Why Do So Many Athletes Have Tattoos of The Joker?

EPISODE 22: A special investigation, with PTFO correspondent Wyatt Cenac.

Today’s Pablo Torre Finds Out Halloween Preview Spectacular — with new PTFO correspondent Wyatt Cenac! — concerns an observable phenomenon that Wyatt and I have been obsessed with for over a year now.

Because from DeMar DeRozan, to Von Miller, to George Kittle, to Jalen Milroe, to Odell Beckham Jr., to Kevin Porter Jr., to Gary Payton II (not Jr.), to LaMarcus Aldridge, to Jamie Collins, to DeShon Elliott, to Brittney Sykes, to Crystal Dangerfield, to Jason Cummings, to Ivan Toney, to Chris Hubbard, to Juan Toscano-Anderson, to even more players, as we speak — so, so many athletes, it turns out, are obsessed with The Joker.

Which surprised us, at first, on account of The Joker being a murderous sociopath who bombs hospitals and wears clown makeup.

But then we assigned Wyatt — who also happens to know more about comic books than anyone else I know — to dive deep into this story. And what we bring you today is not merely our survey of the objectively insane art adorning these people’s body parts. Although we absolutely do that.

Wyatt also sat down with two very different professional athletes who both had particularly conspicuous Joker tattoos — future Pro Football Hall of Famer Von Miller and undrafted NBA champion Juan Toscano-Anderson — in an attempt to understand how a psychotic supervillain is, well, an inkblot test.

And how, thanks to Kobe Bryant, all of this might make sense.

Happy Halloween,

Pablo

DRAFTKINGS NETWORK/YOUTUBE SPOILER ALERT: