20 Photos You'll Find on (Almost) Every Sports Star's Instagram

Public scrutiny is something a professional athlete must learn to live with. They don’t have to love the spotlight, but it’s hard to imagine someone who hates the attention—or actively fears it—ever making the jump from peewee sports. 

Considering the nature of the job, it’s not surprising that plenty of star athletes not only accept their celebrity, but actively promote it. So it’s only natural in the age of social media that countless sports stars use Instagram to share their pics and thoughts with the world—even if no one is asking.

And as Instagram’s popularity has grown, so has the presence of star athletes; with so many men and women in sports using the app, it’s becoming obvious that—as a group—they seem compelled to share certain kinds of photos a lot more than others.

Let's take a look at what we've got here. 

Photo 1: TBT

Much like the rest of the Internet, athletes have really embraced Throwback Thursday as a whole—whether they’re referring to their humble beginnings or bragging about being awesome since birth.

Nobody does #TBT quite like The Rock. 

Photo 2: Posing With Animals 

Mugging next to an animal is an endless Instagram goldmine that few people can resist. 

Here's even more mugging with wildlife from Kelly Slater, Chris Bosh, Dustin Johnson, and Golden Tate. 

Photo 3: Tattoos 

Athletes have a lot of money and a fair amount of free time, many hours of which are spent in a chair being stabbed over and over again with needles, with the only payoff being (usually terrible) tattoos. Some are more worth bragging about than others. 

San Francisco 49ers running back Mike Davis is definitely loading up on the questionable ink. (Like this, this and this.)

Photo 4: Standing in Front of Private Planes 

Athletes do an awful lot of traveling, much of it work-related, but at least they get to do it in style. The only thing they like more than traveling in style is bragging about how they get to travel in style on Instagram.  

And that brings us to...

Photo 5: Sitting Inside Private Planes 

This is the next logical step after standing in front of private planes. 

We could definitely do standing in front of and/or inside helicopters too, but that would require the department of redundancy department. 

Photo 6: Posing With Random Celebrities 

Just because they’re professional athletes doesn’t mean they are immune to the lure of celebrity. The following photos have been placed in order of randomness, from least to most. 

Russell Wilson hanging out with Gary Busey must have been quite the spectacle for anyone lucky enough to be in their vicinity. 

Photo 7: Motivational Sayings 

Athletes at every level are prone to speaking in tired cliches, peppering Twitter and Instagram with an endless barrage of motivational sayings that would be best left on Pinterest. 

These are too annoying to cite anymore examples. Two was probably too many.

Photo 7: Sneakers 

It’s no secret that athletes love their sneakers. Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is particularly fond of them, but you’d be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of guys that don’t post even the occasional update on what’s going on south of their ankles. 

If you've seen one wall of sneakers, you’ve seen them all. Although, Chris Paul's is probably worth checking out too if this sort of thing interests you. Moving on…

Photo 8: Corporate Shilling 

Athletes have a built-in social media audience that can range from tens of thousands to over a million people, which many (if not most) of them monetize by shilling for various products. Some only do it occasionally, while others (looking at you, Odell Beckham Jr. and Russell Wilson) will promote anything. 

Just so it doesn’t seem like we’re singling out those two guys, Tony Hawk, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant and Richard Sherman are among the countless others doing the same thing.

Photo 9: Lions 

Maybe it’s because they think they’re the king(s) of the jungle or something (silly) like that, but athletes are constantly posting photos of lions. They’re boring and redundant.  

Niners running back Reggie Bush is probably the biggest offender, posting these goofy things continually. 

Photo 10: At The White House

Teams that win one of the four major championships are invited annually to the White House. Most athletes take the president up on the invitation. 

Championship or no, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk probably has a standing invitation. 

Photo 11: Getting a Haircut 

Apparently a lot of athletes have come to the conclusion that damn near everything they do is newsworthy, which is the only way to explain the pervasiveness of haircut photos polluting Instagram. Sorry guys, this is less interesting than you think. 

Odell Beckham Jr. and C.J. Wilson also get their hair cut! Riveting stuff. 

Photo 12: At the Dentist 

Speaking of riveting stuff! This one might not be quite as common as getting a haircut, but a surprisingly large number of athletes kill time at the dentist by taking selfies and posting them to social media. 

One photo seems like more than enough here. 

Photo 13: Pets 

Cumulatively, pictures of pets probably account for an impressive amount of the overall photos posted to Instagram. Much like us, most athletes can’t resist showing off their pets online. 

You’ve also got Dwight Howard and his snake, Jose Canseco and his tortoises and Mark Sanchez and his reindeer. 

Photo 14: Delicious Food 

So if pets make up half of all Instagram posts, meal photos probably make up the other half, give or take. 

Puts that nasty Subway sandwich you ate for lunch to shame, right?

Photo 15: Showing Off Cars 

For a lot of athletes, Instagram is all about showing off their amazing stuff. Ya know, stuff like cars. 

Photo 16: Showing Off Jewelry 

And stuff like jewelry. 

Photo 17: Showing Off Significant Others 

And stuff like beautiful people who have agreed to sleep with them. 

Photo 18: Bro Moments 

The life of a professional athlete is, if nothing else, a seemingly never-ending series of epic bro moments. 

We're just one Paul Rudd away from a Judd Apatow-style bromance. 

Photo 19: Christ the Redeemer 

This one probably seems pretty niche, but Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue is apparently a can’t-miss offseason destination for athletes.

As far as statues go, it's definitely one of the more impressive. 

Photo 20: Chillin’ wit Drake 

And last but not least, we have athletes hanging out with Drake. Truth be told, this is but a meager sampling of what exists out there. Drake is obviously on a mission to get his picture taken with every professional athlete on Earth. 

Keep up the...work, Drake.