Guy of the Week: Andrea Bargnani

     Readers often remark to me about how I have a thing for jocks, as evidenced by many of my stories. Indeed it’s true. But it isn’t just about football. This week’s Guy of the Week is Toronto Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani. I’m also a big basketball fan and the Toronto Raptors are my favorite team, so that makes Andrea a pretty easy choice.

     What’s so great about Andrea? Well, he’s from Rome, Italy, which means a romance language is his native tongue. As if that isn’t hot enough, he’s also seven feet tall. Maybe it’s immature to wonder if he’s ‘in proportion’, but pardon me if I do it anyway, okay?

     Known in Italian basketball circles as ‘Il Mago’ (The Magician), Andrea has kept a beard through most of his tenure in Toronto. In fact, he wouldn’t look the same without it, and most guys wouldn’t be able to so effectively get away with just letting facial hair grow without cultivating it in some way. More often than not he keeps it short, but sometimes he looks like he just came out of the woods, which is fine by me. What I also like about Andrea is that I got to meet him in Chicago when I traveled to see the Raptors play the Bulls in December 2009. This meeting occurred at court side prior to the game in which Toronto blew out Chicago.

     Shirtless Andrea Bargnani pics are a rarity, but I know a ton of us would like to see them. I also never hear girlfriend rumors about him, which is a bit of a surprise. That doesn’t mean that he’s gay and waiting until after retirement to come out of the closet. The NBA shouldn’t be quite as rough as the NFL for that. 

     But let’s not wait so long to celebrate this very handsome man. Enjoy some Andrea pics and be sure to cheer on the Toronto Raptors!