July 7, 2015 sports

ESPN The Magazine: Body Issue 2015 [Photos and Video]

Another year and more naked athletes thanks to the annual ESPN The Magazine: Body Issue. Like previous years, ESPN The Magazine uncovered the best athletes bodies for your viewing pleasure. With the seventh Body Issue hitting newsstands in a few days, ESPN The Magazine is offering a sneak peak at some of the best (and not so hot) naked bodies that we have admired for years, but fully clothed.

A variety of athletes are on full display from different sports including Kevin Love, Bryce Harper, Natalie Coughlin, Odell Beckham Jr, DeAndre Jordan, Brittney Griner, Aly Raisman, Jermaine Jones, Paige Selenski, and Ali Krieger to name a few. So far, we are digging Kevin Love’s body, but then again we are ladies. Fellas don’t be shy. Let us know who you think has the best body from the 2015 Body Issue.

Before you check out the excerpts and some of the photos below from the current issue, let’s not forget the 2014 ESPN The Magazine: Body Issue when Prince Fielder showed no shame.

Leticia Bufoni, Skateboarding

Not a lot of girls skate street. Skating stairs and rails, it hurts a lot. Also, in street skating, we don’t wear any protection. I think it’s even scarier if you’re wearing a helmet and knee pads because that would hold you back. I am afraid of getting hurt, but I love skating street so much that I go for it, you know?

Odell Beckham Jr., NFL

NBA Player DeAndre Jordan

Before I take my pregame nap, I’ll watch cartoons to clear my head. It’s a part of my game-time routine. I like “Tom and Jerry.” “SpongeBob” is cool. It takes me back to when I was a kid and there was no pressure, no problems. Every day was just a Saturday.

I was about 6-foot-3 my freshman year of high school, and after the summer, I was about 6-foot-8. It all happened so fast. I went into the summer being tall, and when I came back, I was a giant. My knees, man, they were throbbing all the time. I couldn’t sit in the car for long stretches; my knees felt like they were going to explode.

VIDEO: ESPN The Magazine’s 2015 Body Issue: DeAndre Jordan

Gymnast Aly Raisman

Yeah, I got drug-tested at Access Hollywood. It was so weird. I was part of the USA drug-testing pool at the time. You have to give them an hour, every single day, when they can randomly test you. It was the final week of Dancing With the Stars, so I text them the night before: “I’m going on Access Hollywood at 8:30 a.m.” So [the testing official] came right at 8 o’clock. It was like they purposely wanted to be at Access Hollywood. I was also tested at Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup finals. They weren’t allowed to come into the arena because you need a ticket, so I had to leave the arena and go across the street. It’s Game 6 of the Stanley Cup! Am I just going to have them come in the stall with me?

READ: ESPN The Magazine: Body Issue 2013 [Photos and Video]

Brittney Griner, WNBA

ON HER BODY I’d describe myself as athletically lanky. I want to show people that. I’m comfortable in my body and I don’t mind putting it on display. Honestly, I like how unique it is. My big arms, my bigger hands, these long legs-I love being different. If everybody was the same, it’d be a boring-ass world.

I’m sure people are going to have a lot of critical things to say [about these photos]. “Yo, she’s a man!” But hey, that’s my body and I look the way I look. People are either going to accept me for who I am or they’re not. I don’t know what people think I’m hiding. I’ve heard, “Oh, she’s not a female, she’s a male.” I’ve been told, “Oh, she’s tucking stuff.” They thought I was tucking. I mean, [in the Body Issue] it’s out there. Let me show that I embrace the flatness! I just want people to see somebody who embraces being naked, embraces everything about them being different.

Being 6-foot-8, I definitely get stares. I think my feet are bigger than Kareem’s. They are size 17 men’s. My hands are even bigger than LeBron’s. I could palm a basketball since I was a freshman in high school. For me, it’s a very tall world. Just walking around, it’s kind of like being on display at a museum, like being on display 24/7.

VIDEO: ESPN The Magazine’s 2015 Body Issue: Brittney Griner

Anthony Castonzo, Todd Herremans and Jack Mewhort, NFL

Do you think your body is meant to be 300 pounds, or are you holding extra weight to compete?

Mewhort: I don’t think I’m too much above my natural weight. I’m not waking up in the morning and feeling like, “Oh my goodness, why am I carrying all this weight?” I think I’m right around where I’m supposed to be.

Herremans: I think the view of offensive linemen from the public is that we are all just fat slobs. Which is what it used to be, kind of. But now the game has evolved into more fit, athletic offensive linemen. So I would say that Anthony is probably the leanest out of all of us, and I’m probably the chubbiest. Jack is somewhere in the middle.

Castonzo: Yeah, I’m naturally a pretty skinny guy. My natural weight is probably 250. At 6-foot-7, I’ve got to plan on eating all day just to maintain my weight. We have to take off from lifting here and there just for recovery, and in my week off I’ll lose 10 pounds. That’s probably the biggest challenge. I eat a lot, whenever I can.

VIDEO: ESPN The Magazine’s 2015 Body Issue: Colts Offensive Line

Paige Selenski, Field Hockey

I can barely touch my toes. I’m not typically a very flexible person. I’ve always had tight hamstrings, but I found that hot yoga helped with that a lot and helped me avoid injury. The first time I did hot yoga, I was thinking, “I can’t do this.” But as you keep going, it gradually gets easier and easier.

Take the jump over to ESPN The Magazine for more photos and follow The Mag on Twitter (@ESPNmag).