DENVER. Tempers flared in the Denver Nuggets’ huddle during Saturday night’s game against the Houston Rockets after Kenyon Martin learned the meaning of Chinese characters tattooed on Allen Iverson’s neck.
“I’m shopping at Target from now on!”
“I saw Yao Ming laughing in the lay-up line during warm-ups and I asked him what was so funny,” Martin said. “He told me Allen’s tattoo means ‘Power Forward Stinky Pants’.”
Iverson denied the allegation, noting that Chinese ideographs often have multiple meanings. “Everybody knows that the symbol for ‘crisis’ is the same as ‘opportunity’,” The Answer responded to questions from reporters. “Everybody but K-Mart. That’s why I shop at Target.”
“My pants do not stink.”
Yao acknowledged that his translation might have been too literal. “If the tattoo appeared on his bicep the more likely translation would be ‘Strong Muscle, Smelly Pits’,” the Houston center said through an interpreter. ”Mr. Iverson should have consulted with a knowledgeable interpreter before paying for a permanent mark on such a visible part of his body.”
“No, seriously. It means ‘Pork Fried Rice’.”
The flap has raised the possibility that other Nuggets’ players may be sending coded messages to their teammates through tattoos as well. Team officials said they would send center Marcus Camby to a Sino-American language expert for a translation of Chinese characters on his upper arms. Camby has long maintained that his markings were copied from a take-out menu and mean “Free Delivery For Order Over Ten Dollar.”
Copyright 2007, Con Chapman
