Ever gotten a tattoo? Ever had one removed? Honestly, neither of those moves sounds like a lot of fun.. Still, some people do change their minds over the years, and want to have old tats taken off their bodies. Which brings us to our story today about Tracy McGrady, or T-Mac, as he’s known.
In today’s “Did You Know” department… there was a time, not long ago, when tattoos were not allowed in the NBA. Back in the 1980’s and 90’s, then-commissioner David Stern was on a mission to clean up what he saw as the league’s “bad boy” image. He told players to start dressing better when they arrived and left games, and to stay away from cultures of drug use, violence and more – including tattoos.
Today it’s a different story. Players are still encouraged to look good coming and going to games, and that’s resulted in some really interesting fashion choices, and some real style-setting, for sure.
But when it comes to body-ink, a quick check finds that over half of all NBA players today have tattoos on their bodies. Most of them have inked their bodies at a young age, and they come into the league with that artwork from the past. Of course some players continue to get new tats as the years go by…
Now, former star and Hall-of-Famer Tracy McGrady has apparently changed his mind. T-Mac, as he’s usually known, admits he regrets getting his body inked, and now he’s going through some procedures to have the tats removed. According to T-Mac, it’s a more than 6-month long process that requires constant back-and-forth treatment. Yikes!
T-Mac is best known for his time with the Houston Rockets, but he also played with the Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons, and of course his time with the Orlando Magic. On a recent edition of The Big Podcast with Shaq, T-Mac talked about his desire for change. “I’m in a different mind frame right now. I got my tats when I was a teenager, and I was trying to find my way. So yeah, I’m taking them off,” McGrady told O’Neal.
Apparently, this didn’t sit well with the big man. At one point, O’Neal came right out and called McGrady, “soft” for doing such a thing. T-Mac said he’s been going through various procedures for tattoo removal for about six months now, to which Shaq replied: “Man, you’re changing on me, man. You’re getting soft, come on T-Mac.”
Do you have any tats? Would you ever think to have them removed? Some people do change their minds. According to a study done by a company that uses laser-based treatments for removal, at least 11% of Americans who do have ink have considered tattoo removal or have already had a tattoo removed.
Back in the day when the league eventually allowed tats, it was guys like Dennis Rodman and Allen Iverson who started the tattoo ball rolling. Plenty of other players would eventually follow with ink of their own.
Still, as T-Mac says, sometimes we do things in our younger days… but have a different feeling / thought / belief as the years go on. We’ll see if other former (or current) players decide to make changes to their body art.