Perhaps the most eccentric and one of the most beloved players on the Miami Heat roster, Chris “Birdman” Andersen has a personality that has captured the attention of Heat fans nationwide. From his blue-collar work inside the paint, to his no-holds-barred mentality, Andersen has been a fan favorite ever since his induction into the Miami Heat roster because of all the little things he does outside of the stat sheet.
While most people know Chris as the fun-loving, energetic player on the court, they have no idea what it took for him to become the person he is today off the court. From a history of substance abuse to an affinity for body art, here are 10 things you didn’t know about Chris “Birdman” Andersen.
1. Chris lived in a group home for three years when he was in middle school.
“I had the opportunity to either live in a military school or at a children’s home,” he says about the experience, “and I’m just thankful that I actually got the choice to pick one of the two. I picked the children’s home.”
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2. Andersen received a two-year ban from the NBA in 2006 for violating the league’s drug policy.
He was re-instated on March 4, 2008 and re-signed with the New Orleans Hornets the very next day. Andersen took the suspension extremely hard, saying “The darkest point was knowing that I messed up that bad. As a child growing up, your dream is to be a professional athlete and [I] just destroyed that.”
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3. His father worked as a corrections officer.
Really ironic, considering how he had a troubled history of substance abuse policy; however, this may have been the very cause of it.
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4. He dropped out of college early, not knowing he had to officially apply for the NBA draft to get picked up.
In 1999, after one year at Blinn College in Texas, he dropped out of school and decided to pursue a professional basketball career. However, he failed to officially apply for the NBA draft and missed out on an opportunity to get drafted and had to play on several international teams for a couple of years.
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5. Chris was the first player ever to get called up from the D-League to the NBA.
Andersen played just two games for the Fayetteville Patriots in the NBA Development League before he got promoted to the Denver Nuggets in November of 2001.
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6. It was in Denver where the nickname “Birdman” first emerged, a play off of his freakishly large wingspan and his energetic, acrobatic nature.
And you thought it was because of his tattoos didn’t you?
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7. In 2005, Andersen’s home was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Andersen was playing for the New Orleans Hornets at the time and soon afterward he fell into a state of depression.
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8. His first tattoo was given as an eighteenth birthday gift from his mother.
Chris’s mom actually has some ink of her own from her tenure in the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.
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9. In 2012, his home was searched by the “Internet Crimes Against Children” unit.
Andersen’s attorneys released the following statement just days after news of the investigation went public:
A female fan in 2010 mailed Mr. Andersen multiple letters and included several photos in which she was scantily clad. Chris and this woman communicated with each other and in 2011, this woman, who represented herself as 21 years of age, flew to Colorado, showing her required identification. After leaving Colorado, she became upset at his lack of interest. In 2012, she threatened to retaliate if he did not provide financial remuneration. … Mr. Andersen has been fully cooperative with the authorities.
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10. During his two-year ban from the NBA in 2006 for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, he used the downtime to get a majority of his ink.
“Once I got suspended, I had a lot of free time on my hands. I was in the shop all the time. I just got tatted up. That’s when it blew up. About 80 percent of [my tattoos] are all from that time.”
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