Not only is this argument a silly one -- the overtime exemption covers folks like lifeguards and greenskeepers -- but, it's guaranteed to be a loser, too: As Steinberg reports, it's already been litigated at the federal level in a case involving employees of an NBA team.

So Snyder's going to lose here, surely as he lost a wage/hour dispute with his nanny. In that case, Snyder's legal case seemed to be no more complex than that she wasn't paid because he didn't want to.

But even if he weren't gonna get poleaxed legally in the sales staff case, the question remains: If Snyder's really got a waiting list of 200,000 people desperate to buy tickets for his football team, which he says often, why would he have  even one ticket seller, let alone an entire staff of ticket sellers, working overtime?

In any case, good to see that the move from urbane, aware Petworth to rural, la-dee-dah Silver Spring hasn't sapped Steinberg of his special powers.

Yet...

***

The Washington Post's Jason Reid blogs that the Redskins will no longer let anybody but their own employees Twitter from practice anymore.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Will the Twitter ban on non-Redskins employees affect WRC sports staff? How come football Hoyas stink? Lou Dobbs fiddles as the Asian Bias™ in golf comes home to roost? Stephen Strasburg should hold out til tomorrow? The Tom Boswell Curse wasn't real?)

Reid's readers aren't all upset by Snyder's latest control-the-flow move.

In reaction to the Twitter story, the commenter going by "talent_evaluator" posted: "My own take is that the tweets that have been up here have been pitiful. Chris Larry's brother was better at it than WaPo. No information at all, and you're better off watching practice than trying to frame your cutesy tweets. The Redskins are saving you from yourselves."

While the new rule will take Reid's thumbs out of action, since those on Snyder's payroll can still Twitter, the WRC news staff should still get the green light.

***

Alex Buzbee, the guy who was going to end Georgetown's decades-long streak of not putting any players into the NFL, might not be the streak breaker. Buzbee, a defensive tackle, likely would have made the Redskins last year were it not for a knee injury during training camp.

This year, Buzbee's chances of sticking aren't so swell. As of the Ravens' exhibition, Buzbee was listed on the Redskins' official depth chart as the fourth-team defensive tackle. And among those he's behind is Jeremy Jarmon, a rookie who is guaranteed to make the team so as not to make Vinny Cerrato look bad for using next year's third-round pick to grab him in the NFL's odd supplemental draft.

As of now, the last Hoya to play in the big leagues was Jim Ricca, a lineman who signed with the Redskins in 1951.

***

Cheap Seats Daily hyped the crap out of the Asian Bias™ in golf, even during that long lunch while everybody else was celebrating Post-Racial America™.

But for all our hate-mongering, nobody got incited. Even Lou Dobbs sat on his hands.

And so it's come to this: Two Asians, Woods and Yang, leave the rest of the world behind in the PGA Championship.

I hope you're happy, America!

***

Pay-up-or-shut-up day in the Stephen Strasburg soap opera. I can't help but side with labor in these squabbles, despite the silly sums involved. The way I see it, the rationale for why the team should play hardball with draft picks -- because chances are they won't make it -- is the exact same reason why the draftees should hold out for the last dollar. If history holds, Strasburg will never have this sorta bargaining clout again. So why not milk it til it bleeds?

'Course, if he doesn't end up taking the Nats final offer, he's a dumbass. Everybody knows that.

***

Update on the The Tom Boswell Curse: It's considerably weakened, at best.

Nats’ record with Boswell on vacation: 14-6. Nats’ record since Boswell returned from vacation: 3-3.

The "What?" we know: The Nats win three of four in Cincinnati, so the Boswell Curse that looked so sturdy last week while the Nationals went into a losing skein the day the Post columnist came back from vacation is on life support.

The "Why?" will require further study.

Good thing it's football season, to give us time to look into the matter!

***

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

In the NBA, being the second biggest loser in the 2008-2009 season means Blake Griffin's brother Taylor might still be available when you get to pick.

The draft lottery is ridiculous!

***

Michael Vick's almost out.

Would He? Could He?

Will He?

The Redskins have in the past been rewarded for aggressively pursuing QBs while they're still in The System in Virginia.

During the 1987 NFL players strike, the team got former Tennessee Volunteer Tony Robinson out on work release from a Richmond prison, where he was serving time for a federal drug conviction, so he could play against the Cowboys on "Monday Night Football."

Though the Cowboys had regulars such as Danny and Randy White dressed out for the game, Robinson and the Skins won, 13-7, and their underdog tale was sorta the backbone of the Keanu Reeves' feature film, "The Replacements."

It'd be tough to make an, um, underdog movie about Vick.

But would anybody really be shocked if He pulled the trigger here?

If He works fast, maybe Vick can be here in time for the FREE FAN APPRECIATION DAY party at Six Flags!

***

The streaking Nationals dropped their sixth straight last night vs. Pittsburgh.

The Nats scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into OT, and, more importantly, to keep shelled starter Shairon Martis' record blemishless and his All-Star dreams alive.

Based on the AP's game write-up, the Nats rally also left baseball geeks wooden: "Washington became the fourth team in major league history to score at least five runs in a six-game losing streak, according to STATS, LLC."

I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds big.

***

The great Dan Steinberg (full disclosure: friend, neighbor) has been following The Great Hot Dog Massacre of '09, where mascot Screech has been shooting weiners into the Nationals Stadium grandstand.

Problem is, the food is getting obliterated during transport.

"It's just funny to watch hot dog rolls explode and come down on people," one fan told Steinberg.

Sounds like the Nationals need to call Todd Scheel. He's the genius who gave the world the T-Shirt Gatling Gun, the weapon that the Georgetown Hoyas have been using to rapid-fire gaggles of shirts into the upper deck at Verizon Center during home games.

Scheel, a Milwaukee-area inventor who works in the "dead ball entertainment" field, told me he devised the T-Shirt Gatling Gun sort of by accident, while engineering a "multi-chamber hot dog launcher."

Scheel's rapid-fire hot dog cannon, which shoots a dozen dogs at a time, uses plastic capsules (“Like the ones at a drive-in teller, sort of,” he says) to keep the bun/sausage combo intact, and to allow mustard and catsup packages to go along for the ride. He really wants somebody to give it a shot.

C'mon, Nats! Be the first team in baseball the Hot Dog Gatling Gun!

And lawyer up!

***

Speaking of lawyering up, the fight over the Redskins name really brings out the dregs in the team's fan base.

"No living Indian has ever had this name used in description of them," wrote Art Mills, Dan Snyder's longtime media attack dog and the longest running moderator at Extremeskins, the Snyder-owned message board.

Mills, who used to be entertaining, used his laughable lie -- Google for five seconds and get back to me, Art -- while rallying the troops to deny that the name of the team is offensive. As the debate was heating up, the moderators moved the thread off the main forum of Snyder's board.

Then there is the Get Over It! crowd.

Such as "J," who posted his annoying thoughts on an ESPN chat with Suzan Shown Harjo, one of the Native American plaintiffs in the Redskins trademark litigation. Harjo's response is just plain killer.

J: Ever think that instead of promoting equality, this fight of yours will sour people about Indians. People may think that Indians are kind of stupid for tying to change a mascot's name.

Suzan Shown Harjo: The thoughts of those who could be soured over a bid for justice are of little interest to me -- what are they going to do? Get mad and take away the western hemisphere?

***

Robin Ficker Update: He took it on the chin in yesterday's race for Montgomery County Council.

The Gazette reports that board of election figures have FIcker, who ran as a Republican, him losing by a nearly 2-1 margin to Democrat Nancy Navarro.

He'll run again.

***

Update on the Federal Government's War on Pickup Soccer: the red snow fence remains in place on two spots along Piney Branch Parkway. The grass is thick and green all over. Perfect for soccer1

Because of the fence, the mostly Latin players that have been recreating at the site for decades are now using the plot of grass on the east side of the 16th Street bridge. Last night, there were a couple dozen players there, even though that means they're playing on a hill.

There is no reason to have that fence there except to keep folks from playing soccer.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that fence!

We at City Desk ARE NOT GONNA LET THIS GO!

***

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

That's how Caps' play-by-play man Steve Kolbe ended his awesome call of David Steckel's game winner last night from Pittsburgh.

Nothing like OT playoff hockey on the radio.

The game started lousy for the eventual winners. At the end of the 1st period, with the Caps down 1-0 and trailing the Penguins in shots on goal 18-5, the Kolbe and, particularly, his booth partner Ken Sabourin, sounded resigned to a bad ending.

"The Penguins got help from the official on that one. Check's in the mail!" said Sabourin after Kris Letang's goal gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead early in the third period. His point was that a referee had deflected the puck right to Letang, and was clearly on the take.

"Check's in the mail!" is what you want from the home crew!

The Caps scored twice over the next 88 seconds.

Steckel's shot snapped the franchise's long losing streak in playoff overtime games and kept 'em alive to tighten up the 1-7 record in playoff series with Pittsburgh.

But, that's the past. Once again: Doesn't this year just feel different?

We'll find out tomorrow. I'll be listening.

***
The Caps' post-game show, aired on WJFK during the playoffs, isn't for everybody: An earnest and nervous caller said he wanted to "give props" to the Capitals only to have the rest of his garbled goodwill message cut off mid-thought.

The hosts, led by Jonathan Warner, announced that only callers 18 years old and older are allowed on the air and quickly hit the next line.

Within seconds an older and unsober sounding dude was yelling "Me and my wife, man, our heads literally went through the roof!" He got to say his whole piece.

Yes, the airwaves are an adult domain.

***

Ryan Zimmerman's at 29. Half-Dimaggio plus one!

***

Is there turmoil in Georgetown sports?

Yesterday Hoyas Athletic Director Bernard Muir announced he'd be leaving the Hoyas to take a job at the University of Delaware.

On paper, doesn't seem like a parallel move. Muir's new title will be Director of Athletics and Recreation Services.

"Recreation Services"?

Sounds like Muir's job description just went from overseeing one of the NCAA's highest profile basketball programs to making sure the Ultimate Frisbee field in Greek Circle gets watered.

Muir's leaving comes just as Hoyas e-fanzines are buzzing about the departure of Robert Burke, a Georgetown assistant basketball coach and head coach John Thompson III's longtime court partner.

Burke played alongside JT III at Gonzaga, coached with him at Princeton and came to Georgetown at the same time in 2004.

The school has not announced that Burke is leaving. And until an official reason is given, the message boarders will provide their own rationales.

Posters at mdhigh.com, a high-volume rivals.com site, have attributed Burke's departure to game strategy and recruiting problems, and some sort of squabbles between the program and Curtis Malone, the idolmaker behind DC Assault, one of the strongest AAU programs in the country.

There are also alleged sub-plots involving David Falk, the super-agent who has historically represented a lot of Georgetown talent.

Maybe, in the end, we'll find out it's just because Georgetown beat most of the top teams in the country early on, then lost 12 of its last 16 games.

***
Just as the Have Nots were on the verge of Having, Mother Nature threw a curveball.

Bishop Ireton of Alexandria has won just four boys athletics titles in the Catholic schools conference, now called the WCAC, in the last 40 years: three in soccer and one in lacrosse.

None have come since 1994.

But last night, in WCAC's baseball championship game, Ireton was up a run over Paul VI in the sixth inning. With the biggest sporting accomplishment in the school's history within sight, the clouds opened up, and umpires suspended the game.

DCSPORTSFAN.COM says the replay is tomorrow night. Because of the 48-hour rain delay, Paul VI will be able to put its ace pitcher, who was resting last night, back on the mound.

God has both dogs in this fight. But if Taylor Swift has any say, Ireton's a cinch.

***
Michael Phelps is back!

In the tabloids, that is. A Baltimore stripper named Theresa White has sold her tale of three-way romance with the Olympic swimmer to News of the World.

If you believe the news, he's spent all his time since Beijing banging or bonging.

But his stamina remains world class, says Stripper Theresa.

***

Roger Clemens' nickname was Rocket, not Rocket Scientist.

Clemens showed up this morning on "Mike and Mike" on WTEM, where the pitcher plead his innocence by saying "my stepdad" had heart disease, so therefore it would be "suicidal" to "take any of these dangerous drugs."

Your step-dad can give you swine flu, Rocket. But not heart disease.

***

Wonder how Roger would do on the Wonderlic? Take it yourself.

***

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

Oklahoma native Blake Griffin will end P.G.'s streak of exporting the best player in college ball at two seasons---Kevin Durant ruled through 2006-2007, and Michael Beasley, Durant's former teammate on the P.G. Jaguars 15-year-old AAU squad, owned last season.

But sons of the county came up large during the NCAA tournament's opening weekend.

Folks are saying North Carolina wouldn't have gotten by underdog LSU had the big toe of the Tar Heels' Ty Lawson not healed enough to let him show that he's "the best college point guard in the country." Lawson hails from Clinton, Md.  So does Pitt's Sam Young, a senior forward who had 32 points in his team's 84-76 second-round win over Oklahoma State.

Alas, merely having P.G. blue-chippers on the roster won't guarantee NCAA tourney success. Mitchellville's Austin Freeman and Bowie's Chris Wright, supertalented stars for the P.G.-dependent and disappointing Georgetown Hoyas, had to cheer on their countymates while watching TV after getting booted out of the NIT in the first round.

How does P.G. do it?

Who cares that the team is slumping? The few seconds it takes for the multi-chambered air rifle to fire a couple dozen shirts into the stratosphere are worth a trip to the Verizon Center.

Before encountering the Hoyas' toy, I don't think I'd heard the phrase "Gatling Gun" since high school history class. (I'm a product of Fairfax County schools, where civil war minutiae gets treated like breaking local news. )

But, as any military buff would be aware but I hadn't a clue, the Gatling Gun never went away as an implement of destruction.

And now, in fact, it's really in vogue.

Apparently, Barack Obama's escorts carry a Gatling Gun with them, just in case.

Here's footage of the presidential firepower in action.

Prepare to be scared. No, really.