March Madness is set to officially begin on Sunday and you know what that means — NOAH MANIA!
Joseph Goodman’s column today in the Miami Herald, is indicative of what we’re going to hear about The Great Pony Tail for the next two months, or until the Gators are ousted from the tourney.
Let me just say this for the record: I’m over Joakin Noah. I’m over his pony-tail. I’m over his chest-pounding and the theatrics. I’m over hearing about his dad. I’m over hearing about how good of an NBA player he’s going to be. I’m tired of hearing the word “cross-cultural” used in connection with his name. I don’t care.
I think on the spectrum of the best players in college basketball, The Great Pony Tail isn’t even in the top 15. He’s not even the best player on his own team. (Al Horford, just ask Billy Donovan *wink)
But for some reason, the national media has developed a full-on man crush for Joakim Noah. As someone who has a couple mancrushes of my own, I’m familiar with the symptoms.
Consider this exerpt from Goodman’s column:
“On the Joakim Noah dial of expressive behavior, the needle redlines somewhere after ”Scream and Stomp,” and then pegs right around ”Taunt Opponent.” The system overheats at this increment: “Slap the Referee on the Backside.” “
I just can’t seem to get my head around why when Joakim Noah taunts a player it’s competitive fire but when another self-important, look-at-me athlete taunts an opposing player, let’s call him… T.O., he’s selfish and blatantly self-promotional.
I guess it’s because no one has a man crush on T.O. — ok, no one besides Dan LeBatard and Michael Irvin.
what normal guy wears a moo-moo?
Dan LeBastard is the worst person on the planet.
You don’t like LeBastard because he was mean to the Feathered Angelwinged bangs coach in the Tuscaloosa Ghetto
Where is the urban dictionary stuff on Noah?
The harshness of criticism concerning Joakim is just stunning to me and I have to admit I don’t get it. Yes, he is “vocal” if you will and animated on the court but I’ve watched nearly every Gator game since the tournament last year and I have yet to see even a hint of what I would consider to be poor sportsmanship. On the other hand, he’s had to put up with the apparently endless taunts of cheerleaders (the Kentucky cheerleader comes to mind) and fans (there always seems to be at least one “Noah ugly” sign in the crowd), and the likes of Kevin Stallings, a first-rate prick of a coach.. I actually admire Joakim’s fortitude for putting up with all the abuse he takes and I could NOT have been happier for the Gators on Monday night. So I think all the Gator-haters out there should take Noah’s advice and “keep on hating” because it positively warms my heart to know that they are so bothered by the success of this great team and a guy whose only behavioral offense has been his exuberance and enthusiasm for the game!! GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
See, here’s my problem with Noah. I don’t care if he’s demonstrative and all of that, it’s a bit obnoxious for my taste but hardly rare in modern sports. My problem with Noah comes with his underproduction. He didn’t have a significant impact on ANY game in this year’s tournament. Not one. I don’t care if you chest pound or stand on top of a press table and wave your arms or dance like you’re having a grand mal seizure but please, put up better numbers than 8 and 3 before you do it.
Wow!!!!! Seriously???!!! I guess we have to agree to disagree on that one. If I understand you correctly, 17 points and 12 rebounds against Jackson State, 14 points and 14 rebounds against Oregon, 13 points and 9 rebounds against Butler were all meaningless and completely inconsequential, not to mention a solid enough performance in the UCLA game looking at rebounds, assists and blocks in comparison to Horford???? If Noah had been taken out of the equation in this year’s tournament, there is not a shred of doubt in my mind that someone else would be holding the national title. I will concede that he had a better year last year, overall, but he’s been a solid contributor to the success of this team, leading or tying in scoring in several games throughout the season. It’s unfair to point to any single game as an overall indicator of a player’s ability. I think his stats for the year bear this out. And as much as I hate to belabor the point which has been made over and over again by so many, that is the beauty of this team! On any given night, it’s a toss-up as to who will come out on top. That level of balance is just very rare and one of many reasons I will be fans of these guys for life!
Are you really going to cite numbers from games against Jackson State and Butler? I mean, really. And he dropped that 14 and 14 on an Oregon team that was guard heavy and had nothing in the front court. Noah was a role player.. at best, he’s a very good role player. I totally agree that Florida was a tremendously well balanced team but Noah was probably the 3rd or 4th best player on that team and I think the team that drafts him will figure this out. He’s a system guy. I don’t think he’ll be much of an NBA prospect. He doesn’t have the body type to play in the low post in the league, I mean could you imagine him trying to post up Dwight Howard or Jermaine O’Neal? He’s an awful shooter and he doesn’t have the inside-outside game to make him a versatile threat around the perimeter. I’m not going to sit here and call him ugly or say that he looks like a tranny. I just think that for what the ink he actually puts in the scorebook, I’d like to hear from and about him a whole less.
Thank you for sparing me the tiresome “tranny” and “ugly” references. And keep in mind that I’m just a gender-challenged casual observer of the game who is NOT by any stretch pretending to be an expert on the game of basketball (translation: be kind) but, in answer to your query, they were tournament games so yes! Your statement was that he “didn’t have a significant impact on ANY game in this year’s tournament” and you further complained about his lack of production. You can certainly ignore the Jackson State game as being relevant in the tournament but not Butler where an 8-point game would have resulted in OT and potentially the end of Florida’s run so I stand by my assertion. Again, I would agree that Horford was stronger in this year’s tournament and you just can’t say enough about Brewer and Humphrey as well. I would also acknowledge that each had a stronger year than Noah in comparison to 2006. As far as Noah’s future in the NBA is concerned, he’ll definitely need to play much stronger since he doesn’t have an outside game. But he’ll be in the company of an awful lot of guys who couldn’t make a three if their lives depended on it so I wouldn’t necessarily predict his demise just yet. I, for one, will be looking forward to seeing him on the court again because (yes, it’s true and, besides, I want to make sure I’ve sufficiently offended anyone who might read this and disagree with my assessment), I actually think he’s rather cute!!!