WIMBY, DAY 8: HAPPILY EVERT AFTER

The Mayer of Casterbridge

One of our bright and lively runners, Lindsay S., a sophomore-to-be Television major at Notre Dame, spotted John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston out on Saturday night in Wimbledon Village. Aniston has not visited London, according to my records, since the time she broke up Ross and Emily's wedding.

Hear me now and listen to me later, but Lindsay S. will be someone you'll be watching on TV ten years from now. And by the way, if Notre Dame had offered a Television major when I was there, half of Dillon Hall would have earned field credit for their intense concentration in Cheers episodes.

Know How I Know You're Gay?

You just ran a 9.68 in the 100 meters. Like much of what you read on this blog, though, it was wind-aided.

And did you see that the Christian website One News Now is reporting this feat as having been accomplished by the feet of Tyson Homosexual? This brings up all kinds of questions: What will happen, for example, when they one day run the obituary of author Gay Talese? Or if they report a story originally broken by ESPN's Jimmy Dykes? Would a review of "The Producers" mention the show-stopping tune "Keep It Homosexual?"

Sprinters. Always inciting controversy.

Aesthetically Pleasing Match of the Day

On Court 1, No. 8 seed Anna Chakvetadze vs. No. 18 seed Nicole Vaidisova.

And Bob's Your Uncle

Devoted Johntourage member An Inconvenient Ruth (who, for all we know, is also a member of the Anatourage) introduced me last year to the term "And Bob's your uncle...". It's a throwaway line, something you say when you want to react more articulately to something seen or heard than saying,"Harrumph" or "Uh-huh".

Anyway, the first few days of our stay here, Beret and I would be amicably accosted, and sartorially Lacoste'd, by a dashing middle-aged man who had the sort of windswept face and hair that tells you he has money. Charming gent. Avuncular. American. Introduced himself as Bob Basche but, to be honest, we were completely ignorant as to who he was.

And so I informed AIR that we had our own "And Bob's Your Uncle" right in our midst. But then I did some research on the man who's listed on our NBC roster officially as a "Liaison" for this particular Wimby mission.

Turns out that Bob Basche was a three-time Emmy award-winning producer for NBC doing Wimbledon and (anyone over 40 would remember) SportsWorld. He has been here at Wimbledon every year since 1978. More importantly, he is credited with coining the term "Breakfast at Wimbledon".

Which is funny, because we've all actually been eating breakfast at Wimbledon every morning for the past eight days (try the beans with scrambled eggs and Tabasco). Naturally, the highlight of this pilgrimage for Beret and I will be to eat breakfast with Bob Basche while we're here.

But here's the thing. Just imagine how much more coin would be in the pockets of GE stockholders if Basche brainstorm had yielded, instead of "Breakfast at Wimbledon", the partnership-with-Denny's

friendly "Grand Slam Breakfast"?

By the way, a wit here in Studio 4 who will remain nameless suggested today that due to budget cutbacks it may soon be called "Continental Breakfast at Wimbledon."

Slug and Lettuce        

A gaggle of us ventured out to my favorite poob  (stay away, far away, from their signature sandwich) along the Thames last night to watch the Euro Cup final. Someone noted that all British pubs are named by putting two completely unrelated nouns together. Examples:

The Fox and Rose

The Kangaroo and Lorry

The Simon and Garfunkel

Roger Federer

The best player in the loooong, looong history of tennis (according to many who know better than I) loped into our studio and charmed the socks off everyone. Everyone who normally sits (myself included) stood as if the pope had entered. Great guy, completely unassuming. We even got to see the sweater, which was being toted around by one of his minions.

Tease and Crumpets

You might be surprised if you knew just how long it takes to create the show's opening tease, that mini-montage that opens the show each day. My job here is to write the tease, but I'm impressed each day by the work that our fantastic young producer, Pierre Moossa, and his staff in the edit room do.

If you tune in to our daytime show today, I guarantee you'll love the music they've selected to accompany the piece. It's by a band called the Ting Tings and the song is called "Great DJ". It'll be in your head the rest of the day, I promise.

I Had A Bad Dream

My new favorite pro sports franchise? The WNBA expansion Atlanta Dream, who are now 0-15 to begin their inaugural season. There's bad, there's really bad, and there's winless in the WNBA.

A Winehouse Roundhouse

I do believe I found HBO's next fighter for a pay-per-view special at last weekend's Glastonbury Festival.

Today's Thing I Quite Fancy

Mary Carillo is sporting a Nike knockoff pullover that she purchased in China (so it was manufactured, where, in the U.S.?). Anyway, she bought it in China but it has, below the Nike swoosh, an emblem on which reads, in English, "I SWEAR I WILL RUN FAST."

I've asked Mary to either wear this on-air or present it to Tyson Gay. Mary loves wearing this around the Nike execs, since it's obvious that it's a fake. Unlike Mary, who is a genuine original.

John Mugabe

In international news, John Mugabe either won a sham election in Zimbabwe on Friday (ironically, the same day as Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert in Hyde Park) or was selected No. 5 overall in the NBA draft. If you saw the red sports coat he wore (can't find it at moment) at his victory press conference, you'd know what I mean. That and the fact that David Stern was standing next to him.

A Reach So Egregious, I'd Swear I Wrote It Myself

John Viner, a columnist with The Independent, has a way with words ("Some people have a way with words, others… (long delay)….(longer)…not have way" -- Steve Martin). Previewing today's match between ScotBrit Andy Murray and France's Richard Gasquet, he writes, "Will (Gasquet) dazzle or implode, hurry a Murray or blow a gasquet?"