ALLEN IVERSON TATTOO PICS

Asked what his tattoos mean, Iverson replied, "I got 'CRU THIK' in four places—that's my crew, that's what we call ourselves, me and the guys I grew up with, the guys I'm loyal to. I got my kids' names, Tiaura and Deuce [Allen II], 'cause they're everything to me. I got my wife's name, Tawanna, on my stomach. A set of praying hands between my grandma's initials—she died when I was real young—and my mom's initials. I put shit on my body that means something to me. Here, on my left shoulder, I got a cross of daggers knitted together that says 'ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE,' because that's the one true thing I've learned in this life. On the other arm, I got a soldier's head. I feel like my life has been a war and I'm a soldier in it. Here, on my left forearm, it says 'NBN'—for 'Newport Bad News.' That's what we call our hometown of Newport News, Virginia, because a lot of bad shit happens there. On the other arm, I got the Chinese symbol for respect, because I feel that where I come from deserves respect—being from there, surviving from there, and staying true to everybody back there. I got one that says 'FEAR NO ONE,' a screaming skull with a red line through it—'cause you'll never catch me looking scared."

Upon hearing that the NBA's Hoop magazine had airbrushed his tattoos off the photograph of him on its cover, Allen Iverson responded: "Hey, you can't do that. That's not right. Hey, I am who I am. You can't change that. Who gives them the authority to remake me? Everybody knows who Allen Iverson is. That's wild. That's kind of crazy. This is the first I've heard of it, but I personally am offended that somebody would do something like that. They don't have the right to try to present me in another way to the public than the way I truly am without my permission. It's an act of freedom and a form of self-expression. That's why I got mine."

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