NBA Tattoo Power Rankings

       As anyone who’s ever watched an NBA game can attest, ink is a popular past time for players in L. While it’s hard to replace Reggie Miller’s stomach tattoo, which is just waiting to be accompanied by a pierced belly button, or Starbury’s Tyson-esque face too, there is currently a lot of tattooed talent in the NBA today. Inspired by Jason Terry’s brand new Celtics championship tattoo, which is clearly a desperate attempt to recreate the Larry O’Brien trophy tat that predicted a Mavericks title, we at GREAT MAMBINO decided to create an inaugural All-NBA Tattoo Power Rankings.

While diving into the various ink acquired around the league, there were a lot of commonalities and trends. Hands down, the most common tattoos feature a basketball – sometimes being played with by an angel, being set on fire, or accompanied by one’s roots (like home state or family members). NBA players are also a surprisingly sentimental group, with many tattoos serving in memory of close friends and loved ones. When it comes to sleeves, there are too many guys with complete ones to sort through, so we’ll move on.


Examining the tattoos of the various NBA players was kind of a nostalgic exercise. Who doesn’t remember where they were the first time they saw DeShawn Stevenson’s Abraham Lincoln neck tattoo or like to crack jokes at K-Mart’s neck tattoo? Although we all love strolling down memory lane, it’s time to get down to it. What are the top 10 most aggressive tattoos in the NBA?

ESPN's John Clayton - Consummate Professional

I don't know nuthin about football, but I do know that this is really funny.

Love and the New York Giants: It happens when you least expect it

I am single. I'm fine with this, but I know I won't be forever. As a result, I date a lot. Probably too much if you ask my friends or my wallet, but in the now multi-year, multi-part journey I've endured in hopes of finding someone to share a few months if not my life I have been met by one frustration after another and remain single. This is partially because I'm picky and partially because I'm an obnoxious sarcastic loudmouth who occasionally misses the nuances of charmed conversation, but in all irksome experiences that compose the catastrophic cluster that is dating in New York city in your 20s, my friends have continually harped on one maxim to ease my anxieties.

"It always happens when you least expect it."

Now that is a load of horseshit if I ever heard it. I've spent all but three years of my post-pubescent life not particularly trying in the dating world and the vast majority of that was all spent single. So clearly, not expecting it hasn't really been the elixir. In all of my life the only area in which not expecting anything has truly paid off has been with the first, most dearest thing I ever truly fell in love with: The New York Football Giants.

I was a wide-eyed optimist when I first was cast under the spell of Big Blue in the early 1990s. After all, the Giants were just a few seasons removed from their last Super Bowl title, an upset of the high-powered Buffalo Bills in 1990 that is unfortunately far more widely remembered for Scott Norwood's miss of a far more difficult than remembered game-winning field goal as time expired than it is for Bill Parcells' brilliant ball-control game plan -- the Giants had more than 40 minutes of possession -- or Mark Ingram's insane, twisting extension that earned a crucial New York first down. The first season I truly got invested in the NFL, the Giants battled with Dallas for the top seed in the NFC before the Cowboys, and Emmitt Smith, literally ran away with it in overtime in the final game of the season in 1994 -- on a separated shoulder no less.

3 NFL Week One Picks That Can't Miss

The worst part about this time of year is hard to put your finger on. The awful memory as a child of going back to school. The days getting shorter. The weather getting colder.

The best part about this time of year? Football. Easy.

The independent voter inside of me is leaning ever closer to D than R these days, and not only on account of foreign policy. This year the football season kicks off on Wednesday because of the Democratic National Convention taking place on a Thursday. What that means is that all those Survivor pools and spread chasers have to get an early start on the action.

New York Giants (-4.5) over the Dallas Cowboys

I don't know what to do about the Cowboys and Giants. Four and a half seems like a lot of points for the defending champs. The last time Eli Manning and the Giants were defending a title they opened the season at home by losing to Dallas by 10 points. Then again Jason Witten will not play for Dallas. It's one of those game I don't need to pick one because I'm just going to watch anyway. However, the next three are too hard to resist:

What's Wrong With the Los Angeles Dodgers?

A week ago, could you see this happening?

The Dodgers had just finished up one of the most prolific summers in franchise history. They'd completed the biggest August trade ever, which simply punctuated a month-long stretch of surprising and seemingly organization-changing deals. The names of Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Shane Victorino, Brandon League and Hanley Ramirez now all adorn those beautiful, crisp white jerseys. The turnover has been so severe that over half the players on the active roster today weren't on the opening day lineup card for manager Don Mattingly. It's not like the team didn't need the help; up until the July trade for Ramirez, the Dodgers were a somewhat feeble offensive squad that eeked by with manufactured runs, a fantastic bullpen and an effective rotation. In the past few months, the Dodgers had gone from the best record in baseball to grasping to a division lead to trying to stay in the Wild Card hunt. However, in the minds of many, they had been overachieving. The team that took the field in April was expected to merely finish near .500, not compete for a playoff spot. As soon as  new ownership took over, their gold-lined pockets suggested a new way of doing business and a wave of expection surrounding them.

Four months ago, could you see this happening?

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been saddled with mounting expectations, which seem to take an even more exagerrated shape with every single payroll dollar the team takes on. Last week's trade for Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto highlighted the Dodgers' four-month metamorphosis from an early season surprise to a trendy late summer pick to win the World Series.