I've written a whole lot over the years about the old Carver Theater building in Anacostia. Control of the property was transferred years ago from the city to the Good Samaritan Foundation, a non-profit group founded by Redskin heroes Art Monk and Charles Mann.

The beloved former athletes acquired the public land after promising the locals in 1999 that they'd turn the building into a job training center for poor kids. And over the years they have raised millions of dollars with that same pledge.

They've even hosted at least three groundbreaking ceremonies for the press at the job training center site since 2001, and actually began building on the site a couple years ago.

But no such facility has ever opened.

Perhaps Monk and Mann's group has been doing great deeds over the years at other sites around town while waiting for the Anacostia center to open; its website claims that "[m]ore than 65 students have participated in" its training program since 1997.

That's not a lot of kids per year, for sure, given the publicity and bucks thrown the Good Samaritan Foundation's way.

Read More "The Endless Story: Ex-Redskins’ Training Center in Anacostia Still Ain’t Open" »

THESE ARE WORDS YOU WILL NEVER SPEAK if you help the National Zoo build its planned Elephant Exercise Trek.

According to a letter sent to me and other Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ), the exercise trek will allow elephants to "exercise, forage, and behave much as they would in the wild."

The zoo needs $500 grand to make this dream a reality. And to thank you for your donation of a hundred dollars or more, you won't just be able to see your name in the visitor's center lobby for two years. You won't just get to go to the grand opening of the planned Elephant Barn.

You will also receive some elephant poo. Specifically, you will receive a "one-of-a-kind elephant pin handmade from elephant poo paper." (If you're not feeling charitable, these folks sell poo paper of lesser benefit to local pachyderms.)

Curiously, this premium is not available to those who donate at higher levels.

I remember when thumb wrestling was taken seriously. It was something you played on long car rides, as you waited for a movie to start, etc. It was something you did when you were bored. It was something the slight, the skinny, the uncoordinated could do and still have a legit shot at winning. As I got older, the "game" got more complicated, we'd throw in new moves/new weapons like "The Snake" and "The Turtle." (the Turtle was totally unfair and a game killer; if you played the Turtle move you automatically had to apologize and start the game over--this did not stop us from playing the Turtle at all).

Thumb wrestling isn't a sport. But that doesn't mean it's not sacred. Now, Prince of Petworth is reporting that the Big Hunt is hosting a thumb-wresting tournament for a worthy cause. It's tonight.

I only worry that thumb-wrestling will become the latest game to be played ironically. First kickball. Then ping pong. Is thumb wrestling next?