Heavenly bodygazing, athletically speaking

The release of some of the photos you'll find in the ESPN "Body Issue," which hits newsstands on Friday, and opens with a shot of WNBA star Diana Taurasi letting her hair down and continues with Jeanette Lee showing a black-widow-maker pose:

== Your U.S. women's national water polo squad (or, how to make 12 women seem coy at the same time, both in color and black and white):

== Behold masters athlete Phil Raschker, who turns 64 in February:

== The classic form of javeliner Rachel Yurkovich:

== Julia Mancuso,
minus the flashy skiwear, followed by volleyballer Kim Glass, minus the floorburns:

== And meet 29-year-old Esther Vergeer, wheelchair tennis player, five-time Paralympics champion, 11-time consecutive world-champion and the world's top ranked player since 1999, unbeaten in singles matches since January 2003. Some say she may be the most dominant player in any professional sport ....

== Did any males make the issue? Butt, of course. Down there, it's surfer Kelly Slater, one of several well-formed men to shed their clothes, although, if you've ever seen KS perform, you'd probably seen him close to this disposition nearly every time he goes out: