WIMBY, DAY 12: BJORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
I mean, seriously, y'all could have guessed that one, right?
What a time it was for Swedes back in the late 70s, back in my formative years. Dashing native son Bjorn Borg, with his blonde beard and headband, ruled Wimbledon, raising the trophy here five consecutive years from 1976-80 with his customary elan (because I don't know what the Swedish word for style is). Borg is here today, by the way, sitting in the Royal Box.
Meanwhile, ABBA, the most successful coed band in history (and undoubtedly the most successful palindromic pop foursome ever) owned pop music. How do you listen to the first three tunes on ABBA Gold without just wanting to wear a one-piece white jumpsuit and beg your barber for a bowl haircut?
Those tunes would be, in order... "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and (my personal favorite) "Take a Chance on Me".
("If you change your mind,
I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me")
How cool would it be if Venus and Serena walked on court for their Ladies Doubles semi today outfitted as Agnetha and Frida?
And if you clicked that link and still don't understand how come us older farts don't absolutely adore the 70s, well, I can't help you.
Sweden and the Seventies... when every summer was an Elke Sommer. (Update: Sommer is actually German, but it's my blog and I'll make the factual errors where I like... I confused Elke with Britt Ekland, another Teutonic/Scandinavian lass of the era, but you cannot as easily pun off that... "And once again/When I return to Ekland"?)
And I didn't forget Eighties Swedish icons, seven-time Grand Slam (but not Wimbledon) champ Mats Wilander or two-time Wimbledon champ Stefan Edberg. Mats Wilander. How much better would it be to go through life named Mats Wilander?
This year's Wimbledon connection to Sweden? There are two that come to mind: 1) Veteran Jonas Bjorkman, a semi-finalist here two years ago who is in to the men's doubles final and 2) The Cardigans and the Cardigan.
Druids
You may recall me writing, quite excitedly, about Sconehenge the other day. Well, after much engineering mishap-ery, it appears that Sconehenge will make its debut this evening. The 'henge was first erected yesterday morning by two diligent runners, David and Ann, but we couldn't get it into last night's program. This morning when we arrived Sconehenge was in ruins. So, if you're keeping score, the nearly prehistorid Druids erected a temple/burial ground that has stood the ravages of time for thousands of years. And the best of 21st century baking and ingenuity erected one that lasted less than 24 hours.
Just had a surreal moment in the studio during the second set of Nadal-Schuettler. Billie Jean King, THE Billie Jean King, burst into our studio and proclaimed, "Where's this Sconehenge I've been hearing so much about?"
We directed the six-time Wimbledon singles champ to a corner where a bag of scones lay, waiting to be reassembled.
Billie Jean (is not my lover) was great, asking spirited questions about our 'henge and strongly suggesting that we use peanut butter and/or jam to hold our scones together. I have an altogther new respect for her. Never thought, back when I was watching her defeat Bobby Riggs in the famed "Battle of the Sexes" match, that I'd be taking advice from her on how to hold my scones together.
Today's Thing I Fancy
Johnny Mac. Superbrat has been anything but in our studio. Right now I'm watching him hit with Rafael Nadal out on Court 5, just a few hours before Nadal's semi-final match versus Rainer "Who?" Schuettler. Yesterday I proposed that we run a graphic of the five players whom the German, ranked 94th, has disposed of at this tournament under the heading "Schuettler's List" but, well, it was yet another idea that was shot down.
Be surprised, be very surprised, if either of today's men's semis go to a fourth set.
Thing I Once Fancied, And One Day Soon Again Shall
It just occurred to me that I've nearly gone an entire fortnight without mentioning my favorite Ladies Doubles pair.
Thing Pete Schanzer (Our Intrepid Runner) Quite Fancies Today
British dentistry
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Is it poor form to celebrate the Fourth of July in the very place we celebrate gaining independence from? (Not Wimbledon, specifically, but ...) The Brits have had 232 years to be cool about it, but isn't it a bit like going over to an ex's place to celebrate the anniversary of a breakup? And setting off fireworks? Then again, you're dropping British-teeth jokes, so I think you're wearing red-white-blue like you're Evel Knievel. Scoreboard, scone people!!