There was one basketball player who had knobby knees and thin legs, so he was the first to wear shorts below the knee.

I find it a massive turn on especially if the girl behind the counter is hot 😍😍😍

No wonder stores stopped selling them.

Freedom of leg movement is absolutely essential and anything below mid-thigh is no good for anything athletic. As for swimming, I want something that acts as a "supporter" but otherwise minimal coverage is the only way to go.

The primary issue is that the "big box" sporting goods stores are dropping like flies. Done in by online sellers. Sports Authority had a great selection of athletic swimsuits, and they're recently gone.

A shame, since fit is critical, and different brands aren't sized the same. For instance, a Nike 34 is two inches larger than a Speedo 34.

Where to buy
 

Here in Melbourne Australia there are Speedo stores in some of the major shopping centres, and the major sporting shops sell swim briefs. There is also a chain of swimwear shops that has about 5% of the shop as men's swimwear, of which 1/4 is briefs. The problem I have is that all these retailers seem to sell black and navy briefs almost exclusively, so if you want something else the options are far more limited. The up-market department stores used to have a good range of swim briefs, but now they only seem to stock black and navy Speedo brand briefs. Daily Jocks has a shopfront in Melbourne, which I visit now and then. It seems though that the available briefs are headed in two directions - as boring as possible, or as exhibitionist as possible. There are few exceptions to these extremes, with briefs that are (in my opinion) comfortable, classy, suitable for wearing in any public situation, and not boring.

I haven't noticed sporting goods stores closing around here. I was in Big 5 yesterday and they had a full rack of speedo type suits. Of course I live in a place where swimming is pretty much all year. Perhaps stores in colder areas remove the swimwear to use the space for winter clothes.
After reading about the difference between Speedo and Nike I went and compared mine. Both identical. Perhaps one of yours was miss marked. I have learned to check the company's size charts before buying. What some companies consider a small is a medium with others. Checking the inches is important. Of course if you have the nerve to order out of China it is a flat out game of chance that something with fit. I saw one the other day that listed a 29" waist as a XXL!
Also, the have a strange habit of measuring the width of the suit laying flat and post the side to side length -- not the circumference.
I do agree that the internet has screwed up shopping. I think if I go in a store one more time and the clerk says "we are out of that in the store, you can get it on line" I'm gonna punch him!!! I want or need it now, thus my reason for visiting the store. If I wanted it sometime in the future I would have stayed home and gone on line. It used to be that Amazon Prime got it there the next day but lately it is more like 2 or 3 days. Since they have their own truck and deliver they can't blame the delivery company.
Shopping was more fun and resulted in a lot of not needed swimwear. Something about touching the material and seeing the colors was a kind of drug that had me at the sales counter. I do enjoy the models on line but in reality, what will it look like on a body that isn't in a gym 6 hours a day.