Washington's hottest period so far this year is expected to start Sunday, and it could last three or four days, according to forecasts....

"If you thought we might make it through summer without a heat wave, think again," wrote Jason Samenow on The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog.

Heat waves, whether tolerated or deplored, have been recognized through the years as salient facts of Washington's summers.

But so far this year, the longest stretches of temperatures of 90 degrees or more have been a mere two days. Only on July 16 did the mercury at National reach as high as 96, and only twice have there been as many as two consecutive 90-or-above days.

And speaking of the Post, really good story about Metro kinda covering up a breakdown on the tracks that preceded by a few months the fatal June 22 crash. The gist of this story is that Metro's vaunted electronic system that's supposed to keep trains from crashing into one another broke down in early March. Thanks to the alertness of a Metro train operator, a crash was averted.

Not only didn't Metro tell the public about this incident, it didn't tell the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), according to the Post. Debbie Hersman's gonna be pissed!

The Legg Mason tournament ended yesterday. No more needs to be said about it.

Let's get right to the issue of the day. The winners of the first three AT&T National events at Congressional:

2007 — KJ Choi

2008 — Anthony Kim

2009 — Tiger Woods

The liberal media doesn't want you to know: There's an Asian bias to Tiger's tournament!

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Woods exploited this bias to beat a field that included upstart white guys Hunter Mahan and Bruce Boudreau. (What? The Capitals coach wasn't in the AT&T National? I coulda sworn I read 10 stories about him playing Congressional, saw some video even. My bad.)

AFTER THE JUMP: Another Nats fireworks snafu? Why do tennis players carry their own sweaty shit? Is Manny Acta the new Norv Turner?

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To assist in filling digital inches, let's continue pretending it's not Post-Racial America! I spent much of my Fourth of July weekend watching two Asian Americans in the final pairing of a golf tournament in DC and two grown up black kids from Compton win another Wimbledon doubles crown, after battling each other for another singles crown.

These ain't your father's country club sports!

One of many things I love love about tennis over golf. Will MacKenzie, the dude who finished last in the AT&T National and missed the cut by 14 strokes, had somebody carrying his bags all day on the golf course. But yesterday I saw Roger Federer, just crowned the Best Player of All Time with his 15th Grand Slam win, stuffing his own sweaty shit into a bag. And Andy Roddick, seeming tragic even though he just played a match for the ages, not having time to mope or rest his bones, because he had to stuff his own sweaty shit into a bag. The Williams sisters? Yup, a day earlier they stuffed their own sweaty shit into bags and carried 'em.

In tennis, no matter who you are, or what you've been through, you stuff your own sweaty shit into a bag and carry it!

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How good was Wimbledon to DC tennis? Let's look: Serena Williams won the women's final. She's the assigned star player of the Washington Kastles, the World Team Tennis squad that starts its 2009 season this week. Serena beat sister Venus Williams in the final. Venus is the assigned visiting female star for the Philadelphia Freedoms, and is (as of NOW, anyway) supposed to face the Kastles here tomorrow night. John McEnroe announced all the Wimbledon matches and got scads of face time. He's the featured male visiting player for the Kastles this season, and will be in the lineup when the New York Sportimes come here on July 16. Andy Roddick is the one big name that always comes to the Legg Mason, with this year's tourney beginning August 1 at Carter Barron. Hope his hip flexor, which he might have hurt while stuffing his own sweaty shit into a bag and carrying it, is better by then.

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With two outs and the Braves having the tying run at the plate, batter  Chipper Jones took a low outside pitch. But the Nationals Park fireworks operator, probably a new guy — pushed the hot button on what he thought would be a game-ending called third strike. It was a ball. The game wasn't over. Jones stepped out of the batters box and laughed as the smoke cleared.

Then Jones walked. A hard grounder to first base later, and the game, and the button-pusher's job, was saved.

Enough with the fireworks, Nationals. They don't add a damn thing to a day at the stadium. But let Charlie Slowes keep his home run and victory call: "Bang Zoom go the fireworks!" I love that.

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Speaking of saving jobs: A guy on Nats postgame show on WFED 1500-AM after Friday's 9-8 loss to Atlanta nailed the team's coaching situation pretty good: "Manny Acta is the new Norv Turner."

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

*A few seats down the row from us, two ladies were in non-stop chatter mode during the entire Roddick match. I know Roddick is already a has-been more famous for having dated Mandy Moore and losing to Federer than actual important victories. But these ladies bordered on rude! It didn't help that both had bad facelifts.

*A couple getting huffy that we were in their seats. Nevermind that the first row was completely empty. But by making a big stink, all six of us had to decamp and move up a few rows. This put a real damper on the funtimes as the couple continued to be all gloaty about it. I'm not sure why they chose to make this point considering that they had better options than ousting us. And much of the seating wasn't even numbered anyway. The icing: the couple spent much of the Roddick match playing with their cellphones.

*And finally, the entire stadium's instance on rooting for Roddick—even when the other guy made unforced errors. Isn't it bad sportsmanship to cheer when the other guy whacks a ball into the net?

Despite all this, the Legg Mason crowd was still louder and more into the match than the crowds at National Park. Like Nats fans, they didn't fill up all the seats. But they were better sports fans than the snoozy crowd at our new stadium.