Bodies, Overheard
Athletes dish on their bodies during the making of the Body Issue.
Over the course of the last few months, while we incessantly interviewed and took photos of athletes from all walks of life for ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue, we happened upon more insight about how jocks feel about their own "temples" than we'd ever care to know. If you were ever at all curious about what your favorite athlete thinks when he looks in the mirror, read on.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR BODY?
Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers: My hair. It took me a really long time to grow it and I'm happy with it.
Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos: My hands. They get me paid, so I put a lot of strengthening exercises in there, Grippers. I even get manicures. I need one now as a matter of fact.
Freddy Garcia, Chicago White Sox: My wife, I know she doesn't like my stomach, so I'd say maybe my shoulders.
Nick Swisher, New York Yankees: My smile.
Jonathan Papelbon, Boston Red Sox: My brain.
Matt Kemp, Los Angles Dodgers: Girls like my booty. I got a big booty. I could care less. I just try to take care of myself so I can stay a little presentable.
Nastia Liukin, Olympic Gymnast: I have long legs, which doesn't actually help me in gymnastics, but it does make make me look taller. I'm only 5'3, but people tell me I look a lot taller on TV, so that's kind of cool.
Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox: My filangies. My fingers and toes are definitely the nicest.
Jamie Sterling, Surfer: I love that my body's still 100% healthy. No broken bones to date. I surf the biggest waves in the world, and I'm still in one piece. I have ruptured both my eardrums from crashing at high speeds. Had a staph infection from reef cuts, and stitches. But I take care of my body.
200x132.jpg)
DIETS
Huston Street, Colorado Rockies: I like bison meat a lot. Bison burgers. I like to mix it in with my scrambled eggs in the morning. That's like my go-to at home. Get out the grill, stare at the lake and grill some bison burgers.
Mike Commodore, Columbus Blue Jackets: Only a couple of things forbidden, a couple of Canadian things. Poutine. It's French fries with gravy and cheese on it. If you ever go to Québec, Poutine is forbidden. And porgies, those are too many carbs for this guy.
Ryan Sheckler, Skateboarder: Hell naw, I don't count calories. Dude, I can eat all day long and I won't gain weight. I'll eat anything.
Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies: Nothing is forbidden. I play first base. I'm allowed to be fat.
Jamal Mayers, Toronto Blue Jays: The days when I could eat anything are gone. As you get older, your metabolism slows down so I have to be careful about what I eat now. I typically stay away from a lot of the carbs. My theory has always been to have a lot of color on the plate. I try to stay away from carbs after three or four in the afternoon. A lot of protein. It drives my wife crazy but I eat a lot of fish, steak and chicken.
Antonio Cromartie, San Diego Chargers: I used to run track and we actually had to be on a strict diet. Two days before a track meet we would eat all these things to give us extra energy. But now, I eat whatever I want to eat. I've been maintaining my weight so I feel like there's no reason to go on a diet.
Aaron Piersol, Olympic Swimmer: If I wake up for morning practice at 6am, I'll eat a bowl of cereal beforehand. After, practice I'll have a true breakfast, an egg sandwich or two and a big fruit smoothie. I'll have snacks between breakfast and lunch. Then I'll have a couple sandwiches, turkey with lots of greens. I love avocado and eat about one a day. I'll also have a PB&J just because I love them. I'll have some chips or a cookie along with lunch, as well as other snacks. I'll eat something like a sports bar before afternoon practice. During practice I drink Pure Sport, which is a light protein sports drink. For dinner, I love fish and chicken. Snapper may be my favorite fish, along with asparagus and potatoes and some rice. Swimmers eat a lot.
200x132.jpg)
WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT YOUR BODY?
Derrek Lee, Chicago Cubs: Oh man, I got some ugly toes. I got some beat up toes. They're basketball toes. My right big toe is real bad. I kind of like it though. It's kind of growing on me now. It's a part of me, know what I mean?
Angela Ruggiero, US Women's Hocket team: Unfortunately, regardless of gender, every hockey player has a hockey butt. So I got a hockey butt and I joke about it, but this is what makes me a good hockey player. It's all muscle, but it doesn't necessarily fit into jeans the best.
Dara Torres, Olympic swimmer: I would love to have a bigger badonk. Swimmers wear the least amount of clothing and there's a girl on my team from Venezuela -- Arlene Semeco -- who by far has the nicest badonk. She's South American so she rides her suit way up the badonk. When I first came back [to swimming] the kids on the team would tease me that I wore the back part of my suit way too low. Once I hit the gym, I gradually hiked it up. The kids rank us -- 10 being the best, that's Arlene, to one being the worst. I think I've gotten up to a seven!
Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers: I'd look like Curtis Granderson.
Joba Chamberlain, New York Yankees: I've been given what I've got for a reason. And I work hard with what I've got and that's about all you can do.
Tyson Chandler, Charlotte Bobcats: Just the injuries. Other that that, I got my wife with this body, so I wouldn't change a thing.
DeLisha Milton-Jones, Los Angeles Sparks: Sometimes my arms can be a nuisance because they're so long. Their span is 7-feet, so it's kind of weird looking.
Dwight Freeney, Indianapolis Colts: Probably my foot. It's all carved up. I had surgery, so I've got this big surgical line going down my foot. I'm pretty sure the guy who did the surgery was drunk. I'm sure there's a reason why it looks this way, but if I take off my sock and showed you my foot, you're gonna be like, 'What the hell?!' I'm not modeling my feet anytime soon.
Chad Billingsley, Los Angeles Dodgers: If I could pitch the same way, I'd be a lefty. But in actuality I'd really rather be a righty. Lefties are not right in the head. They put their hat on crooked and do just about everything else odd.
Jack Cust, Oakland Athletics: My abs, they'd be shredded wheat.
