Lexington Herald-Leader editorial cartoonist Joel Pett explains why he created the cartoon that takes a shot at Kentucky coach John Calipari.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - In a cartoon that ran in Tuesday's Lexington Herald-Leader, national championship-winning Kentucky coach John Calipari is taken to task for ending UK's annual series with Indiana in a cartoon by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Joel Pett.
Pett depicts "Coach Cal's Trophy Shelf" as having a couple pieces of paper - which read, "This Space Vacated" and "This One, Too..." - rather than Calipari's Final Four trophies from appearances while at Massachusetts and Memphis, both of which were vacated by the NCAA.
Also, a deflated basketball sits atop the inscription, "Lose at IU, Take My Ball and Go Home Award (One and Done)."
The NCAA national championship trophy is featured in the cartoon with dollar signs on it. Pett says that is a comment about the money-driven NCAA, not UK.
Pett grew up in Bloomington, his father was a professor at IU and Pett attended Indiana. He says he's now lived in Lexington for 28 years, which is longer than the amount of time he was a Hoosier-state resident.
Pett tells ABC 36 that everyday he tries to draw about something that angers him. On the particular day he created this controversy-creating piece, UK had just announced it was ending its annual series with Indiana.
Pett has been employed by the Lexington Herald-Leader since 1984. His work is mostly political satires and is featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Boston Globe, USA Today and other newspapers nationwide.
