Most sports fans express their fandom by religiously watching their favorite team’s games or wearing their favorite player’s jersey. Alastair McLean took a much more extreme route.
McLean, a diehard Boston Celtics fan, decided to manifest his love for the C’s by getting a tattoo of arguably the franchise’s greatest player, Bill Russell.
As expected, the ridiculously detailed ink was a labor of love for New Zealand tattoo artist Steve Butcher.
“We did one session of like 14 hours that I was on the table for,” McLean told Boston.com “It was over a 14-hour time pace, so we had a couple little breaks here and there. He was probably working for about 13 hours of that 14 sort of thing.’
And while Russell is one of the most decorated basketball players in history, McLean opted for a tattoo of the 11-time NBA champion more for his off-the-court work.
“Obviously being an 11-time champ in 13 years, and all the accolades that he got throughout his professional career was really cool,” McLean said. “But I also like the fact about his after basketball life, how he’s been a very big role model for kids and obviously the future players of the game, so it’s a good tattoo to have I think because you point to a lot of things that he’s done in his life that have really improved the lives of others rather than just being good at basketball.”
Thumbnail photo via Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports Images
