I wrote a column this week about one of the bizarrest happenings in local prep ball history, and a game I’d been hearing about for years: The 1970 summer league matchup between John Thompson’s St. Anthony’s squad and the Morgan Wootten-coached DeMatha.

They were the two best teams in the city back then, and played before a huge crowd on a little outdoor court at Jelleff.

Well, they sort of played. Thompson made the evening memorable, though for wholly unsporting reasons. He kept his star-stocked lineup, full of future NCAA Division 1 players, on the bench, and instead sent in a ringer squad of non-basketball players to face DeMatha. The Stags took no pity on the replacements, crushing the kids in St. Anthony’s uniforms, 108-26.

DeMatha players and the hoop-crazy fans who believed the hype and took the trouble that hot summer night to get to Jelleff, a boys club off Wisconsin Avenue, are still peeved at Thompson for making a mockery of the matchup.

But at the time the future Georgetown legend was anything but contrite.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Thompson ducked Wootten for Ducking Thompson? Nats win a video replay battle, lose the war? Larry Weisman practices the real new journalism? Michael Vick is the new Justin Timberlake? Greyhounds have friends?)

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Michael Vick Is the New Justin Timberlake?” »

Just in time for Skins training camp to open, the Washington Post unveils Fantasy Check, its fantasy football site.

In one of his opening posts, Mr. Fantasy, also known as writer Gene Wang, mulls going after Michael Vick and decides he ain’t gonna.

I’ve always stayed away from this stuff, because I’m scared. Over the years I’ve watched more friends throw it all away — families, fall Sundays, the ability to hold a conversation, etc… — on fantasy football than on booze and drugs combined.

What I’m saying is: It must be awwwwsummmm.

*Lazy headline, for sure, but I love this song like few others…

In 1993, gallery and atelier owner David Adamson became one of the first digital print makers in the world. Since then, he’s worked with Robert Frank, Chuck Close, and Annie Leibovitz, among many others. On Friday, July 24, the Adamson Gallery held a private reception for Velvet Underground frontman, photographer, and living legend Lou Reed–the artist behind the gallery’s latest exhibition, “Romanticism.” Last week, Washington City Paper spoke to Adamson about his work with Reed and the technology behind the ethereal prints.
Read More “David Adamson Discusses the Art of Lou Reed” »

image courtesy of ultimatecheerleaders.com

Dan Snyder talked to the Associated Press about his 10 years as an NFL owner.

We’ve heard most of it before: Snyder was young when he got the team, which is the only reason he made mistakes (charging for training camp, hiring Steve Spurrier) that everybody else would have made, too. But he’s learned and now it’s all good.

But the blah-blah-blah ends when Snyder moans that all the good deeds he’s done as Skins owner have “been overlooked, absolutely.” And we’re told he’s really a great human being, the proof being that Snyder “received the Community MVP Award at the Washington Football Legends for Charity banquet.”

Hmmm. I’d never heard of that award or group before. But with a little surfing, it turns out “Washington Football Legends for Charity“does exist, and that the “Platinum Sponsor” of the organization, meaning a provider in the top tier of funding for the Football Legends’ one and only function, the very one where Snyder was confirmed as a local Gandhi, was the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation.

Wait! I know THAT group! It’s headed by….Dan Snyder!

AFTER THE JUMP: Guaranteed Win Night II comes in? Will there be a Guaranteed Win Night III? Sure, Michael Vick’s rotten, but would he spit on his mom? Thom Loverro crowns the King? DC Armor is looking for a few good women?

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Snyder-Funded Group Names Snyder ‘MVP’!” »

Competition’s coming at Dan Snyder from all sides. Just as his monopoly on sports radio went all to crap with WJFK morphing from guy talk to an all-sports station (”The Fan“?….geez), now comes a rival to Snyder’s fan site, extremeskins.com: Burgundy and Gold Obsession, or BGObsession for short, has gone live.

The punchline here is that the new site was founded by some of the very same folks who used to make extremeskins.com run, only to become disenfranchised after selling out to Snyder in 2005. (For the un-obsessed: Snyder made the Redskins the first pro sports team to acquire an existing fan site with the extremeskins move, one of many firsts during the Redskins owner’s campaign to Control the Message.)

AFTER THE JUMP: Barry Sanders kid is BGObsessed? Extremeskins goes toe-to-toe with its founder’s new website? The Great Dan Steinberg™ Some bozo bet on the Nats BEFORE Guaranteed Win Night? DC United crushes the Real Madrid of a Small Section of Northwestern New York? Still no mention of the Washington Kastles? Sports Radio mulls Erin Andrews AND lactation?

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Bet on the Nationals NOW!” »

Sally Jenkins classied up the City Desk comments section last night, coming in after a post by Editor Erik Wemple to admit that she understands why folks other than her bosses don’t want her writing so many stories about Lance Armstrong.

But Jenkins took a short break from the confessional to say that in a previous post I’d made an error about how extensive the Jenkins/Armstrong library is: “By the way,” she wrote, “tell Dave McKenna it’s only two books with Armstrong, not ’several.’”

Those words hurt, coming from such a high place. And her allegation seems so dead-on; I really had written that she wrote “several” books, and she really had only written two. And the first of several online dictionaries I visited in hopes of a reprieve gave definitions of “several” that indicated I was guilty as charged.

But then I thought of Lance, who would never ever just cave and admit his accusers were right, no matter how obvious his guilt, no matter how strong the evidence.

So on I googled…

Read More “Playing the Feud™ — Celebrity Edition!” »

A few hours ago, The Washington Post finally got around to addressing the latest matters concerning Councilmember Marion Barry’s questionable use of contracts. Barry’s camp has repeatedly stated that the hiring of his girlfriend Donna Watts-Brighthaupt was not illegal. This time, the Post gets Barry to brag that he’d do it all over again. Or do it all again with the next love interest. The Post writes:

“You all think it is inappropriate to hire a girlfriend. I don’t think it is. In fact, there is no law against it,” Barry told The Washington Post. When asked whether he would hire another woman he becomes romantically involved with, Barry said, “Unless the law changes, why not?

Maybe he wouldn’t have done all of it over again, particularly the Denver hotel room drama. Maybe he wouldn’t even have his camp constantly text and call Watts-Brighthaupt throughout this ordeal in an attempt to get her to recant or who knows what. Watts-Brighthaupt was never sure what his people wanted from her post-July 4. Maybe he wouldn’t have insisted on labeling her “unstable” and giving her some kind of disorder.

Read More “Barry To Post: Nothing Illegal About Hiring Girlfriends” »

Some cancellations to report:

First and worst: Boxer Jimmy Lange’s scheduled July 25 fight in Greensboro, N.C., is off. A Lange spokesman told me over the weekend that the cancellation, first reported by the great local boxing clearinghouse boxingaroundthebeltway.com, came “out of the blue” after North Carolina  authorities refused to sanction Lange’s opponent, Jimmy LeBlanc. Lange’s camp surmises that LeBlanc’s record (12–16–4, with 10 of the losses coming in his last 12 fights) had regulators fearing a mismatch with the former cast member of NBC’s reality fight show, “The Contender.” Lange, from Great Falls, had hoped to use the Greensboro bout, his first outside of Fairfax since gaining TV stardom, to expand his considerable fan base beyond the beltway.

And Bruce Smith’s hometown of Virginia Beach has cancelled a festival to honor the former Redskins defensive end. The cancellation comes after Smith was convicted last week of DUI, following his franchise-record-breaking third drunk driving arrest in the last 12 years.

Also, there will be no Allen Iverson Celebrity Softball or Flag Football games around here this year. The former Georgetown star’s events had been held for several years at Prince George’s Stadium and attracted an impressive number of big-name sports celebs to our area. Iverson this year moved the party to the Tidewater region of Virginia, the stomping grounds, so to speak, of his youth. Iverson’s three-day shindig, now called the CrossOver Celebrity Weekend, was thrown over the weekend.

Tom Sedlacek, a spokesman for Prince George’s Stadium, says: “We were open to holding it here again this year, and kept dates open on our calendar, but apparently there was no interest from [Iverson] to do it here.”

I wonder if Iverson let Josh Howard sing the National Anthem this year?

AFTER THE JUMP: Asian Bias™ resurfaces at OTHER U.S. Open? Brock Lesnar needs some time to heel? Dan Snyder vintage videotapes? ANOTHER Sean Taylor ode?

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Brock Lesnar Goes to Heel!” »

Somebody sent me a link today to the Billy Ripken Fleer card from 1989, one of the most famous baseball cards of all time, if not one of the most valuable. All because of what’s written on the end of his bat.

Ripken’s stunt card turns 20 years old this season. What a stir that was! Oh, for a time when athletes didn’t have to show their naughty bits or burn a cow to get noticed…

A report on Fox 5 news last night opened with footage of folks at an unnamed swimming pool, then a voice-over started cataloging all the dangers you risk by wading in the water, starting with bug bites and sunburn and total body paralysis, before getting to the really bad stuff.

“One out of 5 Americans admitted to peeing in the pool,” said the voice.

Wham!

Read More “Are We All Swimming in a Sea of Pee?” »

The Redskins announced last night they’d hired Larry Weisman of USAToday. Does this mean Dan Snyder cares about improving his relationship with the media? Or just one more signal that every good newspaperman’s now going or already gone to PR or government? Or both?

Seems like a great hire. Weisman’s been writing about the NFL for the Gannett paper since the early 1980s. I know him best from his frequent guest appearances over the years on the wonderful “The Sports Reporters” radio show on WTEM, a station which is now owned by Dan Snyder. And Weisman’s great on that. Weisman was never as bombastic or entertaining as host Steve Czaban, but he came off as smart and plugged in.

And in his old typing job, Weisman didn’t pull punches on the man who now signs his checks.

This from a USAToday chat in March 2006:

Ashburn, VA: Does Dan Snider have a clue? You think he would learn from his past mistakes. I wonder if looked at the number of catches El had last year or just the big pass in the Super Bowl. Even more funny is his pickup of T.O. lite from San Fran. 30 mil for a saftey that has taken one too many blows to the head? I give each player no more than two years before Dan cuts them.

Larry Weisman: Look at the bright side. He passes the costs on to season ticket holders and those who park cars at FedUpField. Ever heard that expression about people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing? Remember that Dan Snyder isn’t so much playing with house money as with your money.

“FedUpField”? Nice!

Wonder if Weisman will call him “Mister Snyder” now.

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Snyder Hires Guy Who Coined “FedUpField?” »

Late last week came the news that editors at the Washington Post had discontinued Dan Froomkin’s popular White House Watch Web-only column after a five-and-a-half-year run.

This wasn’t just another media-personnel story for the trade publications. The act of a powerful news organization cutting off the head of a Bush-bashing media figure gave the Internet free license to indulge in Idiot Time.

Read More “Why Did the Washington Post Sack Dan Froomkin?” »

When Red Sock Rocco Baldelli hit a home run with two outs in the ninth and his team down, 9-1, the roar coming over the radio from Fenway South was enough to drown out Dave Jageler’s call and make you think somebody on the home team just hit a walkoff HR.

The Sox fans not only stayed, they cheered til the end. Sure, they’re hatable. But, man, they’re good fans.

***

The Wizards drafted University of Central Florida’s Jermaine Taylor with their second round pick last night. His dad is Kenny Green, the guy the Bullets drafted in 1985 instead of Karl Malone. The Bullets, then GM’d by Bob Ferry, also passed on John Stockton (for Mel Turpin).

Throughout the ’90s, folks traced the franchise’s woes to the Green-over-Malone pick. I called Green up years ago to ask if it bothered him.

It still did.

He asked me to pass on a message to Bullets/Wizards fans.

“Don’t blame Kenny Green!” Green said.

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Gary Clark’s Redskins Party Out of Bounds? Kenny Green’s Kid Over Karl Malone?” »

It’s been looking for a while like Dan Snyder’s going to have trouble filling his stadium come football season. But a Beatle could be just the ticket Snyder needs.

Shortly after Paul McCartney and Snyder announced a few days ago that the ex-Fab would be playing FedExField on August 1, the Redskins posted an offer on the team’s website: Buy club seats for the 2009 football season, and you can also purchase Paul McCartney tickets before they go on sale to the general public next Friday.

If you sign on to redskins.com now, the first page that will hit you features a McCartney/premium seats offer.

This was a rare Redskins offseason without any real ooomph — Albert Haynesworth’s skills far outweigh his name recognition, so his signing probably didn’t sell a dozen season tickets.

That means to Snyder, McCartney is this year’s Steve Spurrier, his Bruce Smith, his Deion Sanders and his Joe Gibbs 2.0. All in one.

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Can Macca Fill the Club Level? Snyder Eliminates Cash Parking? The Other Snyder Creeps Toward the Bigs?” »

Paul McCartney is coming to Washington! Well, Raljon, anyway: He’s playing on August 1 at the home of the Redskins, FedExField. Tickets go on sale next week.

Back to me: Yesterday’s press release announcing the show featured two testimonials of McCartney’s greatness, from Dan Snyder…and “Dave McKenna.”

Snyder got quoted (”I’ve been a fan of Paul’s all my life, so it’s going to be a memorable night for us all.”) because he owns the stadium. Makes sense. Me? I guess because whoever put out the press release was under orders to find a quote about McCartney blander than Snyder’s. And they hit gold with something I wrote about McCartney’s voice (”still strong enough to leave listeners awestruck”) for the Washington Post in 2005.

If it’s mine, I’m embarrassed by that clause, for sure. But I’ve never felt so close to Snyder. Turns out we have a bond.

Now I want to know if Snyder’s a “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” or “He Said She Said” guy? And how many times he played “Revolution #9″ backwards just to hear “I buried Paul!”?

I wonder if he had a Beatles belt buckle!

We’ll be picking out furniture soon! Text me, Dan!

***

Every little thing he does is magic, so…Nightspots are sending out press releases to let folks know ALEX OVECHKIN WAS HERE! I got this email from a Vegas  restaurant/club yesterday, a few hours before the Caps star was named MVP again.

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Paul McCartney, Dan Snyder…and ME? Ovie, Paris and Lindsay? DeMatha Ballers, Michelle Obama and Bobby Flay?A B.A. in B.A.S.S. Fishing?” »