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Shaquille O'Neal: "I'm like President Bush. You may not like me, you may not respect me, but you voted me in." |
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HoopsHype.com Articles In
the paint
Cherokee Parks is the envy of a lot of players around the NBA. It's not for the way he crashes the boards, for his glovelike defense, or for his sweet 20-foot jumper. Frankly, Parks has never lived up to the promise of the heavily recruited prep star from Orange County who played for Duke University. Still, every time he hits the court, he has the fans and the players buzzing. "The guy I look at is Cherokee Parks," says Larry Hughes. "The best?" ponders Corey Maggette. "That's got to be Cherokee Parks." They're not talking about the game, they're talking about the tattoos. When it comes to body art, Parks is easily the most colorful man in the league. Like a number of players who have fallen under the addictive spell of tattoos, Parks isn't quite sure how many he has, although he puts it in the neighborhood of "around twenty." So do they all have special meaning? "I got stories," says Parks. "Though sometimes I just like going down and getting them. I just like tattoos. I got some stuff that's significant to me, but a lot of times I'll just be in the neighborhood and swing in and do something about it." This has led to such colorful tattoos as "danger Girl," which takes up a good portion of his lower leg. She's a naked woman peeking out from behind some tropical vegetation. "It means 'be cautious.' She looks good lying there in the bushes with the flowers, but watch out, you know? Be careful." Parks is into totem art and he has his daughters' names, his mother's name, and his son's name tattooed onto his lower stomach. While admitting this area was very sensitive, he says it paled in comparison to the bony parts of his shins and his feet. Yes, his shins and his feet have tattoos on them. But the tattoo that attracts the most attention is the one on his right arm – the Statue of Liberty with smoke in the background. Most people think it's a tribute to the events of September 11, but Parks got the tattoo several months earlier. "It's from a World War I propaganda poster. I've always been into patriotic art." He has a variety of stars and stripes all over his body and a Marine insignia painted into his skin as well. "You look at Cherokee's legs and they change colors the longer you look at them," says Stephon Marbury. "My man Cherokee, that's the guy," says Jeff McInnis. "I used to look at his tattoos every day on the bench. You look at the one on his leg, it changes every day. Naked women in it. That's my man, Chief. I think he's got the greatest tattoos." So when Cherokee looks around the league, what does he like? "I'm into all kinds of things. I like a lot of the old-school stuff. Some guys just have all black work. You see a lot of hard-core black work across their chests. I think that looks cool. It's just whatever you're into, man. Some guys say you're going to regret your tattoos later. I'd only regret it if I got something huge you can't cover up. Like, if you get your girl's name. If you get, like, 'Suzy' in big black block letters across your chest you're pretty screwed. That better be your girl forever, right? Or your next girl better be named Suzy, too. But as long as you don't go that route, everything's all good." Parks isn't sure what tattoos he's going to get in the future. All he knows is he is far from finished, especially since his sister has more tattoos than he does. Parks has some ideas on how to get ahead and finish up in a big way. "Maybe I'll just tattoo some muscle on me, you know, instead of working out. I want to get that . . . or maybe a full-body tattoo of myself but just a little taller. They like dudes in the seven-foot range and I'm just not quite there. I'll get myself a seven-two tattoo. If I can pull that off, it just might get me some more cheese." When it comes to tattoos in the NBA, no one stands taller than Cherokee Parks. Just ask around the league. Andrew Gottlieb is a sitcom writer and the author of the book "In the Paint: Tattoos of the NBA and the Stories Behind Them" Tell us what you think about this article. E-mail us at HoopsHype@HoopsHype.com _____________________ |
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