Funny how Iverson gets singled out, yet with him 6 years removed from his MVP season his jersey sales still rank top 5 in the NBA. Far far ahead of that much more marketable clean cut guy, Duncan. Nope...the storied franchises, star players and tv markets are just sidebars to the real influence. Can just anyone write these articles? Is there an editor at all? I think we get better stuff in the GARM after a loss. Clutchies -- submit your stuff to foxsports because they're desperate for insight.
I actually agree with the article. Watching Delonte West, J.R. Smith and even Bron Bron himself is hard because the dudes look like they were dipped head first in a barrel of tattoos. It's a little thing called class, and newsflash people: tattoos are not classy. One or two, that's cool. That's expression. Looking like you are the leader of some tribal clan in Mongolia? Not so much. Tats do nothing but reaffirm what the majority of the NBA haters believe: that the NBA is hood.
Thugs. Check out the poll responses. It's only sports peeps on the Internet... but we don't like Tattoos... "Don't like them" is winning with 50% of the vote.
How about this? People are watching because two mega-franchises are playing meaningful basketball again. They're each one game away from the finals and have loaded rosters. If Delonte West were on the lakers, he'd be plastered all over ESPN. It's like this writer doesn't even remember Rodman. Give me a break.
I really can't stand guppies who have that mentality. Not everyone who has tattoos is a thug. Not everyone who doesn't is an angel. I think it's hilarious that the same people who don't want their kids watching NBA for fear of seeing some ink are the same damn people who preach prejudice and pre-determined notions of what people are really about. I'd rather my kid see that image and be able to figure out for him/herself that people aren't all alike, than to assume EVERYONE who has a tattoo is a "thug".
Wow I never noticed Tracy had his forearms tattooed. =\ I always just noticed the barbed wire and the big scroll thing.
Was gonna say a whole lot about this article, until I saw this in the left hand corner i should have known
Its funny because I always thought that the surge the NBA was having at the moment had a lot to do with the great basketball being played. I was mistaken it seems.
'Articles' like this and some of the comments in this thread just baffle me. How can people be so idiotic? If the real reason for not watching Larry Hughes is his tatoos and not his suckiness, go and kill yourself. You want to watch beautiful bodies, go watch some beauty contest or something. You want to watch basketball, you watch Allen Iverson. And no, I don't have tatoos and don't plan to get any.
Somebody better let the WWE know that non-threatening people sell products better than menacing, tattooed brutes. I really don't understand how having tattoos instantly makes you menacing or brutish. I mean, does anybody actually think of Carmelo as menacing or brutish? He's softer than Charmin.
I don't get why people have tats in Chinese (A.I.)? Do they understand those characters? Or say someone translates for them, it's still silly because they don't speak the language. What's wrong with putting words in a language you understand (English)?
okay, didn't open the article, didn't know it was whitlock. the way whitlock tries to be contreversial is hilarious. I actually agree with a lot of things he has to say when he criticizes black athletes but this is one of those points he tries to make that he is looking way to far into it. if i'm not mistaken, offensive production was up this year in the nba. and its good to have stars winning in any sport. lastly, the nba does not have the problems other sports has when it comes to cheating, scandals, criminal activity. it just has a negative perception and when articles like this are written, it fuels a negative perception not really rooted in reality. I think the NBA has done a Fantastic job of cleaning up its imaging after the Lock Out Debacle. that was probably the height of the spoiled nba image problem.
No problems other than players going into the stands to beat down fans. But other than that, everything's cool.
Because Chinese characters are considerably more aesthetically appealing than written words. That said, I'd NEVER do that. I know a tattoo artist who has told me some hilarious stories about people getting tattoos they think mean things like "courage" but instead mean things like "gay".
