You Have Been Without French Shirtless Photos for Far Too Long!

I am back in the States at last. My trip was fantastic. Huge thanks to Jeff for his coverage while I was gone!

As I was surfing the web this morning, my first morning back, I realized something: I have gone far too long without giving you a photo of a French player with no shirt. So let’s remedy that, shall we?

This is our very own not-quite-A-string Philippe Mexes, swapping shirts with none other than Cristiano Ronaldo after the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals between Roma and ManU last week.

What do you think? Do they scan the field before each game thinking, “Who, oh, who is beautiful enough to wear my shirt when I’ve finished with it? Who could wear it without defiling the number, while still not being quite as beautiful as me?” Do they have, like, an internal Beatiful Person Homing Beacon for just these occasions? Would Cristiano Ronaldo spontaneously combust if for some reason he had to swap shirts with Marco Materazzi?

Enquiring minds want to know.

And now, as soon as this is posted, I would like to officially declare the coverage of Euro 2008 to be open. Tune back regularly (and I mean regularly) between now and June to get thoughts on France’s chances in the competition from my wonderful co-blogger Jeff and me

Allez les bleus!

(And a huge thanks to my favorite guilty pleasure Kickette for the photo find.)