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Rodrick Stewart, just one of Kansas' tattooed players, shows some of his body art in the Ford Field locker room.
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Detroit — Of all the comparisons between the NCAA Tournament runs KU made in 1988 and now in 2008, one of the major differences is also maybe the most visible.
It's the tattoos.
In the changing culture of college basketball, nothing is more obvious these days than the players' abundance of body art. Some skin designs have more meaning than others, but they're all a form of expression.
Some of KU's most obvious tat-wearers:
Mario Chalmers, junior guard
Tattoo count: 3
Mario Chalmers' most visible tattoo is the one which usually draws the most questions. It's located on his right shoulder, featuring a dollar sign and the number 1 next to it.
He got that tattoo - his first - at 19. It's dedicated to his grandmother, Ethel Mae Evans, who passed a few years back.
"(A dollar bill) was just something she would give to people, or she would collect for my college fund," Chalmers said.
On the bottom of his left wrist, in small print, reads 'quietness'. On the other wrist, same location, 'confidence'.
Rodrick Stewart, senior guard
Tattoo count: 11
Rodrick Stewart's first tattoo never should have happened. While in California as a high school freshman, he and twin brother, Lodrick, had to go behind their dad's back to get their tats. Plus, there was the whole part of looking old enough not to draw questions at the tattoo parlor.
"I was kinda big, so the guy thought I was older than I was," Stewart said with a laugh.
Russell Robinson, senior guard
Tattoo count: 2
Russell Robinson's first tattoo, a panther stretching across much of his left forearm, is almost faded away by now.
"No reason why I got it, but I liked the way it looked, and I thought it symbolized the kind of player I was on the court," he said of his first tattoo at age 18.
Brandon Rush, junior guard
Tattoo count: 10 or 11
Brandon Rush got a tattoo at a younger age than any of his teammates.
"I was 13 when I first got one," he said of the tattoo featuring a backboard with a basketball crashing through it on his shoulder, featuring his last name prominently.
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Comments
Strikewso (anonymous) says...
I wish we could have players that didn't look like they just got out of Leavenworth. They certainly don't look like scholars.
March 28, 2008 at 4:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Nutflush21 (anonymous) says...
Unfortunatley, tattoos are a large part of the basketball culture. I think Brandon's tatts look freaking ridiculous, but to each his own I guess.
March 28, 2008 at 5:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Brock (anonymous) says...
Well, when Greg Oestertag sports a tattoo - Fred Flinstone - the culture has changed. The players are beginning to look like the Illustrated Man (from Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes").
March 28, 2008 at 6:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Hawklin (anonymous) says...
As opposed to what Strikewso?
What do you wish for? Who should they look like?
March 28, 2008 at 7:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rcaltrider (anonymous) says...
I think the tats look fine. Tattoos are not just for inmates, there are many people from many walks of life with tats. I've never been to prison and am an accountant and I have 3 of my own. BTW Brock, the Illustrated Man is from Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man", not "Something Wicked This Way Comes".
March 28, 2008 at 7:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wcormode (William Cormode) says...
Man, you guys sound like some old curmudgeons. Whats wrong with a tattoo? If they had an office job you would never see a single tattoo because they would be covered by dress shirts. How many people that you work with have tattoos that you dont know about? I have never heard people complain about all of the nasty tattoos that soldiers get when they go to war. It figures that soldiers can get tats and it is cameraderie, but a basketball player gets tats and they are thug federal inmates.
Grow up.
March 28, 2008 at 7:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LAJayhawk5 (anonymous) says...
No sh*t, Wcormode. You people suck, seriously. You'll take the points, wins and publicity these guys bring the school but are embarrassed by them?
"They certainly don't look like scholars."
-Strikewso
(jackass)
March 28, 2008 at 7:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
truehawkfan (anonymous) says...
I am a high school teacher, and coach. Guess what!! I have two tats! Tattooing has been around for longer than most forms of traditional art. I love the tats. If I wasn't married, I would be covered in them. Our bodies are just one big canvas. Paint away!! Lets get over this notion that tats are only for inmates.
March 28, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Lebowski (anonymous) says...
Yeah, I don't know where the expectation of a ballplayer "looking like a scholar" became a necessity.
I'll say this, though... tattoo's that don't serve as a reminder of something sacred or important, or have any other significant meaning to the person getting them... they always strike me as a ploy for attention. Not sure why basketball players would need THAT... they not getting enough attention? Or maybe it's just a classic case of "hey, everyone else is doing it..."
Mario's... I totally get. A reminder of someone special to him and a couple of mantras that he wants to live by or something. They make sense. Rush's I don't get. A tribute to one's self is not confidence, it's conceited. Then again, he plays an amazing unselfish brand of basketball for me to believe he's all that stuck on himself.
Maybe I have a little bias in me because the person I know personally who has the most tattoos is also the biggest jackass I've ever met. Probably a coincidence.. but I know he got most of his for the attention they got him. Nothing cool or tough about that. It's insecurity on his part. But he's one person... everyone's different, so I try not to judge.
March 28, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JNgohawks (anonymous) says...
To each his own, please...
Does Ostertag really have Fred Flinstone?
March 28, 2008 at 8:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tashe2 (anonymous) says...
I have 4 tattoo's. The coolest tattoo I have reads "KU" in red letters on my right forearm. Its amazing!!
March 28, 2008 at 8:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justanotherfan (anonymous) says...
I have several attorney friends that have tattoos.
For those that think tattooing is only for inmates - Go to a wedding this summer and see how many of the bridesmaids have to get creative to cover up their tattoos. Since I have been in college, I have been to only two weddings where none of the bridesmaids had a tattoo that they had to cover up for the ceremony.
I think its just that with basketball players, since their arms are uncovered all the time, have tattoos that are far more visible than most. I have several attorney friends that have tattoos, but since they don't come to work in tank tops, you never see them.
March 28, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
huskersnjayhawks (anonymous) says...
Well, I am a 37 year old woman who is planning on getting her very first tat when I go back to Las Vegas in May. I plan on having a little Red N and a Blue KU on my ankle.
I think tattoo's represent so many things to the people who get them.
Tattoo's-not for just thugs anymore! :)
March 28, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
EvanstonReader (anonymous) says...
tashes--"The coolest tattoo I have reads "KU" in red letters on my right forearm. Its amazing!!"
Is it in the new font, or did you have to go in and have it re-inked to stay current?
March 28, 2008 at 9:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KUbsee69 (anonymous) says...
'Hawks ... let's tattoo another national championship into the storied history of KU Basketball.
March 28, 2008 at 10:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
squid (anonymous) says...
I am almost 50% covered with a Japanese happi suit (not misspelled), body tattoo. BTW, I was a tenured biology professor at KU and now a tenured prof at Nebraska.
March 28, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
leikness (anonymous) says...
Husker - get your confused self off this board. Nothing pissed me off more than all of the NU football fans wearing blue and cheering for Pelini at the game in Lincoln. I prefer you wear red. Huck the Fuskers
March 28, 2008 at 1:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
basquiat (anonymous) says...
I think everyone here who has a problem with tattoos should have to get "ku jayhawks National Champions 2008" written across their dad-gummed foreheads. I have a much bigger issue with the way our children are dressing these days. Paris Hilton/Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver... Oh yeah, I made it through KU with...wait for it...an earring!!! Remember when that was the most dreaded father-son conversation?
They don't look like scholars? Hmmm. I'd rather someone "think" like a scholar.
March 28, 2008 at 4:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
actorman (anonymous) says...
LAJayhawk, you do love to call people jackasses, don't you? Not that I disagree with you in this case, mind you, but it is something you seem to enjoy doing.
March 28, 2008 at 5:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KUDAD (anonymous) says...
I do like the nickname for the low back tat on women: "tramp stamp"!
March 28, 2008 at 8:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Strikewso (anonymous) says...
Sure, these young "student-athletes" can load up on the tattoos, but good luck getting a decent job once their basketball days are over. Who would want to hire someone who looks like a parollee or a gang member? Do real students have a body covered in tattoos like some of these guys? I seriously doubt it.
I have been to war and seen the young enlisted Soldiers with their tattoos, one even told me the story of all of his and how they represented his fallen friend, his wife and daughter, etc. Unfortunately it still will hurt the first impression he makes when he gets out and needs to support his family.
BTW, those bridemaids with the sweet tramp stamp of a pretty butterfly in the small of their backs is going to look like a moth splattered across a windshield in 30 years.
March 28, 2008 at 8:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hardwick15 (anonymous) says...
I don't know about ya'll but when the hawks win it all this year, I am getting a tat on my back that says "The year of the...and then the jayhawk mascot."
Bottom line is that this group of guys are fantastic athletes and from what I know excellent human beings. Let's say celebrate them. If you are interviewing a former jayhawk for a job and want to comment on the tattoos, that is your prerogative as a potential employer. But, the majority of these guys will be teachers, broadcasters, businessmen, or athletes. In those industries, their tattoos will either be covered up by a dress shirt, or celebrated as part of the culture of the business.
Its just not that big of a deal.
March 28, 2008 at 9:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
actorman (anonymous) says...
You're right on, hardwick. Keep in mind, also, that as more and more people get tattoos, there will be less and less of a tattoo taboo. It will be so commonplace that no one will really care or judge people about it.
March 29, 2008 at 12:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
quigley (anonymous) says...
I have to say, I'm a huge KU fan, and I thought this article was going to be awesome. They should have gone more in debth with the tatoos. I always thought Brandons tatoo that says rush to judge was badass!!!! I would have loved to hear more about the stories behind them as they are stories are about our boys. This article came up more than a foot short. Keep playing hard boys!!! GO KU!!!
March 29, 2008 at 1:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )