Noah: I hated MJ as N.Y. fan

Joakim Noah grew up a Knicks fan in New York, which is why these words rolled off his tongue fairly easily on Friday."Damn," Noah said, "I hated Michael Jordan."

Thanks to the Eddy Curry trade, the Bulls own the ninth overall pick in the June 28 draft courtesy of the Knicks, a fact not wasted on the wit of Noah.

"As a kid, the Bulls made me cry a few times," he said following his draft workout at the Berto Center. "But you have to give credit where credit is due. I would love to come and play here. It's a team that has a lot of tradition in a city that expects winning, and winning is what's important to me."

Noah and his Florida Gators teammates proved that with back-to-back NCAA titles coached by Billy Donovan. Noah has text-messaged Donovan since his messy saga with the Orlando Magic ended and vowed to visit him in Gainesville, Fla., soon. "I was really surprised," Noah said of Donovan's decision to take the Magic job briefly."But it doesn't affect my relationship with him. I love him regardless. He has done a lot for me. I don't know if I'd be in this situation if it weren't for him."I'm proud of him. You know what? He followed his heart. To me, that's really important."

SOURCES: Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune - By K.C. Johnson - Tribune staff reporter - Published June 9, 2007 & http://fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/6014

Billy Donovan is a Punk!

Well we now have a new member of the "flip-flop club." This, of course, is the one and only two-time NCAA basketball champion coach of the Florida Gators (maybe) Billy Donovan. Three days ago Donovan signed a five-year $27.5 million contract with the NBA's Orlando Magic and now says he wants to get out of that contract to go back to coach the Gators. The Magic can either let him do this or not and make him pay a substantial fine.

So, who can trust Donovan at this point? The Orlando Magic? No. The Florida Gators? No. The NBA, NCAA, or the recruits coming to Florida University? No, no, and no. So why are we letting Donovan get away with this?

Earlier this year and the second half of last year we scrutinized several coaches throughout collegiate and professional sports for backing out of contracts and making controversial moves to different teams. For example, when Nick Saban went to Alabama football from the Miami Dolphins (after he said he wouldn't of course) there were many people ready to call him "Nick Satan." Other notables include Billy Gillispie going from Texas A&M to Kentucky basketball.

We can't let Donovan off the hook here. Today, on the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN, Dan talked about this and wasn't nearly as heated up as he was on the other coaches. Why does Donovan get a pass? I don't care if he is having second thoughts and a change of heart about his decision. If you have these second thoughts don't sign a contract with a different team a screw two organizations and a lot of young basketball players.

This move by Donovan shows that he has no class and that he doesn't even know what he really wants. I am also extremely disappointed in the sports media coverage on this topic because they are letting Donovan get away with this without the scrutinization they have given to other coaches that have done the exact same thing. WELCOME TO THE FLIP-FLOP CLUB BILLY YOU PUNK!!!