Not So Mainstream Athlete Crushes

Now, I have to say I love sports for the actual game: the big hit in hockey, the finesse of the puck flying in top-shelf, the 4th down conversion, the walk-off single, Ron Artest style basketball brawls (sorry, not a huge bball fan.) In my ranking order of the big 4 sports my love goes as follows: NHL (hockey), NFL (football), MLB (baseball) & (very much last&least) NBA (basketball.)

So while I do genuinely enjoy watching sports for the content I am lucky enough to be a girl so as an added bonus there are the men I get to stare at while enjoying their prowess on the ice, field & court.

Most of us ladies are familiar with the big time athletes of hottness: the Tom Bradys, the Jacoby Elsburys (or Derek Jeters if Yankee scum is your thing), the flowing locks of hockey haired men (I personally love 'em all) or the Kobe Bryants of the game (again, if Laker-possibly-a-rapist-scum is your thing.)

That being said I've recently been pulled away from just the big 4 pool of attractive men & have gone a little hipster in my athlete crushes (not true hipster as I am always so far behind trends its laughable.) It all started with snowboarding then it snowballed (hah) from there onto surfing, skateboarding... I've even dabbled in the ogling of Nascar & golf men...& no, I am not proud to admit that.

So for your viewing pleasure I've included my top 4 favorite athletes you may not have heard of: 

[One quick caveat - I've got wicked weird taste in guys & via youtube/action sport videos you tend to see personalities as well so that tends to put a curve on the attraction scale]

1.Scotty Lago - This is where my addiction to snowboarding vids started. He's from the town over from mine in NH & during the Olympics all the Papa Ginos & gas stations I had to drive by every weekend were wishing Lago luck. Having no idea who he was I google'd/youtube'd & from there it was history. Kid seems chill as hell & this is the video that got me hooked on watching pretty much every snowboarding video ever.

Additionally, pretty sure his family owns the ice cream place I've gone to since I was about 7 so bonus points for that.

[Author's Sidenote: I feel creepier doing this than ogling football player's bums & the sweet flowing mullets of hockey players because these guys seem more real. Whatevs, sign me up for that restraining order!]

2. Ian Walsh - This one slightly stems from my snowboarding obsession as the trail can be traced as follows: the trailer for Art of Flight (can't even WAIT to see this) was jointly done with Red Bull & Brain Farm, from visiting Brain Farm's site I found this video. So lets run down the checklist: Adorable? Yup. Sense of humor? Seems like it. Lives in paradise & I could totes get on board with that? Double check. & so my surfer man crush was born.

PS How much do I love a dude in plaid? I'd also like to borrow that shirt, looks comfy.

3. Ryan Sheckler - He's actually pretty main stream & also makes me feel (if possible) even creepier than I already do writing this post as I'm pretty sure he's only 21. However, once you are legally able to drink yourself comatose you're fair game. Kid had an MTV reality show a few years back that I'll admit I never watched because quite frankly those shows make me feel so uncomfortable it's not worth the eye-candy opportunity.

He also had - hands down - the weirdest comments on his site. One girl legit asked him to be her boyfriend in a very lengthy, entirely caps lock message with multiple misspellings & a whole lotta red flags that screamed 'future restraining order required.' (Call me a hypocrite but I like to look, not contact via the internet saying 'We're soo meant to be! I so know you because of a few photos & 2 minute interview clips!')

4. Alex 'Loggy' Lagemann - Ok, so this one is kind of cheating because he's now going pro in rapping rather than in an actual sport BUT he did play football at UC Berkley so I'm counting it. If you doubt that a kid that looks this white & goofy can rap then check this out.

While you're at it take a look at his music with Radical Something because guys in shirts & ties that have no business wearing a shirt & tie are right up there with plaid shirts in my book.

So there we have it. Four replacement crushes from four not so mainstream sports. Kind of an odd selection & to be honest when I started I thought I had more but oh well, at least you get a taster!