Noah: "I'm Ramel Bradley's Daddy!"

When it comes to getting the biggest and most interesting player headlines in college basketball, you've got to hand it to Joakim Noah. This kid won't ever need a publicist. He keeps himself newsworthy via a 24/7 press conference that seems to follow him everywhere he goes.

Here's the latest. With 2:08 remaining in the Florida-Kentucky game, Florida's seven footer and Kentucky's point guard, Ramel Bradley, got into a verbal altercation after Noah fouled Bradley on a three-point attempt. Noah didn't like the call and pleaded his case with the ref. Bradley didn't like the fact that Noah was arguing over a meaningless foul when Florida was up by double digits with the game already in hand.

Bradley then yelled "something" to Noah before he stepped up to the line. Whatever it was that he said, Noah apparently didn't care for it, because he started jawing at Bradley incessantly between each free throw... enough so that referee Ted Valentine cautioned Billy Donovan to remove him before he teed Noah up for a technical.

But that's not news. This is news.

From the Courier-Journal:

"Why's he talking trash?" Noah asked of Bradley afterward. "I'm his daddy! That's my son! Why's he talking to me like that? I shouldn't have been upset? When your son starts talking bad about you that's not right. You can't do that. So I overreacted. The cops had to stop me. The ref told the grandpa, coach Donovan, to get me out of the game. But Ramel's really my son. He's my guy, though. I've got mad love for him. He's just talking trash."

First of all, I have to admit that Noah's comments caused me to laugh my ass off. Give the kid credit, he's creative when it comes to trashing his opponent verbally. But I see it that way, most likely, because I'm a Florida fan. I'm fairly confident that the skin on the back of my neck would be smoking if I were on the receiving end.

The totally unbiased SEC fan and AOL Sports blogger in me says: "Shut the **** up and play the game. Both of you." And there needs to be full disclosure here; Ramel Bradley runs his mouth constantly, every game, against every opponent, and is notorious for doing so. He doesn't get nearly the pub that Noah does, for obvious reasons, but between Bradley's "Dynasty" hand sign (which is rather inappropriate given his and Kentucky's unimpressive SEC season) and his constant flapping of the gums, he is no less guilty than Noah. Don't forget, Bradley's comment to Noah started the incident. And read the rest of the article to see what Bradley had to say about his fellow New Yorker: 'Smoov' was just as inflammatory with his post-game remarks.

In this type of situation, I would not be opposed to offsetting technicals being assigned to both players. I also believe that Coach Smith and Coach Donovan would best serve the interests of their respective programs if they muzzled both players from talking about such incidents to the press.

If I had my druthers, college basketball players would be all action and no talk. Bradley and Noah do bring plenty of action to the table, but the extracurricular activity doesn't have any place in the game.

Previously on the FanHouse:

Looking for Unusual Baseline Encounters? Joakim Noah is Your Man
Pom-Pom Gate: Did Joakim Noah Swipe at a UK Cheerleader?