Constable: Buffalo Grove boy's necklaces a hit with Bulls players
Expecting their first child, Chicago Bulls fans Mike and Christel Diamond pondered the possibilities.
“We were not agreeing on names at the time, and we were watching the Bulls game together,” remembers Christel Diamond.
“If we have a girl, we should name her Rose,” suggested her husband, a fan of Bulls guard Derrick Rose.
When they discovered they were having a son, the answer seemed obvious.
“I love Joakim Noah, so we were like, 'Hey. What about Noah?'” the mom says. Dad agreed, and now their Noah has given something back to his favorite team. The father-and-son team made the Bulls good-luck necklaces that have been spotted hanging from players' lockers during postgame TV interviews.
“We wanted to give something to the Bulls rather than just asking for autographs,” Mike Diamond says, explaining how his son already has gotten such joy from watching the Bulls. The boy, who turns 4 in June, wears his Rose No. 1 Bulls jersey and has memorized the iconic introductions performed by Tommy Edwards, the team's public address announcer.
“The man in the middle,” Noah proclaims in his best Edwards' impersonation, spreading his arms and running into the family's Buffalo Grove living room before his parents and little sister, Jasmine, as if he were the Bulls' 6-foot-11 starting center.
“He won't got to bed without it,” Mike Diamond says, explaining how turning off the lights and announcing the Bulls starting lineup is as much of the boy's bedtime ritual as “Goodnight, Moon” is in other households.
“I just love it,” says Edwards, who is a legend in the homes of countless Bulls fans but can make a personal connection with the Diamonds.
“This one is special because it's a bedtime story. It's going to be something they remember forever,” said Edwards, who recalls his ritual of sitting by the crib of his son, Tommy, and “talking about the five different positions on a basketball team and how they all play together.”
The younger Tommy, now 23, played basketball at Lake Forest High School and the College of Lake County and now is a ballboy for the Bulls.
Ask Noah Diamond his favorite player, and the boy doesn't hesitate.
“It's Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah and Pao Gasol and Mike Dunleavy and Jimmy Butler,” he says, rattling off the starting lineup.
Give him time, and he'll add Taj Gibson, Tony Snell, Nikola Mirotic and others.
When Noah and his dad got tickets to the April 11 game, they wanted to thank the team for a great season. So Mike bought some chain and plastic beads showing letters and tiny basketballs, and he helped Noah make good-luck jewelry that included the first initial and last name of every player in Bulls colors.
In addition to helping Noah work on recognizing the alphabet, the necklaces teach a bigger lesson, Mike says.
“We made necklaces for the entire team because total team means leaving nobody out. Everyone contributes on and off the court,” he notes. “These were the messages I was trying to get across to my son.”
Getting courtside before the game, they saw Mirotic signing autographs for fans.
“I handed the necklaces to Nikola Mirotic,” says Mike, who saw the player hand them to a security officer. “I forgot to put in a note saying who it was from.”
While watching “Inside the Locker Room,” a show where Bulls' radio play-by-play broadcaster Chuck Swirsky interviews players, the father and son spotted their necklaces hanging in the lockers of Noah and Snell. In later interviews, they saw the necklaces hanging inside the lockers of Mirotic and Aaron Brooks. They mailed necklaces to the broadcast team, and Swirksy wore one before the Bulls' second playoff victory against the Milwaukee Bucks.
“I made a big shot, Daddy,” little Noah says as he blows on his hands as if he were Gasol before swishing a foul shot on his toy basketball hoop. His little world revolves around his favorite team. And now his necklaces are a part of the Bulls' playoff push.
“Sometimes, something as simple as a necklace can help,” Mike Diamond says. “I just wanted the guys to know, 'Hey, this little guy loves you.'”