On the Throw Down site, an older member began a TD with stating the MLB should enact some type of rule banding neck or facial tatoos.

Of course, he was immediately hounded for trying to infringe upon the right of one's self expression.

I have some definite thoughts on this and I wish to put it out there to the world to see how far away I am from the rest of the community.

Is this asking too much? Have we became so politically correct that we now accept or have to accept Professional athletes appearances anyway they wish to appear in public or on the courts or fields?

The NBA, and before you crucify me I am not saying they are but only appear; looks like a band of street thugs playing ball. I know that tatoos have been around the NBA for a long time now; along with the hair dye, nose rings and other displays of personality windows.

And it was at first just the "odd ball" (Rodman) or two that everyone just said, "oh that's just Dennis" and laughed it off. But even then it seemed like they laughed it off because they did not want to deal with the consequences of doing anything about it.

And that is the problem. Tatoos for the most part is a permanent thing. How does an Owner of a professional team sit at a bargaining table and sign a muti-million dollar contract with an athlete dressed to the hilt in business suit, clean cut hair, cleanly shaven face, no piercings or other displays of "self expression"; and first game of the season sees him on the floor with a big old "**** You" tatoo on his face? It's coming.

How do I know this? Because everyone and their damn brother is scared of the lawsuit that would follow if they did something about it.

When do we as a society have a say in what is offensive and what is not offensive? When it comes to the Pros, in all sports not just the NBA, having tatoos, piercings or other "self expression" displays that we as adults DO NOT want our kids to follow what do we do?

Where does it stop? An immediate fix could be League imposing some type of ban on tatoos displayed while in uniform but does that really answer the mail? That is probably impossible with the NBA at this point.

I don't know what the answer is. I am not smart enough to figure out a suitable answer that would fit everyone's wishes. I am smart enough to know that no one can come up with a viable solution that appeases everyone, however that does not mean we should not at the very least try to find a common ground of morality that could save our youth.

I for one do not want to see your granddaugther in fives years with a **** tatooed to her left cheek. This IS the type of thing we are going to start seeing however if we dont' have some type of controls in place to stop them.

As a veteran I have heard of people burning the American flag in protest as a means of self expression and I always knew that if I were present and that took place that I would use "my self expression" and wrap that burning flag around the head of the one that lit it on fire.

Maybe the tatoo thing is just a generation fad like mini-skirts and bell bottom pants. Realizing that tatoos are far more permanent makes it hard to believe so.

Any thoughts?