Cherries Blooming: The news out of Japan gets bleaker and bleaker, between nuclear reactors (in worse shape than originally believed) and the death toll from Friday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami (likely much higher than estimates so far). Word that the National Park Service is sending back cuttings from the original cherry blossoms Japan gave the United States in 1912, to help preserve the genetic line of the trees, isn't likely to do much to salve the pain there; it's a small gesture, after all, and it seems to have been planned since before the disaster at any rate. But at least it's not more bad news. +1

Walk This Way: Transferring between Farragut North, on Metro's Red Line, and Farragut West, on the Blue and Orange lines, now involves a detour through Metro Center and McPherson Square, plus who knows how long waiting for trains on each line. By this fall, that transfer will simply involve walking across Farragut Square. Metro officials say they'll finally implement "virtual transfers" later this year, after reprogramming and testing SmarTrip readers at each station so they don't charge riders for switching between the two. Which is a lot cheaper than actually digging a tunnel would have been, and should help alleviate crowding throughout downtown stops. +2

Ex Post Facto: Things look a little... different today at another D.C. media website beginning with "Washington." The Post unveiled a top-to-bottom redesign, complete with new commenting features, new RSS feeds for every blog (none of which, alas, include the full text of posts), new fonts, and a new layout that's reminiscent of the look of the Post's iPad app. (The PostLocal page looks like it's mostly the same as it had been.) As with any redesign, there's been some grumbling; one friend of ours said it made him pick up the print edition for the first time in years. Maybe that's the secret agenda! -1

District of College Basketball: The best thing about the NCAA tournament selection show on CBS last night? It didn't feature Dick Vitale, who was busy shrieking on ESPN. The second best thing? Some potentially excellent games will be played at the Verizon Center this week, starting with Old Dominion vs. Butler starting shortly after noon on Thursday. Local teams didn't do quite as well as local fans. With point guard Chris Wright back from a broken hand, Georgetown got a 6 seed and will play the winner of a play-in game, possibly helping them salvage a season that seemed to be crumbling; George Mason made it in, and gets to play Villanova, who also seems to be collapsing. But Maryland didn't get a bid—even to the NIT. So look for Gary Williams sitting in the stands Thursday? +3

Friday's Needle rating: 48 Today's score: +5 Today's Needle rating: 53

'bout Rhee there is always some scowling
And Hardy has many folks howling
Now Council proceedings
Take cues from kids' readings
With villainous jabs based on Rowling

Some sunshine, both real and instructive
We citizens find quite seductive
M. Bowser's idea
While no panacea
Potentially could be constructive

Those Georgetown boys just couldn't hack it
And now they have f-ed up your bracket
I know this is lame
But it's just a game...?
And soon you need not wear a jacket!!!

Good morning, Friday lovers. It's amazing how, if you just keep working for four straight days starting Monday, the fifth one that comes around is Friday. Every single week!

Just so you know, there will be no references to Alex Chilton in this Morning Roundup (except for an indirect one at the end).

There will, however, be a reference to yesterday's City Desk post on the untimely deaths (or maybe they weren't untimely?) of 1. a tarantula 2. a sugar glider 3. a rabbit 4. a chameleon 5. an anole 6. and 7. two frogs 8., 9., and 10. three rats and 11. and 12. two mice. Do you know what a sugar glider is? Read it!

How are you doing with your bracket? Did you pick Murray State? Of course you didn't! Did you pick Georgetown? Of course you did! So what you're saying is, your bracket is ruined.

Speaking of March Madness, I must tell you something important involving the office pool you dropped $5 on. As in: It's illegal! Or it might be. I'm sure you've already checked with your office HR department to see if your place of employ has a policy against gambling (this is the case with many federal government agencies, though the company I work for, Creative Loafing, is very much pro-gambling). But beyond office policy, there's a whole legal thing.

"The legality of NCAA bracket contests in offices is really dependent upon state law," Anthony N. Cabot, who practices gaming law in a city that is known for doing a little gaming every now and again (Las Vegas), tells NPR.

(Does that mean we have to run our bracket past Peter Nickles? What the hell does he know about the NCAA tournament? If I didn't pick Murray State, he didn't pick Murray State.)

Anyway, Cabot says that most pools are fine as long as they're just "a casual bet between people and no one is making a profit."

To which I say: Of course we're making a profit! Or we would be if Murray State hadn't won, and Georgetown hadn't sucked so bad. Hoya Suckxa.

One sad piece of news to report: A Howard University senior drowned over the weekend while on spring break in Cancun. The Washington Post quotes the campus newspaper, the Hilltop, as saying Davon Green-Franklin, 22, of Baltimore, drowned on Sunday; details were scarce. "Known for an effervescent smile and positive outlook, he strived to learn lessons from everything he encountered," the Hilltop reported. On Saturday, Green-Franklin sent what is now an eerie-sounding tweet: "Life Lessons from the ocean water: the waves will pull you out further before they take you back to shore."

So, for the second day in a row, we end our Morning Roundup: R.I.P.

Photo courtesy of D34n, Creative Commons Attribution License

Michael Vick was "conditionally reinstated" by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday. So the Vick-to-Redskins barkers got louder.

I know from dumbass arguments, and here's one of the dumbassiest on why Vick could fit in here as training camp opens this week:  Signing the free agent, says the Sporting News, "would give Vick an opportunity to play close to his home state of Virginia." Good point! The Skins play closest to where Vick did his best animal slaughtering, too!

Dan Snyder wouldn't. Would he?

I mean, sure, he tried hiring Pepper Rodgers, traded for Brandon Lloyd, and founded a chain of boutique kiddie barber shops for a theme park chain just before it went bankrupt.

But, he wouldn't.

Would he?

Gosh, I hope so!

(After the Jump: Snyder makes a good deal? Billick makes case for not signing Vick without mentioning Vick? Nats have more grand slams than your local Denny's? Divas finish on top after all? No Tasering for Scott Van Pelt giveaway?)

***

Speaking of bad bets: We now have perhaps the first proof that Snyder can drive a hard bargain. The Redskins agreement with Virginia lottery officials to sell those ridiculous $20 scratch tickets a couple months back will net the team a reported $4.25 million. Now a publication called New Orleans City Business is reporting that the New Orleans Saints made a similar scratch ticket marketing deal with the Louisiana lottery, but the team will only be paid $155,000. If these figures are accurate, that means the Saints sold their soul for 1/27 as much as the Skins.

***

This quickie Q&A in the Wall Street Journal with Brian Billick has some great bits. Among them, Billick discusses the hazards of the draft, but without ever mentioning Vick explains why the newly reinstated QB could be blackballed by the NFL this season without any collusion taking place:

WSJ: The character issue seems paramount. But do fans care about character if the other team is faster, bigger, stronger?

Mr. Billick: I've long said character is an economic issue in the NFL, not one of morals or ethics.

***

DC Divas Poll Update: The poll taketh, the poll giveth back.

The Divas got digitally and royally screwed in the middle of the IWFL playoffs when the computer rating service used by the league to determine seeding knocked them off the top spot for no obvious reason, thereby costing the team home field advantage for the game against the Boston Militia for Eastern Conference championship.

Yesterday, after the Divas lost in the IWFL's Sup-Her Bowl last weekend to the Kansas City Tribe, that same rating service, the Massey Ratings, has given DC the #1 ranking in its season ending poll.

Kansas City, the real champs, get sloppy seconds. (BTW: The Chiefs' Mindy White is the team's owner, general manager, and LINEBACKER! In other words, she's Dan Snyder, Vinny Cerrato, and London Fletcher all in one!)

This, friends, is exactly why a playoff system would never work in college football. Every year, it'll be the same whine about the computers costing this school or that a slot in the championship tournament.

***

Thunderation Update: Nats get two grand slams from the same guy and win big.

Cheap Seats Daily has said for years that the Nats' biggest problem early in the season was the lack of a fight song. So, on July 21, with the team in a 6-game losing streak overall and new manager Jim Riggleman winless in five games, we unilaterally declared "Thunderation" to be the unofficial official fight song of your Washington Nationals.

Since that declaration, the Nats have gone 5-1 in games that went the full 9 innings. The Nats are now on a three-game winning streak in which they've outscored the opposition 30-9.

As both my readers know, Riggleman's old high school team, the Rockets of Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville, went at least 22 years without a losing season while singing "Thunderation."

It's not the manager, it's the song!

So SING!:

Thunder, Thunder, Thunderation
We’re the Rockets Delegation
When we fight with determination
We create a soul sensation!

A four-game winning streak would totally create a soul sensation.

***

Bobblehead Update: Fascism pays off!

Bowie Baysox spokesman Tom Sedlacek reports that Sunday's Scott Van Pelt Bobblehead Night, complete with rules limiting the movement and civil liberties of fans, came off "really really well" — meaning without having to Taser or otherwise restrain any of the bobblehead-hoarding freaks who have ruined previous promotions.

Sedlacek says demand for a free doll and an autograph from the locally reared ESPN host was "huge."

I told Sedlacek that hed opened my eyes to giveaway greediness, and that I got to see it up close at the Nats game on Saturday for grocery bag giveaway night. Creeps were walking around the stadium into the wee hours of the rain-delayed game looking for any Harris Teeter reusable bag (most of which still had the $1.99 price tag on them) that wasn't nailed down.

He's seen it all before.

"We could hand out defective can openers and people would hoard them," Sedlacek says.

There are already five Van Pelt dolls from the Bowie giveaway for sale on eBay. One of the creeps apparently overrode the one-doll-per-fan rule put in place, and is now vending two Van Pelts for $110 plus postage.

The creep's nom de gouge is nyyankeesfan.13722. Figures! What a shocker! The d-bag is a Yankees fan!*

*I've never actually found Yankees fans to be more objectionable than those of our local teams, but faux outrage is fun!