FOOTBALL PLAYERS BEST TATTOOS

Dear readers of sport&beauty. Today’s post is going to be dedicated to football stars and their tattoos. Football stars are mass idols nowadays and youths usually try to imitate their lifestyle and look: their clothes, haircut and, of course, tattoos. Today we’re going to review some of the best tattoos soccer stars sport on the pitch. There’s a large variety to choose amongst ranging from small tattoos to big ones that hardly fit on the player’s skin and make some of them (like David Beckham or the Spanish defender Sergio Ramos) look like a cartoon. However, there is a football player that, so far, has not been attracted by tattoos, the Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. By the way, do you know this man smoking a cigar? Of course you do... Let’s get started.

We’ll start talking about one of the forerunners of tattoos in the soccer universe, British player David Beckham. David claims that everybody expresses his feelings in some way and he prefers to do it tattooing his body. He must be pure feeling because there is hardly any room on his skin to make new tattoos. Beckham is faithful to his tattooist, a British artist from Manchester, who travels anywhere around the globe when David wants to get a new tattoo done. Beckham’s tattoos summarize his life and family. To celebrate his children’s birth, he got their names tattooed somewhere on his back. Brooklyn tattooed on the lower part, Romeo just below his neckline, and Cruz on the upper half just below the angel that takes care of all of them. Where will David get tattooed the name of his next baby?.

On his left forearm, we can see his wife name, Victoria, tattooed in hindi alphabet and, below it, a sentence in latin language meaning “so that I love and cherish”. He also has a seven tattooed in Roman numerals (the number he wore at Manchester United) on his right arm and ,below it, another sentence in latin language that stands for spiritual perfection. During the last years he added some tattooes on his ribs, some more sentences in latin language and more tattooes on her arms where he got his wife's image drawn alongside other several motifs.

AC Milan player Zlatan Ibrahimovic is another fan of tattoos. Ibrahimovic sports a red dragon tattooed on his back that, he says, it's a metaphor to reflect his personality. The tattooes on his wrists, known as “Ibrahimovic code”, include the birth date of his parents and children. When his son Maximilian was born, Zlatan got his name tattooed on his right arm. Later, he added the name of his second child Vincent. Zlatan got his last name, Ibrahimovic, tattooed in Arab writing on the back of his right arm and sports a tribal tattoo on his shoulder representing his family’s good luck. His mother’s name, Jurka, is tattooed on his left arm and the name of his father, Sefik, on the right one. These two names together with the “Ibrahimovic code” were his first tattoos. In addition to those already mentioned, Zlatan got tattooed on his belly the sentence “Only God Can Judge Me” as a sign of his religious and rebellious nature. The last tattooes he got done are two poker cards (the aces of hearts and spades) close to the dragon representing good luck and a Japanese Koi tattoo on his back representing a fish. I think it’s enough………

Let’s continue. Now it’s turn for FC Barcelona player Dani Alves. He proudly shows off several tattoos. Dani Alves is a family man and this is clearly manifested by his tattoos. Dani got his mother’s image tattooed on his right arm over some ethnic motifs and he kisses it each time he scores a goal. He also got his children’s names, Daniel and Victoria, tattooed on his chest and the lower part of his belly. Besides, a also sports a nice tattoo on his right ankle representing Tweety Bird and Sylvester the cat.

Fernando Torres, (former Atletico Madrid and Liverpol player) one of Chelsea’s superstars also likes tattoos. He sports at least four of them. On his right arm he got tattooed a number nine. It obviously represents the number he wore at Atletico Madrid and wears at the Spanish national team. On his left arm he got his name tattooed in tegwar language and his wife’s name Olalla. Finally, and on his left shin, he has the numbers VII VII MMI (7-7-2001) tattooed in Roman numerals, the date he met Olalla.

Atletico Madrid player, Sergio el ‘Kun’ Agüero sports a tattoo seemingly inspired in former team mate Fernando Torres’ forearm tattoo. Aguero got a tengwar (a language invented by Tolkien, the author of “The Ring of The Lords”) inscription tattooed on his forearm standing for Kun Aguero. As I don’t speak tengwar I can’t confirm its meaning.

Real Madrid player Sergio Ramos is another living tattoo who has nothing to envy to David Beckham. We’ll start talking about his back. On the upper right he’s got a Ghoul playing with a ball. If we look at the rear part of his left ear, we’ll see a Chinese inscription meaning wolf that closely resemble his name SR. On his right wrist, he got tattooed a kind of band that apparently shares with his brother Rene. If we look at one of his fingers, we’ll see the letters MSR (the initials of his name and those of his brother Rene and sister Miriam). On his left forearm we can read “I’ll never forget you” written in magical letters and just below we can see the letters “JM VII P” representing the initials of his parents’ name. He also has a number seven tattooed in Roman numerals (his lucky number). On his right biceps we can read the sentence “The spirit of those dead” and on the left one the sentence “lies on the memory of those alive”. He also has the dates of New York and Madrid terrorist attacks (“9-11” y “3-11”) tattooed, and on the lower part of his back we can read the names of Miriam and Rene tattooed in magical characters.

Let's talk about former Real Madrid and current Besiktas player, Guti. Having only a couple of tattoos not so long ago (first and second pictures), Guti has dramatically increased the tattooed surface of his body. He got his left arm completely tattooed with different motifs that, according to him, represent his religious beliefs that help him overcome all the challenges he faces. Perhaps this is the reason why he got tattooed several Biblical characters amongst which we can highlight the image of Christ on the lower part and the Lady, the stars and an angel in the upper one.

To finish our review of soccer players best tattoos, we’ll talk about AC Roma player Francesco Totti. Totti, considered to be one of the most attractive football players in the world, also sports a nice tattoo. Francesco has a Roman gladiator tattooed on his right biceps and shoulder. To conclude today’s post, I’ll leave you a slideshow with pictures of the football stars best tattoos and a video where you can see David Beckham talking about his tattoos. Best regards.

CELEBRITY PIERCINGS EAR PIERCINGS

Dear readers of sport&beauty. In a previous post we started talking about celebrity piercings. We learnt that most celebrities choose the belly button or the nose to sport a piercing. Today we are going to dedicate this post to the rest of the body parts also suitable for a piercing. We’ll start with the ear. The was perhaps the first one the humans tried to do due to the fact that this part of the body is quite easy to pierce. The world’s oldest mummified body (more than 5000 years old), discovered in an Austrian glacier in 1991, had its ears pierced with holes of a diameter from 7 to 11 millimeters. Originally ears were pierced for magical purposes as many primitive tribes believed that demons entered the human body through them but they could be repelled by wearing metal ear piercings. Sailors used to pierce their ear to improve their sight and if in the event of a shipwreck their bodies were washed ashore it was a sign to give them a Christian burial. As you can see in the following pictures many celebrities such as Hilary Duff, Kate Moss, Miley Cyrus, Alyssa Milano, and Lindsay Lohan show off their ear piercing proudly.

Some scholars claim that nipple piercings date back to the Roman Empire when centurions wore reinforced leather plates to protect their chest. This led them to ensure that nipples were pierced with rings from which hung a cape. Another theory says that nipple piercings became popular in the late 1890,s when the “Bosom Ring” came into fashion. These rings, that were sold in the finest Paris jewellery shops, pierced women’s nipples and were so fashionable that some women wore a ring in each nipple linking then with a smart chain. It seems that the aforementioned rings enlarged the nipples and kept them in a long-lasting state of joy and happiness. The nipple piercing was also a custom of the Texas Karankawa Indians and is still worn by women of the Kabyla nomad tribe in the Algerian mountains. Between the benefits provided by the nipple piercing we can highlight the increase in size, sensitivity and ability to attract members of the opposite sex. Its advocates claim that the nipple piercing is not painful but extremely comfortable. Some celebrities have joined this fashion enthusiastically. As an example, we will cite Rihanna who added a nipple piercing to her already pierced earlobe.

We’ll finish today’s post talking about the tongue piercing. It was an old practice of the ancient Maya and Aztec civilizations and the Haida, Kwakiutul and Tinglit tribes from the Northwestern part of America. Originally, the tongue was pierced so that the blood could invoke the Gods and achieve a favorable state of mind so the sorcerer could communicate with them. The tongue piercing is striking and provocative and some say it’s fantastic when it comes to do certain kind of funny things using the tongue (I can’t imagine what kind of funny things they are referring to). It has an important advantage too. Nobody will notice it if you don’t want to. Janet Jackson, Mel B and Drew Barrymore are some examples of celebrities that decided to wear a piercing in their tongue. To finish our post I'll leave a slideshow with some pictures of celebrities showing off their piercings. Best regards.

BEST CELEBRITY TATTOOS

Dear readers of sport&beauty. Today we are going to talk about tattoos and celebrities. Nevertheless, before starting to show you the best celebrity tattoos, we’ll do a didactic introduction about tattos. Not so long ago, tattoos were considered as a distinctive feature of sailors, inmates, fugitives and foreign legionnaires. However, nowadays tattoos are all the rage. Both, men and women, like to embellish their skin with the most varied tattoos. There are tattoos of all shapes, sizes and colors. They range from tribal ones, spiderwebs tattoed on the arm or back or roses tattoed on the shoulder, to letters tattoed on the neck and the weirdest drawings placed on the most incredible places. The word “tattoo" comes from the Samoan term “tátau", which in turn, means hit twice. A tattoo is a penetrating injury to the deepest layers of the skin that is filled with ink afterwards. Tattoos are made penetrating the skin with a needle and injecting ink in the area to create some kind of drawing. The reason why tattoos last for so long is that they are very deep. The ink is injected into the dermis, the second deepest skin layer whose cells are very stable turning the tattoo into a perennial feature.

Now let’s get down to work and start talking about the best celebrity tattoos. Say hello to our first guest, Angelina Jolie. Angelina Jolie’s body looks like a parchement or a cartoon. There is hardly any room left to make another tattoo. On her arm, over an old drawing representing a dragon with the name of ex-husband Billy Bob Thorton, she tattooed the grid coordinates of the places where her children were born. On her back, Angelina sports a tattoo made in Bangkok. Five columns in Khmer writing, an ancient Cambodian writing, that bring good luck and health. If you come up against Angelina’s back you will be able to read the inscription “know your rights” tattooed on her neck. She also tattooed the Chinese letter “H” on the inner part of her left wrist. On her right forearm she tattood the Arab word “ilazima” that means “level of wealth”. Although most tattooes are usually covered by her clothes, the truth is that Angelina’s body looks like a tattoo gallery. On her back she sports an enormous dragon, on her groin a cross with a motto in Latin language: “what nurtures me destroys me”. Jolie’s tattoos are famous to the extent that someone has manufactured t-shirts featuring all of them. Here you are the pictures of Angelina Jolie’s tattoos.

South African actress Charlize Theron is as gorgeous as Jolie but much more discreet. Charlize had a tattoo done in the only part of the body Angelina has still free of them. The beautiful South African actress got a nice flower tattooed on her foot and another on her ankle.

Spanish actress and Oscar winner, Penelope Cruz is also discreet when it comes to decorate her body. Perhaps the reason is that she doesn’t need it to look always great. The beautiful Penelope got the number 883 tattooed on her ankle. The mistery was explained by numerology expert Christine Delorey. According to Christine, the meaning of Penelope’s tattoo is the following: 8 and 3 are the numbers ruling Penelope’s life. Number 8 means money, power and success and number 3 refers to prowess in communication and creativity. The task of the second 8 is to reinforce the role of the first one. Penelope is hard-working and aggressive and wants to excel in everything concerning her career.

Controversial American actress Lindsay Lohan got the words “La Bella Vita” (The beautiful life) tattooed on her lower back. It goes without saying that Lindsay follows her motto to the letter.

American actress Jessica Alba sports a small daisy with a ladybug on the back of her neck, the sanskrit symbol for lotus flower (padma)on her wrist and a bow on her lower back.

Jessica Biel must be an animal lover because she has a small bird tattooed just over the bikini line.

Beautiful American actress Megan Fox also has every square inch tattooed. Megan tattooed Marilyn Monroe’s face on her forearm, she has a star tattooed on her ankle and a sentence from Shakespeare’s “King Lear” (We will all laugh at gilded butterflies) tattooed on her shoulder. She also got her husband’s name Brian tattooed close to her groin.

American actress and desperate woman Eva Longoria is also part of our team of tattooed celebrities. Eva has a small star tattooed on her left wrist.

Canadian-born actress and former Baywatch Pamela Anderson also sports several tattoos. She got a barbed wire tattooed on her arm and the Word “mami” (to replace the word Tommy) on a finger. She also tattooed her ankle.

Pop star Rihanna has a sign tatooed under her ear and a treble clef and a musical note on her ankle. She has also a tattoo of a small star constellation jutting out from behind her neck and continuing along her back.

American actress Sienna Miller has a tattoo of three five pointed stars on her right shoulder.

Melanie Griffith shows off her love for her husband Antonio Banderas sporting a tattooed heart with the name of Antonio written in the center.

Victoria Beckham is a must in any kind of fashion and trendsetting list. Her short hairstyle unveils some letters in Hebrew tattooed on the back of her neck.

There are also models on our list of tattooed celebrities. Like Eva Longoria, Gisele Bundchen the world’s highest paid model, got her wrist tattooed with a little star.

Britney Spears sports four well-known tattoos. A little angel on her back, a ring around a toe, another one above her bikini line, and a butterfly on her right foot to let us know she’s free like a butterfly.

Former tennis player and Enrique Iglesias’ girlfriend, Russian Anna Kournikova sports a nice tattoo on her lower back.

We'll finish today's post talking about Sophie Anderton. Model and TV star Sophie Anderton got a lotus flower tattooed in her lower back. Best regards.