“Any Zidane offspring out there for sale?”

Imagine my surprise when this headline showed up in my inbox. I had these visions of Zizou and Veronique selling off Luca and Theo to promote the game worldwide. And I’m thinking, “Wow. What an incredible sacrifice for the good of the game!”

Alas, there is apparently a dog by the same name.

What a disappointment.

But this gives me the chance to share some good news. I know that regular readers have noticed that I’ve been neglecting this blog terribly lately. I’ve been doing a lot of writing over on The Offside’s main page, and covering the LA Galaxy as they head into their first fully-Beckham’ed season, and I’ve taken on the job of MLS Editor over there as well. What this means is that there has been a lot less time for my first true love, the France NT.

I’m not happy about this situation, and my commitment to the team and this blog are as strong as ever. My plan is to continue to post regularly.

But I’m also thrilled to announce that Jeff of Wicked Deflection has agreed to copilot this blog at least through Euros. This means that all of us will get more France news and more opportunities to discuss our boys in bleu.

I was very happy he agreed to come on board because he has the three qualities I was hoping to find in a co-blogger:

1) He loves the team (his wife is French)
2) He doesn’t take any of this stuff too personally, and
3) He has a sharp sense of humor.

And yes, I will still be contributing regularly. Probably even more regularly now that I don’t have to worry about having full responsibility. But I think you’re going to find this arrangement to be a big improvement over what we’ve had these past few weeks.

Please give him a friendly welcome, and Allez les bleus!