Joakim Noah's Foul Mouth

In Game 3 of the Bulls-Heat series on Sunday night, Joakim Noah, ticked at a fan who was insulting his mother, called the fan a "faggot". Noah is now repentant, saying that uttering anti-gay slurs is "not who I am." Apparently double European parentage makes one congenitally disinclined to homophobia or other biases, at least compared to laddish American men. But it is easy to judge what Noah "is" from his reflexive behavior a couple nights ago. Without thinking too hard, he resorted to "faggot" as a reflexive smack. That makes him a jock: one who has learned to prove himself better with the force of his body. This culture would tend to denigrate anything that deviates from the typical model of the acquisitive, dominant male. It's not surprising, really, as Noah has spent most of his post-pubescent life around American sports, not around the European Human Rights Commission. The "thoughtful jock" like Grant Hill or Jared Dudley who tells us to curb our worst impulses is a rare cat.