Sometimes, there's nothing funny about humor. It tends to happen most frequently when the person reading, seeing, or hearing it doesn't get the joke. Years ago, I mentioned in passing to a close relation (pure compassion forbids me from making a more specific identification) that I thought the movie This is Spinal Tap was one of the funniest pictures I'd seen in years. Her expression clouded over. She didn't understand how I could feel that way because she thought it was a fine little "rockumentary" about a struggling heavy metal band. Sigh.
The latest episode of this kind just happened at this website, as well as my comrade Steve Tignor's and over at El Jon's Mailbag - where the whole danged thing got started. You'll notice that at the bottom of the final page (3) of this week's mailbag, El Jon links to this piece, in the on-line magazine, Slate. If you scroll down in that story, you'll find an ostensibly lewd item on Federer, attribute to the London tabloid, The Daily Mirror.
Okay, folks. .. SATIRE ALERT!!!!!! Read it and weep, but I suggest laughing.
In fact, notice that right after linking to the piece, El Jon added this as the very next line: After last week's Harry Potter confusion, let's be clear: the bit about Federer is a joke!
The Harry Potter reference was to some fabricated item at a different website recently, in with Potter author JT Rowling allegedly cited Rafael Nadal as the source of her inspiration. Anyway, in light of some of the Comments in the previous post, and elsewhere, I thought I'd better check with El Jon on all this. He confirmed the details I just provided and, somewhat exasperated, said, "You'd think that in reading the Slate story they would have realized that it was some kind of satire or joke when they got to the part about Jesse Owens sharing a bowl of sauerkraut with Adolph Hitler!
So there you have it. Story about Federer and Wimbledon ballboys was a complete and utter spoof. I repeat, complete and utter spoof.
Sheeesh! Back later. . .