 – 6:20 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 3)

April 2, 2012 – 6:11 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 2)

April 1, 2012 – 3:08 pm

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 1)

March 31, 2012 – 10:52 pm

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari’s religious views

March 30, 2012 – 3:03 pm

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged John Calipari | Comments (0)

Did Rick Pitino help John Calipari get his first head coaching job?

March 29, 2012 – 7:23 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

“Satisfaction Guaranteed” sermon by Brandon Barnard of Fellowship Bible Church (3-11-12)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

________________

2012 Press Conferences with Pitino and Calipari

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

People have been counting UL Cardinals out all along, Pressure on Calipari to win

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

___________

The movie “The Grey” and the answer to nihilism

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Steve Jobs’ view of death and what the Bible has to say about it jh55

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged book of ecclesiastes, inescapable conclusions, pixar animation studios, ravi zacharias, stanford commencement address. | Comments (0)

_______________________

Calipari’s been to 4 final fours and his record is 1-3 so far

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

____________

“Woody Wednesday” Will Allen and Martin follow same path as Kansas to Christ?

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (1)

SEC gets one in final four: Kentucky

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

“Woody Wednesday” Allen is searching for satisfaction in wrong place jh17

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Brian Jones’ futile search for satisfaction (Part 3 of series on 27 Club)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

A Christian response to Papa Roach’s song “The Last Resort” (Part 1)

Insight into what Coldplay meant by “St. Peter won’t call my name” (Series on Coldplay’s spiritual search, Part 3)jh61

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Tagged casual listeners, papa roach last resort, riding the fence, video music awards | Comments (0)

http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=9074

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Are you ready for Calipari versus Pitino?

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Obamacare expands dependence on government health care

April 2, 2012 – 12:55 pm

Tim Sandefur Discusses ObamaCare’s Medicaid Expansion

Uploaded by catoinstitutevideo on Mar 26, 2012

Tim Sandefur of the Pacific Legal Foundation explains some of the implications of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion.

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Great chart from Heritage Foundation on Obamacare:

Obamacare expands dependence on government health care

DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES (JPG, Color)

Slide 1 | Obamacare in Pictures

Obamacare dumps millions into Medicaid and creates new federal subsidies for government-approved coverage. As a result, by the end of the decade most Americans will receive health coverage through government programs.

7 things wrong so far with Obamacare

March 30, 2012 – 9:38 am

Milton Friedman – Socialized Medicine at Mayo Clinic in 1978 Liberals think that people would just fall in love with Obamacare once they got a taste of it but it didn’t work out that way. Seven of Obamacare’s Biggest Failures from the Last Two Years Alyene Senger March 28, 2012 at 5:15 pm It has […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Edit | Comments (0)

Obamacare proponents say the Supreme Court should let it become law because the people want it!!!!

March 29, 2012 – 6:11 am

Randy Barnett Discusses ObamaCare at the Supreme Court Uploaded by catoinstitutevideo on Mar 26, 2012 http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=9074 Cato Institute Senior Fellow and Georgetown University law professor Randy E. Barnett discusses the arguments to be presented to the Supreme Court beginning March 26. I know that many people feel strongly that we live in a democracy and […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Cato Institute | Tagged Dan Mitchell | Edit | Comments (0)

Videos from Cato Institute on Obamacare

March 28, 2012 – 7:24 am

Cato’s Michael F. Cannon Discusses ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate Uploaded by catoinstitutevideo on Mar 26, 2012 http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=9074 The individual mandate to purchase health insurance is the linchpin of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It is among the issues to be handled by the Supreme Court beginning March 26, 2012. Michael F. Cannon is the […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Cato Institute | Edit | Comments (0)

Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute takes on entitlement reform

March 27, 2012 – 7:49 am

It is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. Here Dan Mitchell takes it on. Everything You Need to Know about Entitlement Reform November 28, 2011 by Dan Mitchell Most people have a vague understanding that America has a huge long-run fiscal problem. They’re right, though they probably don’t realize the seriousness […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Cato Institute, President Obama, Social Security, spending out of control, Taxes | Tagged Dan Mitchell | Edit | Comments (0)

Ryan’s plan better than Democrat’s plan but not as good as Rand Paul’s

March 26, 2012 – 1:57 pm

Promote Federalism and Replicate the Success of Welfare Reform with Medicaid Block Grants Uploaded by afq2007 on Jun 26, 2011 The Medicaid program imposes high costs while generating poor results. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video explains how block grants, such as the one proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan, will save money and […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Cato Institute, spending out of control, Taxes | Tagged Dan Mitchell | Edit | Comments (0)

HERITAGE FOUNDATION INTERVIEW:Senator Blunt Vows to Keep Pressure on President Obama Over Contraceptive Mandate

March 26, 2012 – 9:20 am

Senator Blunt Vows to Keep Pressure on President Obama Over Contraceptive Mandate Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Feb 13, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/13/sen-blunt-vows-to-keep-pressure-on-obama-… | Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced legislation to protect religious organizations from Obamacare’s overreach last summer. Now, as President Obama presses forward with his anti-conscience mandate, Blunt is prepared to keep the pressure on the […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Current Events, President Obama, Prolife | Edit | Comments (0)

HERITAGE FOUNDATION INTERVIEW:Senator John Barrasso On the Fight Against Obamacare

March 26, 2012 – 8:54 am

Senator John Barrasso On the Fight Against Obamacare Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Mar 26, 2012 Sen. John Barrasso earned the nickname “Wyoming’s Doctor” after working for 24 years as an orthopedic surgeon in Casper. Today he represents the state in the U.S. Senate and is one of the leading critics of Obamacare. More than two […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Current Events, Taxes | Edit | Comments (0)

HERITAGE FOUNDATION INTERVIEW:Senator Marco Rubio Talks Cuba, Budget and Obamacare

March 26, 2012 – 8:00 am

Senator Marco Rubio Talks Cuba, Budget and Obamacare Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Mar 22, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/03/22/exclusive-interview-sen-marco-rubio-talks… | Pope Benedict XVI will visit the communist island of Cuba next week. But while there, the Catholic leader has no plans to visit Cuban dissidents who are fighting for freedom from the Castro regime. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in spending out of control, Taxes | Edit | Comments (0)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Healthcare | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 8)

April 2, 2012 – 12:18 pm

#1 Kansas vs #1 Memphis National Championship 2008 (Part 3)

The paths of Self and Calipari cross for championship

By Kory Carpenter

Sunday, April 1, 2012

New Orleans, La. — Bill Self’s start in coaching is probably well known by now. A guard on the Oklahoma State basketball team, he worked at a Kansas basketball camp one summer led by then-coach Larry Brown. He suffered an injury in a counselor’s scrimmage and feeling bad, Brown told Self to ask him if he ever needed anything.

Self wanted to coach, and there was an opening on Brown’s staff. A young coach by the name of John Vincent Calipari just left to become an assistant at Pittsburgh.

Photo by Chris Neal

Kentucky’s Head Coach John Calipari takes the ball away from Doron Lamb during Saturday night’s semi-final game against Louisville.

A few years prior, Kansas coach Ted Owens offered Calipari the chance to volunteer with the team. He lived with an assistant coach, served food to campers at Jayhawker Towers and survived on those meals after the campers had made their rounds. He even met his wife at Kansas and says he has great memories of Lawrence.

Both coaches can trace their humble beginnings back to 1651 Naismith Drive, but the roads taken since then have seemed so different.

Self methodically climbed up the college coaching ladder while Calipari sandwiched a stint in the NBA between head coaching jobs at mid-majors. He recruited well at Memphis and has gotten even better at Kentucky. Self called him the best salesman in the sport.

Now their paths cross in the National Championship again, fours years after one of the greatest championship games of all time.

“I said after they beat us in 2008, if there was going to be any coach or school that was going to beat us in that venue,” Calipari said Sunday. “I would have said, let it be Kansas.”

He hasn’t seen the tape of that game, though. Its shattered remains were left on the side of the road after being hurled out of the Memphis bus on the way to the San Antonio airport. Self, on the other hand, once watched the game 50 straight days while working out.

Four seasons later, Calipari’s Wildcats are the best team in the land. Self leads a squad that wasn’t supposed to be playing in April this season and Kentucky is favored by more than a few buckets.

“If we play like we did last night in the first half,” Self said Sunday of his semifinal victory over Ohio State. “It probably won’t be a good deal for us.”

The Jayhawks have lived on the edge the last month with a rotation of seven upperclassmen.

Kentucky has dominated college basketball since November with some of the best underclassmen in years. Some have thought they could compete with an NBA team and the Kentucky players said they believed they were this good since the beginning of the season.

Self and Calipari’s roads from Lawrence to New Orleans were anything but similar. But here they are, two completely different storylines playing out at the two winningest schools of all time.

“I think it’s going to be special,” Self said. “The bluest of blue bloods.”

— Edited by Pat Strathman

#1 Kansas vs #1 Memphis National Championship 2008 (Part 4)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 5)

April 2, 2012 – 6:28 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 4)

April 2, 2012 – 6:20 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 3)

April 2, 2012 – 6:11 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 2)

April 1, 2012 – 3:08 pm

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 1)

March 31, 2012 – 10:52 pm

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John Calipari’s religious views

March 30, 2012 – 3:03 pm

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged John Calipari | Comments (0)

Did Rick Pitino help John Calipari get his first head coaching job?

March 29, 2012 – 7:23 am

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

“Satisfaction Guaranteed” sermon by Brandon Barnard of Fellowship Bible Church (3-11-12)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

________________

2012 Press Conferences with Pitino and Calipari

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

People have been counting UL Cardinals out all along, Pressure on Calipari to win

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

___________

The movie “The Grey” and the answer to nihilism

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Steve Jobs’ view of death and what the Bible has to say about it jh55

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged book of ecclesiastes, inescapable conclusions, pixar animation studios, ravi zacharias, stanford commencement address. | Comments (0)

_______________________

Calipari’s been to 4 final fours and his record is 1-3 so far

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

____________

“Woody Wednesday” Will Allen and Martin follow same path as Kansas to Christ?

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (1)

SEC gets one in final four: Kentucky

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

“Woody Wednesday” Allen is searching for satisfaction in wrong place jh17

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Brian Jones’ futile search for satisfaction (Part 3 of series on 27 Club)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

A Christian response to Papa Roach’s song “The Last Resort” (Part 1)

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By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Tagged casual listeners, papa roach last resort, riding the fence, video music awards | Comments (0)

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Are you ready for Calipari versus Pitino?

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

John Calipari versus Bill Self for National Title Act 2 (part 7)

April 2, 2012 – 11:57 am

Kansas vs. Memphis – 2008 NCAA Title Game Highlights (HD)

Kentucky vs. Kansas: Bill Self a Fitting Final Obstacle to John Calipari’s Title

Josh Martin

(Featured Columnist) on April 2, 2012

NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 01: Bill Self (L), head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks, and John Calipari (R), head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, are interviewed together at the NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Program on April 1, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images for Naismith Award)

Stacy Revere/Getty Images

The long and winding road to an NCAA Tournament title has led John Calipari back to Bill Self‘s door.

It makes almost too much sense, doesn’t it? That this year’s Big Dance would turn Coach Cal into the Scott Pilgrim of college basketball, a man tasked with facing down the tormentors of his past in pursuit of the one thing he’s lusted after for so long.

A national championship, that is, not a girlfriend with a colorful coiffure.

With this particular Kentucky team, Calipari has a golden opportunity to do just that, and has made the most of it so far. In this tournament alone, the Wildcats have vanquished three regional rivals (Western Kentucky, Indiana and Louisville) and seen star freshman and National Player of the Year Anthony Davis dominate showdowns with fellow frontcourt stars Royce White of Iowa State and Perry Jones III of Baylor.

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

And that’s before getting into the demon-slaying that Cal’s busied himself with this season. Despite losing his best players to the NBA Draft after each of his first two seasons in Lexington, Calipari’s managed to reload with his biggest and best squad yet this year.

Hastily building a hard-working, selfless squad around Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague and Terrence Jones have allowed Cal to prove to doubters (and apocalyptic scenario enthusiasts) everywhere that it is, indeed, possible to sustain success at the highest levels of college hoops by embracing the one-and-done lottery-bound culture that currently pervades the amateur ranks.

Along the way, Cal has faced off with some of the greatest coaching minds in the country and come up roses in the end. There was Tom Crean, a man with whom Cal had many memorable battles when Crean’s Marquette Golden Eagles and Cal’s Memphis Tigers tangled regularly in Conference USA. Crean’s Indiana Hoosiers got the better of Cal’s ‘Cats in Bloomington back in December, but got their comeuppance (and then some) from Big Blue in the Sweet 16.

There was Rick Pitino, whose career Cal has so closely mirrored in a professional rivalry that’s as much a product of parallel circumstance as it is of actual distaste. UK got the better of Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals in two Commonwealth clashes this season, the second of which pushed the Wildcats into Monday’s tournament final.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

And now, there’s Bill Self. The current Kansas coach fits the manufactured narrative as Cal’s foil better than perhaps anyone in the country. Like Cal, Self has enjoyed tremendous success at the collegiate level, though he’s done it the “right” way, without pinning his hopes so squarely on the shoulders of kids who don’t intend to stick around.

Not that he hasn’t seen his fair share of one-and-dones in Lawrence (i.e. Xavier Henry, Brandon Rush and Josh Selby).

Self’s track record, though—with eight straight Big 12 regular-season titles, two Final Four appearances and a national title in 2008—serves as one of the last bastions of hope for basketball purists who insist that sustained success requires coaches to build programs and develop players rather than usher them into the pro pipeline as quickly as possible.

Self was also the one whose Jayhawks were able to “fend off” Cal’s Tigers, led by Derrick Rose, in the 2008 title game, keeping the supposedly sacred realm of champions safe from a man who’s had two trips to the Final Four (that one included) vacated by the NCAA.

He and Calipari find themselves similarly opposed this time around, though Cal’s ‘Cats are the clear favorites this time around. UK got the better of KU at Madison Square Garden earlier this season, 75-65.owever, the danger of being outcoached (and losing the title and, in turn, the greater argument) remains for Calipari. If UK wins, Cal will have simply met the lofty expectations that his uber-talented team had been held over his head all season.

If the ‘Cats lose, though, the onus will ultimately fall on Cal’s shoulders for having let another one get away, with Self and his scrappy pack of underrated upperclassmen garnering all the glory as a strangely Davidian Goliath.

Then again, for Calipari, the sum of the season and what it might mean in victory would go far beyond the 40 minutes of basketball between his team and Self’s. While some might diminish the accomplishment because of Kentucky’s assortment of lottery picks, there’s no denying that winning it all with a team so dependent on freshmen and sophomores will be Cal’s crowning achievement.

As for besting Self in a title-game rematch? Exorcising that ghost would be the icing on a championship-caliber cake, one that everyone in Big Blue Nation can enjoy, but the sweetness of which only Cal can truly appreciate.

________________

2012 Press Conferences with Pitino and Calipari

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

People have been counting UL Cardinals out all along, Pressure on Calipari to win

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

___________

The movie “The Grey” and the answer to nihilism

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Steve Jobs’ view of death and what the Bible has to say about it jh55

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged book of ecclesiastes, inescapable conclusions, pixar animation studios, ravi zacharias, stanford commencement address. | Comments (0)

_______________________

Calipari’s been to 4 final fours and his record is 1-3 so far

Insight into what Coldplay meant by “St. Peter won’t call my name” (Series on Coldplay’s spiritual search, Part 3)jh61

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

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