12. Brandi Chastain
No one born before the '90s should need a dossier on muscular badass and Women's World Cup winner Brandi Chastain, but this iconic photograph may refresh your memory. In the exciting fifteen minutes that followed, Chastain posed for some less iconic photographs, including this one from the cover of Gear. — Peter Smith
promotion
11. The Naked Women of Curling
Sexy firemen and ripped rugby players are right at home in saucy promotional calendars; in 2006, female curlers from across Europe and Canada stripped down and joined them. The idea behind it: to change the image of curling and give the sport more "exposure." (Mission accomplished, tee-hee!) And these ladies aren't stopping — there's a second calendar out this year. — Kristin Gangwer
10. Chyna
Joanie "Chyna" Laurer has lived an interesting life, even discounting her long career in professional wrestling. She's been arrested for domestic assault, she's marketed a brand of specially designed, semi-functional breast implants (the "Chyna 2000" model), and she's appeared in a sex tape notorious for revealing a) steroid-induced acne on her ass, during a prolonged anal sex scene; and b) her large clitoris, which became something of an internet phenomenon. (Click that link at your own peril.) Together, those revelations suggest this Playboy spread may have been slightly airbrushed.— PS
9. Shep Messing
A quintessentially '70s athlete — scope that mustache — soccer star Shep Messing also embraced the freewheeling attitudes of his era by posing nude for the December 1974 issue of Viva. Explaining himself, he stole our joke about bringing the sport more "exposure." — PS
8. LIFE's Celebration of the Olympic Body
"Naked Power, Amazing Grace; A Photographic Celebration of the Olympic Body; A Meditation on Athletic Beauty" — yeah, that's plenty, Life magazine! Talk power and grace all you want, but you lost us at "naked." — PS
7. Jim Brown
Actor. Humanitarian. Frequent subject of assault charges. Possible greatest football player of all time. And, as this 1974 Playgirl spread proves, owner of a substantive johnson. — PS
