No Blaise: Joakim Noah!

When I bought my ticket to last summer’s Lollapalooza, I knew I’d be in for an experience. What I couldn’t predict was meeting Joakim Noah.

That’s right, I got up close and personal with a big-time Bulls player.

If you know nothing about Lollapalooza, you should know that crowd turnout for this three-day music festival is massive. I was afraid to blink at certain points in the day in case my friends might get enveloped into the madness in that millisecond.

No, I’m not kidding.

Anyway…

Seeing basketball players on TV you know they’re tall. But because they’re all so tall, it’s hard to realize their height in terms of the rest of us here in the real world.  Post-Joakim meeting I’ve been enlightened—the dude is huge.

Remember my reference on crowd size at Lolla… Not even the music-loving mass could keep Joakim out of my line of vision.

Making our way from one stage to another, my girl, Anika, looks up, points, and simply shouts: JOAKIM!

There he was, at the beer tent no less.

I knew there was a reason he was my favorite Bulls player.

As is the natural reaction when you spot a noteworthy person within your proximity, we ran over to snap a picture with him.

You’ll have to take my word for it, but I am tall. On the non-NBA scale, that is. I’m used to being the head above the other heads in a group photo. But I ain’t got nothin’ on Joakim.

Anika, Hannah (my other girl), and I catch up to him and beg him for a photo. Unsurprisingly, he’s completely nice about it. Hannah and I take a place on either side of him.  Anika snaps the pic.

Sorry, Ani.

As soon as I fell into pose, I realized how tall he actually was. No longer was I floating above — in fact, my head just slightly reached the height of his shoulder.

How do people play defense on this guy? Oh, right – in his world, he’s almost short.

The camera clicks and my association with this Chicago Bull is captured for eternity.

We step out from under his wingspan and for two seconds, the three of us just sort of look at him like little girls. Giddy and ridiculous. He breaks our child-like stupor by thanking us and gliding back into the crowd.

I think I might’ve awkwardly shouted “THANK…YOU!”  But maybe not. My memory can only comprehend so much about that moment.

When I finally floated back down to real life and regained normal consciousness, I begin to understand what just happened. Not only did I meet Joakim, but I had my picture taken with him.

A picture I could post online!

And show it to everyone I know!

Which I did.

It was digital gold.

Even my Celtics-loving father was impressed.

Why write about that picture today, after so many months have passed? Well, I happened to find it just the other day. It’s as golden as ever. Look for yourself.

By the way, that’s me on your right and Hannah on your left. Nice picture, right? But now that I look at it, there’s a bunch of questions I wish I’d asked him. Like — who’s the dude in the back and what’s with the yellow-framed shades?

Oh, well. Next time — I swear.

I posted it on my Facebook page and everybody was either way impressed or totally jealous — all over again.

Even Two-Headed Boy thought it was pretty cool.

My picture with Joakim is the gift that just keeps giving….

by No Blaise