I had a boyfriend back in the 70s who played tennis (still does) who put Bjorn to shame. To shame, I tell you! Ohhh...all tingly now...

What the heck is up with all the long shorts guys wear now? I only have so much time left on this planet and I feel like I'm getting short (pun intended) changed!

Jane: Thanks- I loved your post, especially the truly disturbing leggings.

Gracielou: I think it must be a generational thing. My 14 year old daughter and her friends are also oddly modest by 1970s standards. But I can't for the life of me understand why tennis and soccer players need to wear knee length shorts AND lycra leggings underneath. After all, Johan Cruyff managed just fine without ...

http://www.cruijff.com/eng/slideshow_english/player_slideshow/slideshow_usa_english/

Who wears short shorts? They wore short shorts!

Damn. Those shorts are scandalous. I'm slightly blushing!

I'm all about men being sexed up a bit more!

Me too, Beth, but the odd thing was that men seemed to feel free to wear skimpy clothes.... those shorts were completely normal. Guys wore much skimpier ones to jog round the streets. They also had chest hair and even professional athletes like BB and il bell'Adriano didn't have muscleman bodies.

Damn! And I just threw out my old terry cloth numbers. Talk about poor timing.

i love this post. it's a great follow up to Janie Jee's fabulous one. shit, who has great legs??? i don't watch enough tv shows or movies with undressed men, i guess. can't think of anyone right now. i hope that Simon Baker does have some. can't even think of my crushes right now. veyr very dark day. but i will come up with some and come back later. love love love

Hi Intermezzo: I had COMPLETELY forgotten about terry cloth. I'm sure you looked very fetching in your shorts. I had an all- in- one terry cloth shorts suit (in turquoise with white zippers) when I was about 14. Boy, did I feel grown up when I wore it with my blue Dr Scholls and my snazzy Foster Grant sunglasses. I'm only sorry we couldn't have strutted our stuff together.

Theodora: Thanks and yes, all this was certainly the catalyst for teenage crushes. Poor Bjorn Borg couldn't move in London without being pursued by screaming, weeping, fainting girls. He had to have police protection. Ever the contrarian, I had a massive crush on Adriano.

As an aside, that phemomenon of teeenage girls gathering at airports and outside hotels to work themselves into a frenzy over some rock or sports star seems to have disappeared. I wonder why?

Ha ha! I had that same outfit only my one piece zippered short thing was green and white! Dr. Scholls! I loved mine! Now they feel like wearing boards on your feet.

Oh...weren't we cute back then?

I do get a little bit of leg sighting around here tho. The college cross country teams run the trail I hike. They look like gods...slim, shirtless, short shorts...running in packs. They are so lovely. They look like youth before life beats the shit out of them...

Hi GracieLou, Elena

Yes, there is something wonderful about young people before the cares of the world trouble them. Looking at that old footage of the 1976 French Open not only reminded me of how beautiful Bjorn and Adriano were but also of my own lovely young self (though of course like all teenagers I thought I was hideous).

Elena: You mentioned firefighters and I can hear the Pavlovian response stirring in women (and some men) all over OS ... hang on to your fire helmets, folks ...

I agree about athletes' legs- that's really what I was saying above when I said that these tennis players didn't have the muscleman physiques of current athletes who work out so much. To my mind, they were much more beautiful. Adriano had a lovely, fluid, sinuous playing style (like Evonne Goolagong in the women's game). Bjorn Borg had what was considered to be a very muscular, pounding baseline technique but by modern standards he looks very "normal" rather than big and beefy.

@gracielou
I've earned my right to look like "life beat the shit out" of me, I'll have you know. . .and I can still outrun most of the youngsters, too.

@PrincessF
I will also admit to having owned a pair of emerald green, shiny, satiny basketball shorts that I love, loved. I know I'm old school, too, because it's so damn hard to find shorts anymore that don't hang down to my knees. Beyond running, I wear shorts in order to feel cool in hot weather, and how in the world do shorts that reach to the knee or below help that? Oh, and maybe you should start a corollary blog with an open call for photos of OS members' legs. I've seen far stranger things on here. . .

almost a year ago, there was a calf contest on Open Salon, instigated/sponsored by long departed JD Black/JD Noir. I thought I had a good chance, but lost out to AZ David, who now has it in bio: "Winner of 'Best Calves on OS.' "

Don't worry, no short shorts involved.

My entry was here: http://open.salon.com/blog/bbd/2008/07/14/jds_calf_roundup_challenge

Intermezzo: Yes, I always thought that long shorts defeated the object of having something cool to wear in hot weather, especially for men. (Women have the option of skirts and sometimes long thin skirts are cooler than short ones, depending on what you are sitting on). Those emerald green shorts sound very fine.

I'd be very happy for people to nominate their own legs ....

Jane: Your son sounds lovely. "Shants" is just perfect- so wrong. It is good to remind ourselves why we love them, even when they are awake.

bbd: I'm off to investigate the calves challenge. Thank you for posting the link to your entry. I'm sure you were robbed by the eventual winner.

Fiona,
I am not a lady, but i do have an eye for gams. I would suggest: Kris Kristofferson? Abe Lincon?? (Lincoln's legs measured
40 inches, i'm not kidding...). Perhaps Bob Dylan? As you can tell, i think less is more, foor men...except Lincoln, but he didnt have alotta flesh on his...i dont think...

Jim.rated

Thanks, James. How lovely to meet you. I wouldn't have thought of Lincoln, Bob Dylan or Kris Kristofferson in my wildest dreams- and I didn't even know Lincoln was tall, but then I'm not American. (Perhaps it is a well known fact?!)

You certainly learn interesting stuff on OS

Funny, last night as I clipped my way through much of Prince of Tides on youtube (most with Japanese subtitles), I thought: Streisand has great legs!

Scupper

Thanks for stopping by. "Prince of Tides" now that's a film I enjoyed while feeling somehow I shouldn't. Didn't notice Barbra's legs; she was a pretty good dancer in her time so it figures I guess...