So as I was leaving the office the other day, on my way down to Patrick McEnroe’s place to talk shop and have a few beers with our vaunted Davis Cup Captain, the cell phone rang and, thinking it’s my wife Lisa warning me that she’s finally invested in that at-home Breath-O-lyzer kit she’s always talked about, I answered.
It was John McEnroe Sr., about whom I wrote a few weeks back in my post Papa Mac and Me, before Wimbledon. I mentioned then what a formidable proof reader he is, but I wasn’t expecting to hear the first words he said on the phone. “Peter. I read you blog. I thought I’d better call to correct you on a few things. I mean, I’m not complaining. This is just in case. . .”
Great, I thought, rolling my eyes. He was about to say, “Just in case you actually want to know the facts, as opposed to the drivel you wrote. . . Here I am, busted again by Papa Mac, the Guardian of Grammar, freelance recording angel.
So John suggested that the headline of the entry, “Papa Mac and Me” was fine, if I was just addressing the hoi-polloi (yes, those were the exact words). If, however, I wanted to be correct, I ought to have written, “Papa Mac and I.”
Well, Mr. Big Shot Fancy Pants Park Avenue lawyer, I just checked with assistant editor and fiery populist Sarah Unke, who does some of our fact-checking, and she says it’s okay to say “Papa Mac and Me” because, in the case of a headline (and a fragment to boot), it’s okay to play a little fast and loose with the rules.
Yeah, John, just think of me as Pete “Fast and Loose” Bodo.
Arrrrggh . . .
Furthermore – and by this time I swear I could hear Papa Mac chortling as he leaned back in his office chair, all but snapping his red suspenders – it turns out that he’s not 70 (as I wrote), but 71, that John Jr. was 18 when he had his breakout Wimbledon (not 17) , and that while I was right when I wrote that he was indeed on track to complete a “Spectator Slam” (attending all four Grand Slam events in the same year), I was wrong to say The McEnroes were potential Slammers. Mama Mac, or Kay, had declined to attend the Australian Open.
Now I have to go back and correct the original entry.
I never got around to writing about it during the tournament, but I went to the official Wimbledon museum with Papa Mac after the men's semifinals to check out the exhibit featuring John Jr.
It consists of a replica of the men's locker room, behind glass. Suddenly, a virtual John McEnroe appears (imagine a realistic-bordering-on-unnerving hologram), dressed in a very Tom Wolfe-ish cream suit. He then narrates a 15-minute segment on the game during his time. At one point, he actually lifts Bjorn Borg's signature Fila shirt off a hanger, and then casts it aside! It was at that point where John and I turned to each other and simultaneously asked, "How did they do that?"
The show ends with Boris Becker winning Wimbledon in 1985 and, as we left, John said: "The guy I felt really sorry for at that Wimbledon was Kevin Curren. Imagine beating John (McEnroe)and Jimmy Connors (in the quarterfinals and semfinals, respectively), only to lose to am unknown 17-year old kid in the final!"
It was a good point, for at the time - that is, before Becker became Becker - the disappointment and frustration Curren felt must have been overwhelming.
Anyway the McEnroe exhibit is simply amazing. If you're ever visiting Wimbledon, you have to check it out.