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Une rue au nom de Joakim Noah???
Joakim est tellement populaire en Floride que en 2006 suite au titre NCAA gagné par les Gators des gens ont mis en place une pétition pour renommer Museum Road à Gainsville en Joakim Noah Road. Pourquoi? parce que le musée qui était dans cette rue a déménagé alors des petits malins ce sont dit pourquoi pas la rebaptiser??? en tout cas, je ne pense pas qu'ils l'ont fait depuis le temps...
Article published Jul 12, 2006
A road to Noah?
By ELIZABETH HILLAKER
Special to The Sun
Florida's Joakim Noah pumps his fists as he makes is way through the fans to the stage at the Stephen C. O'Connell center, Friday, April 7, 2006. (TRACY WILCOX/The Gainesville Sun)
As if Joakim Noah's signature chest pounding and roar were not enough to leave an indelible mark on the University of Florida's collective consciousness, a local talk show wants to make sure generations to come remember his contribution.
"Late Night Gainesville with Zach," a live talk show focusing on Gainesville personalities and music, wants Museum Road to be renamed Joakim Noah Road.
"We're sick and tired of every building and road on the campus of the University of Florida being named for a dead or former member of the faculty or alumni community," said Zach Huddleston, the show's host.
Joakim Noah is the perfect choice, Huddleston argues, because his name will look great above stop signs and he is the face of Florida basketball. He added that Noah's signature passion, height and hair make him a great candidate.
"In the world of Afros, his is up there - literally," he said.
The show set its sights on renaming Museum Road, which no longer has any museums on it. The Florida Museum of Natural History was located there before a new building was constructed on Hull Road.
The show's producer, Andrew Kamphey, also said it would be a gesture of appreciation to Noah for staying at UF another year.
While graduate student housing facilities - Corry, Maguire and Diamond villages - were all named for UF students who had served as student body presidents, he said a current student making an impact on the infrastructure of the university is a new idea.
Now in the third week of the campaign and the eighth week of the show, Huddleston plans to use petitions and a letter writing campaign to persuade the UF administration to put Noah's name above some stop signs.
North South Drive, the road that runs alongside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, was renamed Gale Lemerand Drive a year ago to honor the man who had donated millions to the University Athletic Association and the university.
But getting the administration and others to agree to rename Museum Road after Noah could prove nearly impossible.
Ed Poppell, vice president of administrative affairs, said he wouldn't handicap the effort and instead outlined a series of hurdles the group would have to to jump over to get the road renamed.
The police and fire departments would have to change all the addresses listed on Museum Road, he said.
The campaign would have to convince the university - and possibly a faculty senate committee - that this was a worthy endeavor, he said. Since Noah is a living person, it would then have pass muster with UF's board of trustees, the state's Board of Governors, which oversees the university system, and ultimately the Florida Legislature.
The show has started a myspace account at http://groups.myspace.com/joakimnoahroad and a Facebook group called "Rename Museum Road 'Joakim Noah Road,' " one of 11 groups dedicated to Noah.
While Noah was sent an invitation to the group, he has not joined. Kamphey, the show's producer, said he hopes Noah, the 2006 Final Four MVP, will get behind it.
The Facebook group has 45 members - so far.
"Truthfully, I thought it was a joke," said Stephanie Lewkowitz, a third-year astronomy major and member of the Facebook group. "Facebook is all kind of farcical anyways."
But other Facebook group members, like Saie Kurakula take the campaign seriously.
Two seasons ago, Noah was not that effective on the court, the third- year theater major said. But he trained hard in the off-season and came back roaring.
"I believe it would be a symbol of how we can work hard and become something incredible - whether in basketball, arts or academics," Kurakula said.
"Late Night Gainesville with Zach," which combines comedy, music and local personalties in a live variety talk show, performs twice a month at the Civic Media Center. On Friday, the show begins at 10 p.m.
There is a $5 cover charge. The guests include Glypher, the creator of gainesvillebands.com, a Web site resource for the local music scene, and a to-be-announced band.
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