Bill Walsh, the "genius" football coach of the San Francisco 49ers, died in July 2007. He'd had an amazing career, turning the 49ers from the worst record in the NFL to the best in just three seasons (1979-1981). That, plus numerous other accomplishments immortalized Walsh as one of the game's greats.

Yet not quite as immortal as a photo caption in today's Washington Post suggests. Sitting under a photo accompanying a column by Michael Wilbon on the merits of new Redskins play caller Sherm Lewis, the caption reads:

"Top coaches like Bill Walsh and Mike Holmgren respect the Redskins' Sherman Lewis, who was a successful offensive assistant with them." (Emphasis added.)

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Kevin Severud

Joel B. Anthony took the words right out of my mouth. Writing on the Washington Post's Free for All page on Saturday, Mr. Anthony articulated a lingering feel that I'd had about a piece of columnizing by Washington Postie Michael Wilbon.

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Maureen Dowd, in yesterday's New York Times column, "Boy, Oh Boy," on Joe Wilson's outburst during Barack Obama's speech to Congress: "Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it."

Read More "Scenes from Post-Racial America: The Outburst Edition" »

Clearest sign that it's about time to crank out the Countdown to Cowher™: Jim Zorn's post-game interview with Sonny Jurgensen, heard on Dan Snyder's WTEM.

Here's the opening:

Sonny Jurgensen: You had one offensive touchdown...

Jim Zorn: Thank you.

Sonny Jurgensen: You've got to get into the end zone...

Jim Zorn: Yes.

Uh oh.

Dan Snyder and Jurgensen are cigar smoking buddies. Jurgensen wanted Jeff George. So it's a good bet that in private Snyder's getting everything the Redskins listening audience got from Jurgensen and then some.

(AFTER THE BREAK: Albert Haynesworth don't play that? Folks want to trade in Jim Zorn et al on something with less mileage? Even the all-news station is piling on? Snyder's dastardly deeds have trickled down to 'Bama? Everybody but the Washington Post thinks Michael Jordan's a jerk? ANOTHER blonde DC sportscaster?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Monday Morning Coming Down!" »

Today's Washington Post has a special pro football insert headlined "NFL '09."

The most interesting reading in the 14-page pullout comes in one of its few advertisements. Main Line Animal Rescue, a Philadelphia group that apparently specializes in saving "Bully Breeds" of dogs, bought space in the section.

The ad copy, placed alongside a photo of what I assume is a pit bull:

Attention Football Fans: Philadelphia is playing Washington on October 26.

Every time Michael Vick is tackled during the game, Main Line Animal Rescue will donate 5 bags of dog food to your local animal shelter.

"Because there are no second chances on an empty stomach."

Consider volunteering at your local shelter on the day of the game. Spend some time walking, or brushing, or bathing, or hugging a homeless Pit Bull.

Not exactly the bounty on players' heads that led to the famous "Body Bag Game" between the Skins and Eagles in 1990, but, still.

My sense is the outrage against Vick has waned so much and so fast that by the time the Eagles get to DC, there'll be a lot more talk about the wildcat offense than dog killing.

(By the way: The other ads in the Post's football section are: four small spots for imported car dealers, one for a job fair, and a half-pager, the biggest in the section) announcing a blowout chain saw sale. Men! Men! Men!)

***

(AFTER THE JUMP: Wilbon already blames Snyder for lousy season? Kornheiser speaks no Snyder? Unseld whupped Yao's dad? The Asian Bias™ in golf affects White House visit? The Nats Countdown to 100 Losses starts now? Pedro Martinez already has more wins than most Nats?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: And If You Break Michael Vick’s Leg, We’ll Throw in a Chew Toy!" »

After columnists at the Washington Post have been knocking themselves silly over the Michael Phelps "scandal," a voice of reason from the New York Times takes aim at the story. George Vecsey accomplishes conceptual feats that Sally Jenkins and Michael Wilbon together couldn't manage. Those feats are:

*Acknowledging that pot smoking is not such a great thing: "No matter how many people defend marijuana and extol decriminalization for using it, there are studies that say the stuff is bad for important functions like reasoning, and can lead to worse abuses."

*Not scolding the ace swimmer for screwing up: "At any rate, Phelps was probably making way too much money. He’s lucky his fingertips had better mojo than the fingertips of that Serbian-American swimmer who finished second in the 100-meter butterfly. Wonder if what’s-his-name has been to any good parties at the University of South Carolina lately?"

*And coming up with a better solution than USA Swimming's three-month competition ban for Phelps: "What USA Swimming, the national federation, should have done was make him perform community service by competing in swim meets every day of the week and give him obligatory practices, since this is a lad who obviously functions better in chlorinated water than on terra firma."

If ever there's another episode in which a famous and rich athlete is caught with a bong, I'm going straight to Vecsey.

Michael Wilbon answered yesterday's Sally Jenkins' column that made light of the Michael Phelps scandal.

Wilbon's piece attempts to slam the bong-sucking swimmer.

Wilbon's been the hardest-working superstar in sports newspapering for a while now. But if his latest column were a Goofus and Gallant panel, Wilbon would own the Goofus role the way Olivier did Hamlet.

Wilbon compares pot smokers to dog killers and stop-sign running drunks.

Even with the occasional caveats Wilbon throws into his paragraphs, his argument is beyond laughable. Given Wilbon's profile and credibility, his argument's downright dangerous, since it's based on the same insincerity and/or stupidity that allows SWAT teams to go unpunished for terrorizing innocent families.