Joakim Noah on Boys, Boredom and Griminess

[??? ??????]

I've asked this to some different guys in different sports, but I'm curious what you'd have to say, because you're a guy that's got a lot of interests. Do you ever sort of get bored, I guess, with basketball, bored with being a professional athlete? Because it's kind of the same thing over and over.

It is. It is. And sometimes it's hard, like when you're in Utah and you get in at like 2 o'clock in the morning, and you're far from your friends and everybody that you know. You've just got to realize that you're lucky. You're lucky. You're fortunate to be doing what you love to do. Not a lot of people can say that. There's times where your body's tired, your body's achy, your ankle hurts, and you just don't want to.

But I used to talk about that with my pops a little, because my pops went through the same thing, and he always said would you trade it for anything else? And there's no way. There's no way. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I mean, even though sometimes it's hard--you're leaving home, you're leaving your boys at home, they get to drive your car or have the house to yourselves. You know? They're doing big things, having fun. I mean, it's the life we chose, and I wouldn't have it any other way, even though sometimes it's hard.

Do you ever think it's silly at all, that what you do for a living is try to put a ball in a basket?

Do I think it's silly? Yeah, I think it's overrated, because people make a big deal out of it. But I mean, at the same time, it's such a big part of the culture. You know? Such a big part of the culture. It's so funny to me, I remember when I was a kid how much I admired basketball players. I think that it's important to have good things to say to the kids, and just help them understand what it took to get here, because nobody had it easy.

Even though you might be tall or whatever, everybody had to sacrifice in order to get to this level. Nobody had it easy. And sometimes it's like, "Oh, he's just a spoiled athlete," but nobody really understands that it took a lot of work. You had to stay away from a lot of things, you had to sacrifice a lot to get where we are.

So how many guys stay with you?

Two. But I always have a lot of boys from New York just visiting, a lot of people hanging out. You know, it's a crazy life. But it's good, because there's so much to it. You know what I mean? A lot of people don't understand how fast a first deal goes. Your first check, how fast it goes, when you have people asking you for money all the time. And I come from a situation where my father was a tennis player, and I used to have a lot of friends, and a lot of people hit you [up] all the time. It's different.

People say, "How come NBA players lose all their money?" It's because we're making money like a 40-year old businessman would make. If a 40-year old businessman made money like us, he's very successful. Right? But at 40 years old, you're established, you have a family, you don't have people pressing you for money, you know what I'm saying? We're 23. Single. A lot of people are single. A lot of people come from areas where they don't have the means, and don't understand the whole money situation. They don't understand that when it says $1.5 million, half of that goes to taxes, and the house, and the agent. I mean, it goes.

Do you remember your first check?

I remember it was negative. I remember it was negative. I had some fines. I had a lot of fines. I didn't see a lot of it.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2009/03/joakim_noah_on_boys_boredom_an.html

 

[Newskoolbulls]

I am pretty sure he was high when he was looking at his first paycheck. Noah doesnt come off as an intelligent person but as long as his play continues to grow I could careless.

 

[IceHogsFan]

Finally, the story with the answers to the questions I have been asking. Expanding Medicaid in Illinois and the cost to the state. Need I remind everyone, the same state ranked as one of the worst in the nation fiscally.



SPRINGFIELD —

Expanding Illinois’ Medicaid program under the federal health-care reform law will cost the state $1.3 billion a year in 2020 and beyond.



Righter said Illinois “absolutely cannot” afford to add $1.3 billion to a Medicaid program that currently costs the state $14 billion a year and covers 2.8 million Illinoisans. Half of the current cost — $7 billion — is reimbursed by the federal government, with the rest coming from state coffers.



Some states, depending on their political leadership, are resisting the reform law’s implementation, challenging it in court or hoping the law will be repealed after the November 2012 elections. But in Illinois — the home of President Barack Obama and where Democrats control the legislative and executive branches — state officials are working to set up a health-insurance exchange that would route the uninsured and small businesses to affordable private insurance or Medicaid.

Of the 32 million uninsured Americans expected to gain coverage through the Affordable Care Act by 2019, half of them — of 16 million — would be covered through Medicaid.

http://www.rrstar.com/top_stories/x549437327/Study-Health-care-expansion-to-cost-Illinois

 

[JOVE23]

Not so much get your checkbook ready as

 

[Tater]

Not so much get your checkbook ready as

No pic?

Was it a pic of someone bending over?

 

[JOVE23]