No name has yet been determined, but starting next month, Segraves will be taking over the public affairs show on WDCW-TV now hosted by Chris Core, the longtime WMAL-AM talk show host now at WTOP.

The show, Segraves says, will be 30 minutes long, will be predominantly in interview format, and will cover more than strictly city politics. The show will have a more regional focus and will cover various current events, social issues, and cultural matters.

Segraves will also keep his duties at WTOP. Same goes for Core, who says he's signed a contract to embark on a new project, although he's forsworn from sharing details ahead of an official announcement. Core says he put in a good word for Segraves with Channel 50 management.

The show will be scheduled against the Sunday morning network talk shows. "My feeling is that people who are looking for that type of show are surfing the stations, and if they find a local alternative, they might stop for a while," Segraves says.

Among broadcast shows covering local political affairs, Segraves' program joins a select group, including NewsChannel 8's NewsTalk With Bruce DePuyt, WAMU-FM's Kojo Nnamdi Show, and WTOP's Politics Program With Mark Plotkin, not to mention Jonetta Rose Barras' Tuesday show on WPFW-FM.

Says Segraves, "I hope the show will have a bit of an aggressive edge that I bring to reporting, but it won't be limited to just politicians and hard news."

Prepare for the softer side of Segraves, people!

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

courtesy of D.C. Sports Bog

Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato, the poster children of the Prague Spring for Redskins fans, have been dubbed "Dumb" and "Dumber" in much of the agit prop that Redskins security has worked so hard to keep out of FedExField.

Awesome trivia: In "Dumb and Dumber," 1994 movie that informs the insurgency, there's a character named "Karl Swanson."

Really. You can look it up.

And in real life, as outlined by Paul Farhi in today's Washington Post, there's a Karl Swanson who's the third wheel in the Snyder/Cerrato continuum. (Full disclosure: I'm briefly in the story.) The flesh-and-blood Swanson has been Snyder's spokesperson since before he took over the Redskins. Swanson and Cerrato are the longest-tenured Skins staffers in the Snyder regime. They ride golf carts with the boss, and Swanson drives.

I don't know Karl Swanson much at all, but over the years he has returned a huge percentage of my phone calls and emails, even though long ago he grasped the likelihood was that Snyder wasn't going to come out great in whatever City Paper wrote about him. So I've come to admire Swanson a good bit. He's got the toughest job in Washington.

But dang if I didn't giggle when I Googled upon the "Dumb and Dumber" character  with his name. Makes his voyage to Redskins Park seem like destiny.

There's only one quote from the media-hatin' Redskins owner in White's dispatch: "We've let everyone down, including ourselves," Snyder said, "and we know that and we're just apologetic."

More to come?

Sure, the Nats season ended a while ago. But it makes sense that the Lerners would reach out while local sports fans are planning their sports ticket budgets and deleting Dan Snyder and Redskins.

But this Nationals ad is horrible.

After an all-glowing recap of the 2009 season -- two of these three made the cut: Zimmerman/Dunn had big homer totals, Stephen Stasburg signed, and the Nats had THE WORST RECORD IN ALL OF BASEBALL -- the ad copy climaxes with "[W]e can all see why Washington, DC is truly becoming the home of the National Pastime in the Nation's Capital."

Washington, DC is the home of baseball in the Nation's Capital? Who knew?

And who wrote that?

***

WUSA is also kicking the Redskins when they're down.  Advertisements for the local CBS affiliate that ran during the Ravens game yesterday urged Skins fans to "sound off " about the team.

"We won't throw away your signs!" said the voiceover.

Ouchie wouchie! Didn't you WUSA guys used to be covert "partners" with Snyder and help him out with all his infomercials? Guess the contract's up.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Reebok boasts of its butt-enhancement powers? Shannon Sharpe goes after the Redskins? Dan Marino goes after the Redskins? 66 percent of CBS viewers go after the Redskins? Dan Marino says Bill Cowher ain't gonna go for the Redskins? Heath Shuler has MVP award taken away from him by Politico? Ethics panel still gunning for Shuler? Chest bumping on the sidelines can get you suspended?)

***

Another commercial during the Ravens broadcast that showed the decline of Western Civilization came from Reebok, which is trying now to sell shoes using the motto: "Better legs and a better butt with every step."

***

The national folks got into the Skins-kicking swing of things, too: CBS pre-game show panelist Shannon Sharpe showed up on the set wearing a bag over his head, and carrying a sign that said "Fire Dan, In Bill We Trust" with an arrow pointing at fellow panelist and likely target of Dan Snyder affection Bill Cowher.

Sharpe's get up inspired another CBS pundit, Dan Marino, to jump in that because of the disastrous managment in Washington, the Skins won't be able to sign a "big time" coach.

Marino didn't mention Cowher by name, but the implication was clear. Given the high stakes, Marino wouldn't have said that without consulting Cowher. Cowher just smiled after Marino spoke.

Guess that means The Countdown to Cowher™ won't ever make me rich.

Also, 66 percent of the respondents to a CBS poll about what ails the Redskins said the biggest problem is the owner.

***

Heath Shuler almost had a good week. On Tuesday, Shuler (D-NC) led the Congressional football team to an overtime win over the Capitol Police squad in a charity football game at the DC Armory. Shuler was 29-45 with five TDs.

"It kind of brings back old times,"  Shuler told the Asheville Citizen-Times, his hometown paper. By "old times," he means his days playing QB with the Swain County High School Maroon Devils, not the Redskins.

For his performance, the Citizen-Times reported, Shuler was named the game's MVP.

But maybe the lawmen will laugh last. While Shuler was celebrating his finest football moments in DC, the Washington Post reported that investigators with a House of Representatives ethics panel are still looking into a land deal Shuler was involved in back in Knoxville, where he was once a superstar with the University of Tennessee and later a real estate honcho.

From the Post piece:

Before he was elected to Congress in 2006, Shuler invested in a real estate development called the Cove at Blackberry Ridge near Knoxville. The investment is worth from $5 million to $25 million, according to his financial disclosure reports. In August 2008, the [Knoxville] News-Sentinel reported that the TVA gave the Cove waterfront rights to build a boat dock in exchange for other land the real estate venture owned. The swap was made while Shuler sat on a House transportation subcommittee that oversaw the operations of the TVA, an entity chartered by Congress to manage the Tennessee Valley and its resources.

Worse yet, the Post originally misspelled his name ("Schuler") in the story's headline, and closed out the story with: "A call to Schuler seeking comment was not returned."

But the harshest blow came in Politico, which reported that Rep. Anthony Wiener (D-NY), and not Shuler, was actually named the charity football game's most valuable player.

And, yes, Politico also misspelled his name. From Politico's game write-up: “Heath Schuler has the offense humming after a sluggish beginning,” an announcer at the game said.

(More bad news on the Shuler beat late last week, Benjie Shuler, Heath Shuler's brother and former business partner in Heath Shuler Real Estate, what was once a powerhouse Knoxville agency, declared bankruptcy. In court filings, Benjie Shuler, who also was a reciever at the University of Tennessee while Heath was QB, listed assets of $265,000 and liabilities of over $10 million.)

***

Sunday's Washington Post has a maddening story about a superstar running back from Broad Run High School facing a suspension from an upcoming playoff game for chest bumping teammates after touchdowns. One of the chest bumps occurred on the sideline, the Post reported. Any player who gets two personal foul calls has to sit out a game. Broad Run's next game will come in the playoffs. Broad Run coaches have appealed the suspension, and Northern Virginia athletic officials have the opportunity to reverse the call.

Perhaps some facts have been twisted as the tale made its way from the sideline to the Sunday paper.

But if that story's legit, if a chest bump on the sidelines after a touchdown will indeed ruin a player's season, whoever made that call should never be allowed to work with kids again.

***

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Great Moments In Capitalism (Cont.)

I thought Dan Snyder couldn't top himself after selling Sept. 11 Commemorative Hats for profit.

Note to self: Never overestimate Dan Snyder. Never. Ever ever. Never never.

Folks at FedExField for yesterday's game reported that Snyder's vendors were selling beer to fans IN THE RESTROOMS!

And this isn't the first time.

(After the jump: New evidence of Snyder's "revenue stream"?)

The above photo was posted on Snyder's message board, ExtremeSkins.com, a year ago. A witness who goes by the board name of Gracelander wrote:

I'm in 418 and this one dude kept coming into our section peddling the beer and he was obviously in someone elses territory cuz there were alot of back and forth stuff said between them. Then what made me mad was when I went to the bathroom at the start of the 3rd quarter and this guy was in the BATHROOM selling beers to guy's who waited for the urinals. I found this just wrong on so many accounts. I took a pic of him because i'm sure this isn't typical "fed ex" rules for it's employees.

Gracelander later posted that he had received apologies from FedExField management, who blamed the bathroom retailing on maverick vendors.

Well, Gracelander went back to the scene of the grime yesterday for the Kansas City Chiefs game. Only this time, he brought along a video camera.

So now there's fresh video showing that the filthy sales practice is still in found at FedEx. Gracelander posted this video on youtube.com.

Other posters on Snyder's message board seconded Gracelander's yucky tale.

I mean, sure, with about half the ticketholders staying home yesterday, I can understand Snyder needs to come up with some new, um, revenue streams.

But...beer in the bathrooms?

Stay with Cheap Seats Daily for continuous updates on BeerInTheBathroomsGate™!

The New York Times...has already published five articles about Le's disappearance and murder and the apprehension of suspect Raymond Clark III. The Boston Globe has published at least six stories about the case, and the Washington Post has run at least three briefs from the Associated Press. The Times of London, published five time zones away, can't seem to sate its appetite for Annie Le news. Even the proletarian New York tabloids—the Post and the Daily News—have gone ape for the story.

...besides which, a slew of well-sourced and quick-response articles in the university's paper of record, and, by my count, two cover spots in the Washington Post Express.

My problem with Shafer's piece isn't his gripe that crimes at Yale and Harvard receive undue attention. (They do; always have.) I went to Yale—graduated, even—and Shafer's points are well taken. But what the media critic misses is that, when it comes to murder, the Ivy League's disproportionate share of media attention is part of a larger, and more regrettable, trend.

In D.C., the murders of (say) a white, affluent northwest couple like Michael and Virginia Spevak prompt the kind of media bonanza with which no targeted shooting in southeast could possibly compete. Then there's the case of Alice Swanson, a well-educated, middle-class white activist wired into the world of think tanks and nonprofits. A full year after her death, her memorial was still standing—and when, two weeks ago, the mayor's office removed the ghost bike, people freaked. Of course, as one commenter noted:

The law says the memorials come down they come down. If this was am unsightly teddy bear memorial surrounded by liquor bottles and candles for a gun shot victim you would be petioning the Mayor’s Office for it’s removal.

This isn't just about the media; it's about us and our assumptions. As a paper, we only put murders above the fold when they defeat expectations—sensationally or otherwise. As humans, we perk up when a story elicits a double-take, or forces us to reassess presuppositions that may have been bogus to begin with. Would this story have blown up in the mid- to late '80s? Probably not; New Haven was a lot grittier back then. But if a GWU student were kidnapped, brutalized, and discovered a week later in a wall, I'm pretty sure the event would garner more coverage than the corresponding death of a kid in Ward 8. (Ask Cherkis.)

Just saying. Newspapers have been on this treadmill for a long time. If anything, the Annie Le story is one that deserved to make it.

***

Closing hat-tip: After calling the New York Times "one of several Ivy League house organs," Shafer is wise to acknowledge that at Slate (which fits much the same description), "no Harvard or Yale story proposal will ever be laughed out of a story meeting, no matter how mundane."

DCPS, the agency she lords over, has impeded every attempt to find out what really happened on that Allegany County football field last Sept. 19, 2008.

At least, that's what school officials in Allegany County and Maryland athletic overseers say about Rhee's handling of the matter.

Rhee won't say anything. So why not believe everybody else?

(AFTER THE JUMP: Why didn't Michelle Rhee cooperate in the Dunbar/Fort Hill investigations? Why won't Michelle Rhee explain why she didn't cooperate in the Dunbar/Fort Hill investigations? How did we reach a point where Michelle Rhee feels she doesn't have to explain why she didn't cooperate in the Dunbar/Fort Hill investigations? Redskins fans are racist? Dinosaurs and Indiana and preseason hockey trump postseason Mystics? )

Though everything that took place will never be agreed upon, this much is inarguable: Jefferies ordered his Dunbar players off the field in the third quarter of a game at Fort Hill.

Another apparent certainty: Ever since Jefferies said he pulled the team because his players were being racially taunted by Fort Hill's players and turned a football game into a national debate about race and sports, Rhee has behaved as if DCPS is her own private trust, not a government agency with some obligation to transparency.

"We know what we know, but we sort of only know from one point of view,"says Ned Sparks, head of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, the group which governs high school sports in the state and investigated Jefferies' allegations. "I never did hear from the DC folks. We heard from Fort Hill, watched all the video, talked to referees, and police. We have not found anybody to [back up the charges that Fort Hill players used racial slurs]. But we turned the Dunbar portion over to [DCPS] people to handle. We tried to facilitate some meetings. But we never did hear back from them."

Going on what it found, MPSSAA awarded Fort Hill a forfeit victory. No sanction of any kind was issued against any Fort Hill player or coach.

Fort Hill and Allegany schools administrators also told me attempts to reach out to DCPS after the Dunbar/Fort Hill game were ignored.

The U.S Department of Justice attempted to mediate the situation, and did organize a meeting that included representatives from DCPS and Allegany County schools to talk about Dunbar/Fort Hill.

After that gathering, officials from Allegany County filed a written report that the DOJ mediator requested.

Rhee, however, did not file any report with the federal government.

And with only one side of the story, the Department of Justice did not issue any report of its findings. The mediation effort quietly died.

Because of the Dunbar/Fort Hill incident, Sparks says, MPSSAA added passages about racially charged language to the handbook it has just distributed to every team captain in the state.

But Sparks remains frustrated by DCPS's repeated failure to participate in the investigations. He says DCPS's failure to cooperate with Maryland is one thing; Rhee's failure to work with the federal mediators is a whole different ballgame.

"If they had just given their report (to the DOJ), that would have been fine with us," he says. "But..."

So, what is DCPS's official version of what took place at Fort Hill? Who knows?

"The [DOJ] proceeding was confidential, therefore we cannot disclose our presentation," said Rhee's spokesperson, Jennifer Calloway, via email after repeated requests for information about the Dunbar/Fort Hill matter.

"Confidential"? Who says? Allegany officials have talked about it and told their version: They found nothing to back up the charges that racial slurs were used.

So why hasn't DCPS said anything, either to back up Jefferies or confess that they found nothing to support his charges? Who can't handle the truth?

Calloway confirmed that no written report was issued.

Why?

"At this point we do not have any further comment," was the only response from Rhee's office. Subsequent emails went unanswered.

The bottom line: Rhee's stonewalling has left everybody looking bad.

Rhee obviously wishes the whole Dunbar/Fort Hill mess would just go away. Before it does, she should explain her behavior. She is a civil servant, right?

***

Speaking of hate speech: If you want to learn to hate Redskins fans but don't have time to spend halftime in the concourse of FedExField on Sunday, just mosey over to Dan Snyder's message board, extremeskins.com, and read what the hardcores are saying about the petition a group of American Indians filed recently asking the Supreme Court to review a lower court's decision to save the team's trademark protections.

A sampling:

TK, the bulliest of Snyder's moderators still hanging around after all the originals jumped ship, calls the plaintiffs "[s]even people that have nothing better to do then continue to make theirselves look silly for 17 years and counting." And TK's the brains of the outfit.

The poster LAXPCK weighs in with: "isnt there some firewater or beads we can give these people to make them be quiet...How about if we give them a casino?"

And the big winner among the Skins class of clowns is the poster known as ThePreciating, who, in response to a commenter who says he has "many relatives who are Native American who despise the name," writes:

Speaking of your relatives, I'm so sick of these redskins invading our neighborhoods with their high crime rates and gambling and drugs. I swear, pretty soon they'll be teaching injun talk to our kids in school.

Blasting their tribal chants out their car windows, smoking their peace pipes all over the place, scalping innocent children. It's just unbelievable.

Sorry - I guess some of that Washington Redskins racism is rubbing off on me.

Wowee.

***

Last weekend's performance of the St. Louis Rams offense makes the Skins offense look like the Saints offense.

Or something like that.

But as bad as his team is, this weekend's game at FedExField will be new Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo's "grudge" game. You know he's got it in for Dan Snyder. Shortly after crushing Gregg Williams in the last offseason with dirty leaks about him disrespecting Joe Gibbs, Snyder et al sold some folks in the DC media on a tale that the reason Spags didn't get the Skins head coaching job was because the job interviewer (Snyder) and the interviewee (Spags) agreed that the interviewee (Spags) wasn't ready to be a coach.

Nobody outside this market ever bought that story, not after all those interviews at Snyder's Maryland estate, the one with the good view of the river.

But Spagnuolo surely didn't have any trouble staying awake for an extra couple hours of film watching this week in hopes of getting his first win as a head coach -- or at least scoring his first points -- against the owner who slimed him.

***

Finally, a poll where the Redskins DON'T finish last: The Skins are in fourth in opensecrets.org's ranking of NFL teams based on the amount of political contributions made over the last 20 years. Skins owners and officials have donated a total of Washington Redskins $323,000 over that time, a mere $8,550, or about 3 percent, to Democratic Party candidates.

The clubhouse leader by almost a full zero is the San Diego Chargers, who according to opensecret.org's data have given $2,455,200, all but 2 percent to the GOP or its candidates.

***

The Mystics opened the playoffs in a college gym because "Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular" got dibs on their regular home, the Verizon Center. Playing away from the treasured "Attendance Champion" banners, the Mystics lost, 88-79. The T-Rexes will be gone in time for Game 3* of the Best of Three series. But the Caps are scheduled to play the Buffalo Sabres at Verizon.

And, as everybody knows, preseason hockey trumps postseason women's basketball EVERY TIME!

***

Story tips? Wanna Play the Feud? Tube amps for sale? Send to: cheapseats@washingtoncitypaper.com

The most interesting reading in the 14-page pullout comes in one of its few advertisements. Main Line Animal Rescue, a Philadelphia group that apparently specializes in saving "Bully Breeds" of dogs, bought space in the section.

The ad copy, placed alongside a photo of what I assume is a pit bull:

Attention Football Fans: Philadelphia is playing Washington on October 26.

Every time Michael Vick is tackled during the game, Main Line Animal Rescue will donate 5 bags of dog food to your local animal shelter.

"Because there are no second chances on an empty stomach."

Consider volunteering at your local shelter on the day of the game. Spend some time walking, or brushing, or bathing, or hugging a homeless Pit Bull.

Not exactly the bounty on players' heads that led to the famous "Body Bag Game" between the Skins and Eagles in 1990, but, still.

My sense is the outrage against Vick has waned so much and so fast that by the time the Eagles get to DC, there'll be a lot more talk about the wildcat offense than dog killing.

(By the way: The other ads in the Post's football section are: four small spots for imported car dealers, one for a job fair, and a half-pager, the biggest in the section) announcing a blowout chain saw sale. Men! Men! Men!)

***

(AFTER THE JUMP: Wilbon already blames Snyder for lousy season? Kornheiser speaks no Snyder? Unseld whupped Yao's dad? The Asian Bias™ in golf affects White House visit? The Nats Countdown to 100 Losses starts now? Pedro Martinez already has more wins than most Nats?)

***

Back in the regular sports section, the Post runs a column, headlined "Hot Topic," that has  Michael Wilbon downgrading his record forecast for the 2009 Skins from 11-5 to 8-8. Wilbon says he ordered the recount because of his paper's fabulous series on the Redskins selling tickets to scalpers and suing down-on-their-luck grannies.

But where the heck did 11-5 come from in the first place?

***

Wilbon's PTI partner Tony Kornheiser restarted his radio show yesterday. I listened to most of the two-hour broadcast, but didn't hear any discussion of Dan Snyder's ticket issues. Far as I and Wilbon can tell, those are still the hottest topics in town. Kornheiser now works at WTEM-AM, owned by Snyder.

After Kornheiser's show, I flipped to rival sportstalker WJFK-FM, for Washington Post columnist Mike Wise's program, in time to hear Wise's sidekick say, "Call us if you hate the owner!"

WJFK isn't owned by Snyder.

***

The Bullets/Wizards are in China again. A delegation led by Wes Unseld, Gheorghe Muresan, Caron Butler and Randy Foye (a newcomer who is only less familiar in the provinces than in DC) showed up in Beijing to remember a pioneering barnstorming tour of the Far East arranged 30 years ago by Abe Pollin.

No team had ever been to China before the Bullets. Awesome trivia from Unseld: The former Great Wall of the Bullets' front line remembers playing all those years ago in Shanghai against Yao Ming's dad, a year before the future Houston Rockets center was born.

Pollin helped make the world a lot smaller than it was back then.

***

Which makes this a perfect time for an update on...the Asian Bias™ in Golf! Greg Norman, who was in town for a White House visit yesterday, sees that golf's future is in the East. The Australian legend is captaining the "International" squad in the upcoming (and always bogus) President's Cup, a silly nationalistic links exercise that was founded in Northern Virginia at the Lansdowne resort but will be held next month at Harding Park in San Francisco. While meeting with the president, Norman was taking a lot of stuff from golf fans for using his captain's choice to put Ryo Ishikawa, a 17-year-old from Japan, on the un-American President's Cup team. Ishikawa will join Y.E. Yang of Korea.

The USA squad's proof of the Asian Bias™ comes with Anthony Kim and, of course, Woods.

Last week, 17-year-old Byeong-Hun An of Seoul, South Korea, became the youngest golfer ever to win the 2009 U.S. Amateur championship. The tournament record for youth was previously held by Danny Lee, also a South Korean native, who was just 18 when he won the 2008  U.S. Amateur. Lee broke the record set by the Godfather of the Asian Bias™ in golf: Tiger Woods.

The 2009 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship was won recently by Jennifer Song of Daejon, Korea.

Cheap Seats Daily, intrigued as all get out by the Eastern dominance of what just yesterday was the lily-whitest sport in the history of man, promises to continue to hype the Asian Bias™ until Lou Dobbs treats our reports like real news.

***

The Nats lost to the Phils, 5-3.

Let the Countdown to 100 Losses begin! Washington is now 47-91, and would have to go 16-8 to avoid a third season in a row with triple-figure losses.

That ain't gonna happen: 18 of the remaining games are against teams above .500, including nine vs. either the Phillies or Dodgers.

Pedro Martinez got the win for Philadelphia. If memory serves, Martinez hadn't thrown a pitch this season before last week. But he now has a 4-0 record. Before yesterday's September call-ups, which included Shairon Martis (5-3 with the Nats prior to being sent to the minors), Washington had only one pitcher on the roster with more wins in 2009 than Martinez -- John Lannan, now at 8-10. Amazing...

***

Story tips? Wanna Play the Feud? Tube amps for sale? Send to: cheapseats@washingtoncitypaper.com

Somebody should tell Sam Rogers that feuds are good for radio. He won't take my word for it.

Rogers is Senior Vice President and Market Manager of CBS Radio for the DC cluster, which means he's the boss at WJFK, the city's new sportstalk station and rival to Dan Snyder's WTEM.

Rogers' station also tried to create a rivalry with Snyder in the parking realm. But Snyder crushed him right out of the gate.

Background: Last week, WJFK, which calls itself "The Fan" in its catchy/creepy jingles, wildly promoted the FanZone, a parking lot near FedExField. The lot was marketed as an anti-Snyder haven, where on Redskins game days there would be no tailgating restrictions and folks could pretty much come as early and stay as late as they want. Parking at the FanZone, according to the WJFK pitch, would also cost a lot less than Snyder charges.

Within days of putting the passes on sale, the WJFK web site announced that FanZone season passes were sold out.

But come the day of the Skins first preseason game against Pittsburgh, there was no such thing as the FanZone. Folks who followed directions to the WJFK lot instead found what was called the Copper Lot, a parking lot operated by Snyder. Karl Swanson, a spokesman for the Redskins and Snyder, told me a couple days ago that WJFK started selling parking passes before it secured the rights to operate a lot on the alleged FanZone site. Snyder swooped in and leased the land WJFK wanted, thereby kaboshing Rogers' first big promotion for a station that was supposed to be Snyder's competition.

Crushing blow, right, Mr. Rogers?

"This was a business deal, it didn't go my way," Rogers tells me. "That's it. No story here."

"Didn't go your way? 'No story'?" I ask Rogers, unable to hide my disdain for calm professionalism.

I'm thinking: You market yourself as the anti-Snyder, and watch as Snyder shows you who's boss by taking over your new sport station's first big promotion, and all you can say is it didn't go your way?

So I ask, Isn't it more accurate to say that Snyder, the owner of the rival sportstalker, crushed you guys?

"I wouldn't say that," he says. "Just a business deal. All the parties are discussing the matter. No story."

But but but...Isn't it also true that there's a posting on DCRTV today that says Snyder's WTEM has jumped ahead of WJFK in the local radio ratings, with Snyder in 19th place and WJFK in 20th? That's gotta hurt! It hurts, right?

"No," says Rogers. "You don't look at the overall audience. We're doing fine. I'm very pleased with WJFK."

Dang.

Please, somebody convince Rogers that a big ol' public brouhaha with Snyder would be a boon for his station. Or, well, I'm gonna have to find something else to write about.

In other words, a deal just like those Redskins de facto GM Vinny Cerrato makes every offseason.

And now it looks like Rizzo's about to be kicked out of his job.

If it were Cerrato who was getting knocked off, Redskins fans would be celebrating his departure the way Italians rallied around Mussolini's swinging carcass.

But in Rizzo's case, Nats followers are upset.

Will that be enough to save his job?

We couldn't be happier!

The bankrupt company's creditors are asking the courts to hold up proceedings until they can investigate the relationship between Six Flags and Red Zone LLC, an investment group Snyder formed with a lot of Redskins Park, including team bigwigs Vincent "Vinny" Cerrato and Karl Swanson. Snyder used the group's Six Flags stock holdings take over the amusement park chain via a stockholder coup in 2005. Snyder anointed Mark Shapiro, also a Red Zone member, as made CEO of Six Flags.

The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that in recent filings with the court, attorneys for the firms holding notes for Six Flags, which is now more than $2 billion-plus in debt, singled out as questionable several actions made under Snyder's tenure that involve Red Zone.

Among the dubiousest: Red Zone's sale of a chunk of Dick Clark Productions to Six Flags, a deal that took place shortly after Snyder acquired the production company.

Back to us: SIX Flagging pegged that sale as fishy long ago. In a July 2008 post in this space, we called it "a bizarre transaction that essentially amounted to one of Snyder’s private equity outfits (Red Zone) making a $40 million sale to one of Snyder’s public equity outfits (Six Flags)."

Think the Private Snyder, playing with his own money, would strike a fair bargain with the Public Snyder, who was spending stockholders' loot?

Sure he would....IN OPPOSITE LAND!

Some folks were kinder to the deal: Rick Munarriz, a pundit for Motley Fool who urged invest in Six Flags under Snyder from the time he took over as Chairman of the Board until most nails were in the coffin, called the Dick Clark Productions sale "brilliant.

The investors also called for an investigation of a school of fishy moves Snyder and the board made in April, just before Six Flags filed for bankruptcy protections, including: giving raises, doling out $4.5 million in bonuses, and pledging big chunks of equity in the company when it comes out of reorganization.

All the perks to Snyder's insiders came as common stockholders investments were heading toward worthlessness.

If Six Flags' portion of Dick Clark Productions was scheduled to revert to Private Snyder and his investment buddies after the re-organization, well, we might have us some trouble!

Keep the dial right here for all the breaking news in Dan Snyder's Six Flags soap opera.

A GRIDIRON AFFAIR

In a time when some doubt the DOMINANCE of the BURGUNDY and GOLD, we must remember where the fear and the Dominance of the Burgundy & Gold came... It has been 17years since our mighty Burgundy and Gold Donned the Phrase... "SUPERBOWLCHAMPION."

Well, sometimes in Supporting the Present you first have to understand and Celebrate your Past, because in your past, you find the compos that guides your future.  Inspiration comes from Greatness and Greatness come from Inspiration… In December … Greatness is coming back to the Washington, DC metropolitan area... At the place where it all started...

This isn't the first time Clark has put out a party invitation, or used the sort of punctuation generally found on ransom notes. One difference from previous Clark invites: There's no specific date on this one. Or specific time. Or specific venue. Just "where it all started."

Vagueness can be a virtue.

Last month, Clark started advertising and offering tickets for what was billed as "The Ultimate Tailgate" party and Super Bowl gala. There would be a battle of the bands, the invitation promised, plus a massive video-game tournament with Chris Cooley participating, Joe Gibbs and Dan Snyder speeches, a Monte Carlo Night extravaganza and appearances by every player on every Redskins Super Bowl team. The dreamy all-day event, according to the promos, was going to be held on August 29 at RFK Stadium.

One of the many problems here: Nobody told RFK Stadium.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Who's on crack? LaVar Arrington goes deep? LaVar let you take a turn bashing Dan Snyder? Juwan Howard is still in the NBA? The Nats are still playing?)

When City Paper called the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, which runs the stadium, about the August 29 event promoted on Clark's web site, DCSEC head Erik Moses said the commission had heard from Clark about his party plans but never got into serious discussions about it. Moses said that no such event was scheduled for the stadium at August 29 or any other date.

Clark shut down most of his web site after City Paper's inquiries, and told me that while some mistakes were made, and no matter what I'd been told by RFK Stadium's owners, his big bash was indeed going to be thrown. (During our meeting, Clark also kept telling me, "You're on crack!") But, Clark said, he'd moved the date from August 29 to December 29.

For a while, his web site had bare bones info about a Redskins party he was going to host at RFK on Dec. 29.

Well, slight problem: Dec. 29 is a Tuesday, and it's also the same day the EagleBank Bowl will be held at RFK.

Clark took down the Dec. 29 announcement a while ago. But, from his latest invite, he's still ready to party! So, save the date! Or, better just save all of December!

Remember: Ain't no party like a Gary Clark party!

***

The Lavar Arrington Show provides the best moments in DC sports talk these days.

Arrington's got stories that no other radio host can match, and he tells 'em amazingly. Last Wednesday on the air he told of his last moments as a pro football player, when he was playing for the New York Giants and having what he thought was one of the best games of his career on a "Monday Night Football" telecast in Dallas, and suddenly found himself laying on the field with his achilles heel tendons shredded. While on the ground getting sick from the pain, he recognized a portion of the nearby sidelines as the very spot where he put the hit on Troy Aikman KO'd the Cowboys QB and ended his career, and he couldn't stop looking at that patch of fake grass.

"I knew then that it was over for me, too," Arrington said.

If you missed that show, try to get it on a podcast or whatever. You'll thank me.

Then on yesterday's program, Arrington opened the phones forever to let callers rail about the game day experience at FedExField and otherwise pound on Redskins owner Dan Snyder.

These bash sessions may get old eventually. But considering how badly Arrington's run here in DC ended, with him joining a host of other players claiming Snyder lied to him during contract negotiations, and then having the organization slime him on his way out, for now it sounds like justice.

***

Juwan Howard won't get booed this time: AllAfrica.com reports that Howard will be in Uganda this weekend promoting Sprite and basketball.

Howard, a first-round pick of the Washington Bullets in 1994, had a short honeymoon here before he was run out of DC by fans for not living up to his $100 million-plus contract on or off the court, a combinatin of too many arrests and too few points in the paint.

But, he's still in the league after all these years, and played last season with Charlotte. The AllAfrica.com story says that the Uganda event will be related to an upcoming gathering sponsored by "Basketball Without Boarders." That's supposed to read "Basketball Without Borders," which is a charity group that uses hoops to promote US interests abroad.

But the slip from "borders" to "boarders" in this case is very Freudian:  Howard's trip was arranged by Miles and Associates, described in the story as "a US funded South African based organisation that promotes youth development mainly through basketball." But, far as I can tell, Miles and Associates, which has a DC office, also works as a scouting organization for U.S. high school athletic programs.

Among many stars the firm exported from what NPR calls "the Dark Continent" to our shores are Yao Sithole and Given Kalipinde, who finished at Episcopal High School in Alexandria. That's a boarding school, where Sithole and Kalipinde starred in soccer and hoops.

So, basketball without boarders? Forget that: Sounds like Miles and Associates is bent on finding boarders who can play some basketball.

***

The Nats don't blow all of a big lead and win, 5-4. John Lannan gets to 8-8. Given the way his team's played behind him all season, Lannan's record is Cy Young-ish. Three everyday guys are now hitting over .300. The Nats' two power hitters are hitting just sub-.300. Then again, what are we talking about this for?

It's football season!

***

Story tips? Wanna Play the Feud? Tube amps for sale? Send to: cheapseats@washingtoncitypaper.com

Sports leagues, like romantic relationships, can't survive taking a break. Last year AFL owners thought they were different, announcing that while they'd be spending the 2009 season apart, they weren't breaking up.

Again: Just need some space. Just taking some time off from each other before getting back together.

Well, this week, several AFL owners leaked to the press the date that they'll be getting back together: The 12th....OF NEVER!

The AFL is dead.

The disbanding means, alas, Dan Snyder won't ever bring us the AFL team he promised back in 1999.

(AFTER THE JUMP: MMA is the next arena football? How many Redskins blogs are out there? Dan Steinberg marvels at whose muscles? The Washington Times toasts Bruce Smith? Michael Vick is partying where? The Nats are still playing?)

Snyder bought the DC franchise rights for the AFL shortly after taking over the Redskins. He said back then that he was going to name the indoor team the Warriors, and registered trademarks for that name and for an arrow-and-feather logo and helmet design.

Then Snyder never made any move toward putting that team together.

At the time, I figured Snyder only registered the marks because it looked like he could lose federal trademark protections on "Redskins" for being racist, and he wanted a fall-back name ready.

All these years later, I still agree with myself. Guess we'll never know what his real intentions were.

No official announcement of the league's disbanding has yet appeared on the AFL's web site.

However, the league's "Mission Statement" is still prominently placed:

“To serve our community with pride and passion as a quality example of individual and team excellence on the field, in the office, at the arena and within the community by consistently exceeding our customers’ expectations by demonstrating the highest character, appreciation and respect for our game, customers, teammates and partners as a cost-effective and visionary organization providing a total entertainment experience.”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....Among the few things I can think of more boring than reading the AFL Mission Statement is watching an arena football game.

Columnist Ray Ratto takes the indoor football and runs with it. Ratto links indoor football with Twitter, and says UFC is the next AFL.

I agree.

***

In case you missed it: Dan Snyder's SIX Flags lost another $121 million-plus change this spring. Who's to blame? God, government, Mother Nature, Swine Flu, Jesus' death, and minimum wage employees, say Dan Snyder and Six Flags co-captain Mark Shapiro.

And so what if Six Flags is in the toilet? Dan Snyder just wants to win, dammit!

***

The Great Dan Steinberg marvels at the big muscles the Redskins have. Thank goodness the NFL has been so out-front in the drug testing realm, so that I and other media types, not to mention all football fans, don't have to waste a single second wondering whether ANY of these behemoths achieved this unnatural looking state through any means other than just eating real good and throwing lots of steel!

Way to keep it clean, NFL! Just say no, kids!

***

The Michael Vick Watch goes on off the football field, too. An event called the "Michael Vick Community Celebration" scheduled for this weekend in his hometown of Newport News, Va., was cancelled because, organizers said, Vick had to be in Atlanta for a Humane Society event.

But then no animal rights types in Atlanta would confirm that Vick is supposed to be there, either.

The big questions: What sort of creeps would organize a Vick "celebration" now? Who can even be near the guy and look at him without thinking, "Yucky!"?

***

Speaking of troubled Tidewater athletes: Real odd story in the Washington Times with longtime football writer Dave Elfin working mightily to try to rehab Bruce Smith's image just after the Hokie/Bill/Redskin's conviction on a third DUI arrest in 12 years.

The city of Virginia Beach cancelled a party that was going to celebrate Smith's induction to the Hall of Fame because of his drinking and driving problems.

Elfin argues that for a guy with three DUI arrests he's great with kids, and a great businessman, too, for a guy with three DUI arrests.

"If I hadn't done what I did on the football field," Smith  says of his buying things for an old football coach in his hometown, "I wouldn't have been afforded the opportunity to give back in such a fashion."

Well, there's that, Bruce, plus: you'd be in jail now.

***

The blog DC Pro Sports Report has a compendium of all the Redskins sites out there. Good god, you won't believe how many there are.

***

Nats have a six-run eighth and beat Florida, 6-4. Greatest comeback win of the season! Three-game winning streak!

Uh, oh! This just in: Until further notice, it's still football season! Just as things were getting exciting! Darn!

***

Story tips? Wanna Play the Feud? Tube amps for sale? Send to: cheapseats@washingtoncitypaper.com

Especially satisfying after so much failed quirkiness this year:

Team Snydiro -- Chairman Dan Snyder and CEO Mark Shapiro -- have now been telling the world for almost four years that Six Flags has gotten things together.

Today, more proof that Six Flags hasn't gotten things together.

Shapiro emerged from hiding this morning to release another set of dismal financial figures for the bankrupt Six Flags, these from the second quarter 2009.

This report, like every report the company has issued since Snyder took over the company in late 2005 amid big boasts of how he was going to right the ship, contained awful numbers.

Six Flags, already more than $2 billion in debt, lost another $121.6 million.

Also as with previous releases, Snydiro blamed everything and everybody but themselves and their management for the company's atrocious fiscal state.

God and governments were particularly culpable, according to Snydiro.

"Our decline in performance is a reflection of all that surrounds Six Flags — a severe recession, a balance sheet restructuring process, the swine flu pandemic, adverse foreign currency impact at our international parks and miserable weather, particularly at our East Coast parks," Shapiro said in a statement.

That's it?

Nah!

Shapiro also fingered the "timing of Easter" and the "minimum wage increase" as factors in the rock-bottom bottom line he and Snyder showed the More Flags, More Fun! investors.

Wanna blame Easter for your woes? Go ahead. Whatever. But that minimum wage claim is outstanding, even from Snydiro. The figures released by Six Flags today, Snydiro said, covered the period that began April 1 and "ended June 30, 2009."

Teensy quibble, Snydiro: The Federal minimum wage went from $6.55 to $7.25 a week on JULY 24, 2009!

Nice try, Snydiro!

Geez, this same ol' whine from Six Flags management has got me sleepy. Good thing that during the second quarter, amid the bankrupty filings and dealing with the lack of a raise in the minimum wage and all things just sinking more to hell, Snydiro started selling an Official Mattress of Six Flags!

Keep the dial right here for all the breaking news in Dan Snyder's Six Flags soap opera!