Last Sunday, the Redskins trumped trends, history, and conventional wisdom, with a victory over the hated Dallas Cowboys (”opening up the windows of heaven and letting God pour out his blessings“).

Was this a moment for gloating? Yes. Was this a moment to pump fists in your car as you listened to the locker-room interviews? Yes. Was this a moment to look deep into your friend’s eyes and allow yourself to wonder aloud if it’s time to start up some kind of Bandwagon? Yes.

Was this a moment to broadcast a racist remark about turban-wearers?

Well, no. That’s a violation of even extremeskins or sports-talk etiquette. As the Examiner reports (key parts bolded for your pleasure):

“A Metro operator’s Monday morning attempt to celebrate the Redskins’ win over the Dallas Cowboys offended riders who heard him equate turban-wearers with terrorists over the train’s loudspeaker system.

‘Don’t be afraid if you see a bunch of people wearing towels on their heads today,’ the Orange Line operator said to a train full of people, according to riders. ‘They’re not terrorists; they’re with the Dallas Cowboys. Go Redskins.’”

The Redskins may have the most racist name in all of sports. But fans need to comport themselves better! I love that the Examiner tries to explain the remark as something that just might be non-racist, non-offensive:

“Athletes whose teams are nearing defeat can often be seen throwing towels over their heads as they slump on the bench. But the allusion to the derogatory term ‘towelhead’ for people who wear turbans, and the implication that they are terrorists, offended at least two riders, who lodged complaints with Metro.”

Thanks to DCist for aggregating(!) this item.

From the District government:

McPherson Square Metro Rail (1400 I Street. NW); the station is closed due to a hazmat situation being investigated outside of the station, shuttle buses is being sent to the location.

There was a fabulous anarchic feel around the Morgan Boulevard Metro station on Sunday. Fans going to FedExField for the Redskins/Saints game were met by a horde of vans and drivers shouting for their business as they came off the train.

This was the first regular season game since the team stopped providing shuttle service from the train stops to the stadium. New federal rules went into effect last spring restricting the use of public buses when private companies can provide the same service.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who has been using Metro buses all these years, opted not to bring in a private company, as the Washington Nationals use to transport fans from RFK lots to Nationals Park.

Snyder instead raised the parking rate at his cash lots by $5, to $40.

The private vans that I saw were all screaming offers of $5 per ride, but that seemed like an opening bid, and very negotiable given the amount of competition.

I asked a driver how long the ride was, and she said her GPS rated it at 1.4 miles, but they were not allowed to drive all the way up to the stadium gates. In the ridiculous heat and humidity, the vans were doing bang-up business.

I know we’ve been warned, but I am an impossible klutz. I was wearing flip-flops (I know, I know) last night when I clipped the edge of a step on the Rosslyn escalator with my big toe. I went home and self-medicated with peroxide and Spaced. My doctor told me today I needed stitches, but it’s too late now. I think I can live with the scar. I just hope my toe doesn’t fall off.

Is it just me or do Metro escalators have bigger teeth than other city’s underground moving staircases? Compare the London Underground’s escalators with ours.  I have a picture of my toe, but no one wants to see that.

This might be my final installment into the saga that is the life of Captain Melvin Gresham—a D.C. Police Department official who appears to always be in the center of intrigue and controversy. According to his civil-suit complaint filed in June, Gresham is a hero/whistle blower/all-around standup cop. To cop sources, he’s a supervisor who needs some leadership training asap.

“I had to bang heads with him, very disagreeable is the way he investigated things. He never has any proof. When we go to arbitration against him, he loses most of the arbitrations. We’ve had several arbitration hearings with our members and he’s lost. All the evidence is, ‘What I heard.’ Nothing ever of substance. He never has any real evidence against anybody. When you’re a policeman, you have to have solid facts,” says one veteran officer.

Gresham has his followers. Many of whom have commented on this post and our last installment.

The current Gresham dustup stems from a traffic accident. The allegation: Gresham got into a fender bender and pressured an officer to change the accident report in his favor.

In Gresham’s complaint, he addresses the accident on page 10, bullet-point No. 23. Or rather, he dances around the allegations, focusing mainly on picking apart the testimony and character of Lt. Mike Smith.

The complaint hones in on anonymous letter (was it written by Smith?), Smith’s believing that Gresham is a very rich man, and the allegation that Smith admitted to “tampering” with evidence. “Lt. Smith was off duty and had no actual basis for interjecting himself into the investigation,” the complaint states.

The complaint notes that the police department withdrew the charges against Gresham. “However, Chief Lanier insisted on serving Cpt. Gresham an official reprimand.” The reprimand addresses the very serious allegation of witness intimidation:

According to the complaint, the reprimand reads:

“Internal Affairs Agent Denise Garrett investigated the alleged misconduct. Agent Garrett determined that your demeanor and subsequent confrontation with the reporting officer was intimidating and may have jeopardized the impartiality of the accident investigation.”

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Metro accidentally releases workers’ Social Security numbers

Transit agency offers identity theft monitoring services to affected employees

Metro has advised nearly 4,700 past and present employees that their social security numbers were published accidentally on the transit agency’s Web site last month.

The information was posted between June 9 and 25 as part of a solicitation from Metro to companies interested in providing worker’s compensation and risk management services. The document mistakenly included the social security numbers of 4,675 employees. A smaller group of employees had their names and social security numbers posted in the lengthy document. Metro officials continue to analyze the information for any other data breaches.

Looks like a lot of downtown office workers are headed for a supercasual Friday. A Metro fire and a power outage are keeping hordes of salarymen on the sidewalks, unable to boot up in their offices. A correspondent in the area informs us that a clock on the 1300 block of F Street NW stopped at 7:20–a bit of trivia that comports with reports that a fire broke out on Metrorail tracks around that time. We will be updating this story as it breaks.

So I was looking to go out and enjoy the night. See some ladies, get a few drinks–you know, just have a good time. [This was the weekend before the train derailment] Of course my decision making must not have been too good to think that on a weekend, I could do this via the Washinton Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

I had gotten on the train earlier today and what takes 50 minutes to get to my destination (20 on good day) took 75 minutes. Of course I thought nothing about it because now it just happens so often.

I got on the rail system at my usual starting point and waited…and waited…and (WTF) waited some more. I waited for a train to be built, sent, and put on the damn rail is what it seemed like. Of course when the train came, it was as if it ran through every hood which made me think “I’M SO HOOD” and I don’t even like that song. I swear I could’ve read every newspaper there, soda cans, smelly urine in the air, yadda yadda yadda…

…it was just too gross!

Then I get to the metrorail hub, L’Enfant Plaza and it was like the Pope had pooped in someone’s hat there were so many people. People were angry and hot and ugly.

After being there for like 30 minutes watching the opposite platform’s light blink me into a headache, I decided to leave. I went downstairs and what did I find? A crowd larger than the crowd I had just left.

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This from Metro:

A six-car Orange Line train headed in the direction of Vienna derailed at about 2:45 p.m. today. The third car of train 905, with an unknown number of passengers on board, experienced the derailment between Rosslyn and Court House Metrorail stations. Emergency crews are on the scene. There are no reports of injuries at this time.

Trains are sharing one track (single-tracking) between Clarendon and Foggy Bottom Metrorail stations. The Blue Line is operating regular service.

Customers can expect major delays on the Orange Line throughout the remainder of the day.

This, less than a week after downed power lines near Falls Church shut down the orange line in both directions. Anyone out there know how bad this is yet?

UPDATE: A second train is now backed into the derailed train and is being used to get the passengers off. Shuttles are trying to handle the rush-hour backups.

Metro sent out a release today about a delay in service on the red line. A man was hit around 1:45 on the tracks near the Wheaton station. The release goes on to state about how trains are sharing a track, shuttle bus service was activated, regular rail service to resume momentarily.

Hey, Metro? What about the guy? Turns out that required a phone call. A press officer said “he was alive when they took him” and that the man is believed to have been on the track intentionally.

Our Morning Roundup Update: Guilty. That was the plea today of Silver Spring resident and former Metro supervisor Marcia Anderson who, as part of her plea, agrees to pay restitution for stealing $560,000 from her employer. Sentencing will be in August. The scheme, according to Metro, involved Metrocheks, which have proven problematic in more ways than Marcia. Fed employees were caught last year trying to sell their unused vouchers on eBay. One IRS employee made about $930,000 that way while still claiming a free parking space at work. Metro, master of the obvious, is phasing out the use of Metrocheks this year. —Jule Banville 

Metro Transit Police charged a 20-year-old Alexandria man with stealing three Zipcars from the parking lots of Braddock Road, King Street, and Franconia-Springfield stations. Brian Senia was out on bond awaiting trial on a previous charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in the city of Alexandria at the time of his arrest. He allegedly went joyriding with friends before abandoning the cars. According to Metro, other police departments have been alerted to the thefts, and Senia is under investigation for possible thefts of other cars throughout the area. —Jule Banville

In the past 100 days, train doors have automatically opened four times on the wrong side—the one without the platform—leaving open the possibility customers could watch their step all the way down to the tracks. According to a new report by Meto, that’s four times in approximately 22 million, but still, “even one time is too many,” says Metro Rail Chief Dave Kubicek.

The solution? Drivers are now going to have to push a button to manually let people out and then push it again to close the doors instead of relying on the automatic function. That means the drivers will be hitting that sucker about 216,000 times a day—until sometime next year, when a new electronic component is installed on Metro’s 1,066 rail cars. Guess they’ll have the power to slam the door, too, on all those obnoxious kids who hold the doors instead of waiting for the next train.