Michael Adams

Catholic Husband & Dad | Basketball Coach | Writer
UIUC ’20 • CUA M.A. Candidate

Ordering sports & culture to the Good, True, & Beautiful.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

The people, Newman center, and priest at this place are greatly responsive for my reversion. So grateful for my four years there.

[Sachin Jose @Sachinettiyil]

Catholic students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign wrote out the entire Gospel of John on the campus quad as a way to evangelize the university community.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

@Sachinettiyil I can honestly say, I’m not sure I would have ever returned to the Church if I hadn’t gone to school here. Such an amazing place.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

It's like when non-parent friends claim they don't want or need children because their dog gives them the same meaning and purpose in life–and then tell you they completely understand your parenting joys and anxieties because of it. Not the same thing at all.

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

Friends, a pet is not an adequate substitute for another person—and I say that as a dog lover!

We’re the animal that speaks, and that’s where human contact is made. “Cor ad cor loquitur,” says St. John Henry Newman’s famous motto. “Heart speaks to heart.”

You’re not going to find that with a dog or with your computer screen. You can only find it in conversation with another.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

.@ibrycecrawford chose the perfect example to show why rejecting absolute values is intellectually incoherent.

It leaves us with a soft moral relativism, unable to condemn obvious evils–like Hitler.

Rather, objective values, grounded ultimately in God, are the very condition for a coherent moral worldview.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

My wife and I are both engineers. We both audibly gasped several times at the fact that this is reality.

It's absolutely mind-blowing.

Turns out Elon is on to something with the way he thinks about the interconnections between all his companies.

[Tesla @Tesla]

Real life, baby

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

Coaches carry the heavy burden of the team and cannot shirk that responsibility. That is the vocation. The leader's proper role is to take ownership of the environment, the preparation, and the aftermath. I think this move was an egotistical leadership failure.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

If you want a window into why youth sports are so messed up in America and why they so rarely serve the good of the athlete anymore, just look at these replies.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

@PardonMyTake DeBoer is an absolute clown here. Best advice I got as a coach is players win games, coaches lose them. Take ownership, guide the kid, and quite the shame act.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

Many who rush to defend this tactic do so merely because the exact same thing (or worse) was inflicted upon them. That’s no real justification. It just means you had a bad coach.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

@MclovinYoubby @PardonMyTake And who’s responsible for ensuring he was prepared for that situation and could control himself? I think I’ll stay here bud

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

@HappyNomad14 @PardonMyTake He should get a full piece of his mind, sure, but placing the blame of a loss on an individual in the context of a team sport is idiotic.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

@CPraeda @PardonMyTake Irrelevant. It’s idiotic to place the blame of a loss on an individual in the context of a team sport.

[Edward Feser @FeserEdward]

Something so unfunny and offensive to decent sensibilities should never be livestreamed. Neither should executions.

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

Shame based coaching like this is so deranged. It shouldn’t even be considered coaching.

(1) It places the shame and responsibility of a loss on one play from one player, ignoring the countless other mistakes made.

(2) It acts as though the kid isn’t already aware and ashamed of what he just did.

(3) It destroys the players confidence both on and off the field, while not actually constructively correcting and guiding the player.

Also, DaBoer should already know this kids gonna get death threats tonight from Alabama fans, don’t add insult to injury.

[Pardon My Take @PardonMyTake]

“YOU JUST COST US THE GAME”

Kalen DeBoer loses it on the sideline

[Michael Adams @MichaelJAdams]

One of the more intellectually humbling moments of my life was realizing I'd been turning my nose up at poetry purely because I didn't know how to read it.

And you often don't realize you're doing this until you see someone narrate it like this.

[Word on Fire @WordOnFire]

In addition to making numerous contributions in theology, St. John Henry Newman was a masterful poet.

Celebrate his feast day today by listening to @JonathanRoumie narrate “The Pillar of the Cloud.”