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

April 6th, 2008 | by: Laurie |

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.)

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david

its kinda weird seeing mexes with that tramp stamp. considering that and man purses im not liking the direction the modern footballer is going. whatever happened to mustaches and big sideburns?
RedLine55

Although partially covered by his shorts, that “tramp stamp” is, in actuality, just a glorified bulls-eye for none other than Ronaldo.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

David, I am so with you on the man-purse thing. But not on the mustache/muttonchops.

And let’s all just step away from that thought right now, before it reaches short shorts.
http://ghana.worldcupblog.org Inara

Mexes reminds me of a barbie doll with that long blond hair and his general “prettiness.” I can’t remember who it was that called him Barbi Mexi, but that’s how I think of him now.
Eric

I say bring back the crazy hair and the short shorts. Why shy away from that? It may have not been pretty but it had style. I don’t know about you guys but i would find it easier to play in short shorts than those baggy thug wannabe shorts.
sandrahn

Nah, neither one does it for me. Both are barbie footballers, really really boring. Strictly for little girls to drool over.

Give me Zizou and Robert Pires any day!
-nickt.-

missed you laurie. glad to see you haven’t missed a beat after you european travels.
glatisant

lmao. Thank you for this post (and the responses weren’t half bad either), I needed that in the middle of my Tuesday.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

After I posted, my brain wouldn’t let got of this. The end result was
this post over at The Offside, on what really happened around this picture. http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/champions-league/when-beautiful-people-swap-shirts.html