"In the city of designer labels and expensive tastes, Amar'e Stoudemire managed to upstage Fashion Week here without as much as a stitch of clothing covering his body. Okay, so it isn't the cover of Vogue or GQ, but the picture of the Knicks' buff power forward posing naked for ESPN The Magazine is stunning and without question a head-turner. "I was extremely nervous," Stoudemire said. "I was probably more nervous doing that than taking the final shot in a game." Stoudemire's revealing cover shot overshadowed the Knicks' 106-100 loss to Minnesota Wednesday night in their final game in Europe. The team returns to New York Thursday, and when the players arrive at JFK, Stoudemire will be on the newsstands to greet them. "They were like, 'There are only a few athletes that we think have the ideal body of that sport,'" Stoudemire said. "They wanted me to do it. At first, I was like, 'I don't know about this.' But I thought about it and saw a few of the other issues. I was like, 'I'll give it a shot.'" The photo, taken in July in Los Angeles, shows Stoudemire jumping into a pool with his hand strategically placed to avoid an X-rating. Stoudemire joked that it took "a few takes" to get the picture right. And when asked if all those takes might have resulted in what "Seinfeld" character George Costanza famously referred to as "shrinkage," Stoudemire replied: "That's the great thing about Photoshop." The Knicks gave their $100 million All-Star the okay to appear in "The Body Issue" days after he agreed to a contract. He is the certainly the face and physique of the franchise, and when he's on the floor he makes a strong impact. The problem is when he's not playing. Stoudemire was limited to just 20 minutes and 11 points Wednesday night and sat the final 17 minutes. He didn't get much support from his teammates as Danilo Gallinari and Raymond Felton shot a combined 4-for-19." Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...t_of_lineup_lost_final_european_exhibiti.html
