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Oct

11

On This Day in Basketball History — 1972

Filed Under On This Day . . ., Loose Balls

The Craze with Tattoos

Cherokee Parks, who turns 35 years old today, played parts of nine seasons in the NBA. Parks never played a full 82-game season during his NBA career and is more known for his collegiate career at Duke University, where he was a member of a national championship team as a freshman in 1992 and a national runner-up squad as a junior in 1994.

So what was Parks’ defining moment in the NBA? Probably when he broke the stigma of typical Mike Krzyzewski disciples and started getting tattoos all over his arm at the beginning of this decade.

While Dennis Rodman had made getting exorbitant amounts of tattoos a “cool” statement in the mid-nineties, it was Parks who made it apparent (at least to this observer) just how nutz the tattoo craze had gotten in the game. Both of Parks shoulders and arms were littered with colorful tattoos that he described as art (remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder). For some older fans, the tattoos on Parks and others, in combination with the league’s declining quality of play, ultimately symbolized how difficult it was to watch the NBA in the post-Jordan era.

With that said, it seems like every player has a tattoo somewhere on his body, from Chinese symbols of strength on the neck to teardrops under the eye (donned by Cleveland Cavaliers guard Larry Hughes in memory of his younger brother who died in 2006).

For better or for worse, tattoos have become a part of the culture of not only pro basketball but also college and high school ball. While individual expression is a great thing, the tattoo fascination is easier to deal with when the game is still played the right way. However, when the game gets bogged down into a one-on-five situation emphasizing individuality before teamwork, the ridiculous amount of tattoos present make it look much worse.

If interested in reading more about the tattoos on some of the biggest players in the game, check out In the Paint: Tattoos of the NBA and the Stories Behind Them. The book is definitely an eye-opener on many levels, from its colorful pictures to its colorful stories behind the tattoos.

And if you’re interested in a more old-school approach to the game, check out Adrian Wojnarowski’s excellent book, The Miracle of St. Anthony. Detailing a season in the legendary high school career of St. Anthony High School basketball coach Bob Hurley, the father of Parks’ former Duke teammate Bobby Hurley, the book provides a unique insight into a man cut from the old mold.

In one memorable scene in the story, Wojnarowski describes Hurley as losing a little bit of respect for a man who got a tattoo. While you may not necessarily agree with Hurley’s opinion here, you will definitely be intrigued by the man in this intriguing book.

by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com