Tattoos and the reasons for them…

Without any doubt, it's a team that has put a mark on its fans. Sometimes due to great joy and others due to extreme sorrow. However, this company of players has left its mark and they will continue doing so for many years to come.

And since we are talking about marks, let's talk about some … permanent ones that are on the bodies of the Olympiacos' players. We are talking about the tattoos of the Greek Champs.

Half of the Sfairopoulos' players have inked their bodies and olympiacosbc.gr tries to decipher many of them with the help of the protagonists themselves.

The Olympiacos players that have used ink on their skin are Green, Birch, Toliopoulos, Spanoulis, Printezis, Hackett, Maragkos and Athinaiou.  

The remaining eight (Young, Papapetrou, Waters, Agravanis, Milutinov, Papanikolaou, Mantzaris, Lojeski) have not tried it.

Olympiacosbc.gr will be trying to explain, with the help of the players themselves, the meaning hidden behind these tattoos, learn and present you the thinking of the players that have them, as well as that of those who have not indulged the practice

VASILIS SPANOULIS
His first tattoo is almost a decade old on his arm. And as expected, it was in regard to the loss of his father, who passed in 1997. The Olympiacos captain has since had two more tattoos, all in regard to his family. His wife and his four kids.

GIORGOS PRINTEZIS
Here there was a problem … counting. After we decided that we are counting each one and whether the ones on his arms count for … one or for … twenty, he decided that he has a total of ten. He had the first one eight years ago. At the age of 24. The cross on his back is the one that he distinguishes the most among all those he has had.

VASILIS TOLIOPOULOS
The 21year old play-maker has had three tattoos. He had the first one at 17 and has since had two more. The one his chest is just a symbol of no particular meaning, he just liked it and decided to have it. The second one, on his arm reads "winners never quit, quitters never win" and is practically his life motto. As for the third on his back, it's the initials of his parents and two siblings' names.

GIANNIS ATHINAIOU
The 29 year old guard has seven tattoos on his body. Most of them are drawings of no particular meaning, they were aesthetically pleasing to them so he decided on having them. The one that he loves the most is a basketball with pigeons flying out of it and as he puts it "basketball is what sets me free". Giannis Athinaiou had his first tattoo at 17.

ΚHEM BIRCH
The Canadian center has had five tattoos while he had his first one at 18. His name, Khem, is of Egyptian origin, that's why one tattoo on his arm has an intense essence of Egypt. His parents decided on calling him Khem because they liked the name and not due to any relationship with the country of Egypt.

ERICK GREEN
We have had a similar problem to the one with Printezis. However, the American player was more willing to compromise and following a quick survey, he explained why they come up to 15. He had his first one at 18 and it almost covered half his back. Each one has its own meaning and none is just a simple drawing. Most of them are related to his family, some of them symbolize and remind him of the neighborhood he grew up in, one is the name of a person very dear to him that died too soon and one is related to basketball.  

DANIEL HACKETT
Here as well as with Printezis and Green, we had a lot of talking about how many the tattoos actually are and how he counts them himself. Finally, we ended up between 15 and 20. You can choose whatever number you like. We could not come up with a specific one. The Italian guard had his first tattoo at 15 and the one he cares the most for, from all he has had up to now, is his mother's name, Katia, on his right wrist.

PARIS MARAGKOS
The Greek forward has had four and is expected to have another one in the next few days. He had his first tattoo in 2011 and the one he thinks most of is the one on his back that reads in Chinese "to succeed in life, you have to make sacrifices".

AND THOSE WHO DON'T...

However, it's not just the eight players that have got tattoos. There are another eight on the team who have a different perception on the matter. We asked them why they haven't had one and if they plan on having any at some point. Their answers are pretty straight forward…

DIMITRIS AGRAVANIS
«I don't have tattoos because I don't like them. But there are two more reasons for not having them and for never going to have them. I cannot stand needles and I cannot stand needles!!! (laughing)».

DOMINIQUE WATERS
"Tattoos are not really my style. I don't like them; I don't like earrings or anything else on my body. I don't don chains or anything else. I'm never going to have one, or to be more accurate, the chances of me having one are minimal to zero".  

MATT LOJESKI
"I never thought about having a tattoo. And I now think that I'm at an age that I won't be having any. I doubt I ever will, I'm not saying it's out of the question, but I think that I'm not going to".

NIKOLA MILUTINOV
«I don't like tattoos and so I'm never going to get one».

PATRICK YOUNG
«I really have never thought about getting tattooed. Although almost all of my friends and relatives have tattoos, it never crossed my mind».

VANGELIS MANTZARIS
«If you really think about it, 70% - 80% of men have tattoos, and I don't like doing what everyone else is doing. That's why I refrain from the practice, to have ladies like me for being different (laughing)».

KOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU
«To tell the truth, I had thought about it at some point, but eventually I did not go through with it. I don't know if I'm going to have one in the future, I'm not ruling it out».

ΙOANNIS PAPAPETROU
«I don't think they are aesthetically pleasing. I don't know, maybe in the future, if I find something that I like too much, I may have one. But the idea of having a tattoo never matured with me».