Detroit Free Press

If I told my bosses at this newspaper that I planned to spend the next year taking my same paycheck but doing work ...

LONDON -- I can still see the old train station in that northern Italian village. Can still feel sun on the back of my neck and the weight of a huge canvas pack on my shoulders.I was just out of college, traveling across Europe, as kids did back then. I had little money -- too little to spare for phone calls or a newspaper -- and the next train wasn't for hours. I took a place against the white stone wall of the station, dropped on my rear end and exhaled."This," I said to myself, gazing at the hot empty streets, "must be what they mean by 'the middle of nowhere.' "

WIMBLEDON, England -- Don't bury the male species yet.Oh, I know, these days men's tennis is as exciting as a traffic cone. They serve, they mumble, they cash the check.But out of the rain, the clouds and the lengthy delays of this long and winding Wimbledon, we have emerged with a terrific semifinal cast of men, all of whom are scheduled to play today. (True, "scheduled to play" at Wimbledon means, "Bring a raincoat and a deck of cards." But what can you do?)

WIMBLEDON, England -- For hours and hours, through sunshine, through clouds, through three rain delays that ...

WIMBLEDON, England -- With applause, a grown man said good-bye. And with controversy, a young girl said hello. It ...

WIMBLEDON -- "So, Mr. Agassi . . .""Call me Andre.""So, Mr. Andre, welcome to Top Flight British Dating Service. I ...

LONDON -- Now that we're into the second week of Wimbledon, the question begs to be asked: Will we actually talk tennis instead of underwear?Not that underwear doesn't have its place. But usually that place is, well, under something. Based on the media here, you'd have thought it was worn on the outside -- particularly if it belongs to Anna Kournikova.

LONDON -- When the British insist that, despite our shared language, they are different from Americans, I believe them. It is not, however, due to their superior birthright, their love of manners or their unique ability to tolerate cricket for more than 30 seconds.It's the TV they watch.In today's video-saturated world, you are what you see. And while we Yanks spend an average of seven hours a day with our tube -- swallowing such pabulum as "Melrose Place," "Spin City," "Dawson's Creek" and professional wrestling -- the Brits are being spoon-fed "Ground Force."