One afternoon during my previous life as a N.Y. Post sportswriter, I visited the newspaper's Lower East Side office to find out the then-governor of New York had visited the building earlier that day.
Besides that, he said he was a fan of my work
Gov. Mario Cuomo stopped by the newsroom and, among other things, said he liked reading "Charlie McCarthy's coverage of St. John's basketball." I was flattered, but hardly surprised -- after all, Cuomo was a St. John's grad.
The assistant sports editor, a guy who thoroughly enjoyed ball-busting, couldn't wait to give me this tidbit: the governor had pointed out there was a typo in my story that day.
The following Saturday, I was working part-time on the NBC set used for the pregame and halftime shows for Notre Dame football games. I was among five or six people whose jobs were to find out details on other games.
Soon after arriving, we were watching the in-house feed and found out Cuomo was in the building to be on the Today show or the local NBC morning show. (I forget which one.)
One of my co-workers heard my story about earlier in the week, and enticed me to go up a few floors and introduce myself to the governor.
As my friend and I walk out of the elevator, I see Cuomo and a bodyguard approaching. I extend my hand while saying, "Governor!" -- with the bodyguard looking me over closer than any woman ever did.
I introduced myself. For a split second the governor paused, then smiled and grabbed my hand. "Oh ... Charlie! How are you? Great to meet you."
While we got in the elevator, I told the governor I heard about his visit to the Post. We briefly talked about then-St. John 's coach and mutual friend Lou Carnesecca.
Cuomo smiled and said, "You didn't go to St. John's, did you?"
"No," I said. "NYU."
"I knew it couldn't be St. John's when I saw the typo," he said.
Ouch. Corrected by and dissed by the governor of New York in a matter of a few days.
Then again, I didn't tell him I never voted for him. :)
