Excerpts from John Calipari's Book Club

Hello, friends. You’re looking well. You have a little ketchup on the edge of your mouth. There. No, there. No, my right. Look. I’m a mirror. Right here. There, you got it. Oh, yikes. No, you’re bleeding profusely from the mouth. You should probably go to a hospital. Friends, if you were on board for last weekend’s ESPN College Gameday you, like me, learned that Cal and Willie Cauley-Stein have a “book club” together where they read books and talk about them. In fact, Willie credits Jon Gordon’s book The Energy Bus for helping to reawaken his potential and fire of late. Sharing books to keep players hyped and interested is, I think we can all agree, a positive and constructive thing for Calipari’s coaching style, but I was looking through some of the books he’s been handing out lately and I’m detecting a little more at work. Some of these books seem to be slightly altered; I’m calling shenanigans. After all, it IS a great way for Cal to get his message across. See for yourself. -------- Herman Melville, Moby Dick “…That night, in the mid-watch, when the old man–as his wont at intervals–stepped forth from the scuttle in which he leaned, and went to his pivot-hole, he suddenly thrust out his face fiercely, snuffing up the sea air as a sagacious ship's dog will, in drawing nigh to some barbarous isle. He declared that a whale must be near. Ahab rapidly ordered the ship's course to be slightly altered, and the sail to be shortened. This was the first tweak. The second tweak would come a few months later, when Ahab would lower the boat himself with his harpooneer, leaving Starbuck to the Pequod, to address the white whale; there would be talk in the newspapers of a third tweak but the second tweak so far seemed to work pretty well so a third tweak, many would agree, was probably not necessary…” --------- Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland “’Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. `I don't see any wine,' she remarked. `There isn't any,' said the March Hare. `Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice angrily. `It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said the March Hare. `I didn't know it was your table,' said Alice; `it's laid for a great many more than three. And why aren’t you going after that 50/50 ball? Why, that seems positively mad!’ ‘As mad as going for a ball-fake, when it’s been clearly telegraphed?’ said the Hatter. ‘That’s preposterous as well! Someone’s going to sneak in there and you’re going to drop a game in the SEC with ludicrous decisions like those!’ said Alice. ‘You have to keep your head in it, like your coach repeatedly tells you!’” --------- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus said to Jem one day, “Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. “Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird. He’s also right about staying in front of your man on drives; you’re going to lose every time if you don’t stay in front of your man. That’s a sin, too. And be nice to Boo Radley, he’s right about that, too. Also, brothers’ keeper. And gold standard. Remember all that stuff.” --------- William Shakespeare, Henry V "Now all the youth of England are on fire, And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies: Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought Reigns solely in the breast of every man; Whence the gamecock approaches be wary Its crowing and fast break without fault Take their hearts and minds not for granted As thou might have Vanderbilt For T’would be grievous folly to overlook And therefore fall in turn, falling, falling To those would mock and cry ‘South Carolina!’ How foolish! What error!’ For soon may come the age of Zags, who play no one.” -------- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the time of staying in the stance, it was the time of ballwatching, it was the season of being the needle, it was the season of taking smart shots. France was ready to fight. And you gotta. You gotta fight hard under there because that’s the only way it’s gonna happen, Dakari. I mean France. ”