“No, No, No, Not Today!” (Who Is That 7-2 Man, Anyway?)

When you work from your living room, you tend to see the same TV commercials. Or, in Geico’s case, 40 simultaneous commercials starring pigs, cavemen, film-noir detectives, Eddie Money, witches, and a lizard so annoying I want to drop-kick him to the Space Station.

But the one Geico spot that always makes me laughfeatures 7-2 former NBA center Dikembe Mutombo, considered one of the greatest shot blockers of all time and today a champion for charity causes. You’ll see him in the ads slapping down paper wads, cereal boxes, and laundry with his characteristic finger wag and catchphrases, “No, no, no, not today! Not in my house!”

But Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo has many real-life reasons to be happy. The Congolese native attended Georgetown University on a USAID scholarship, barely speaking English (he now speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and five more.) He intended to become a…