Well, it took a few days, but the opinionmakers over at the Washington Post came up with some impressions on how D.C. public schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee handled herself at a pivotal Thursday hearing before the D.C. Council. Here’s the WaPo editorial board, which hardly interrupts its yearslong standing ovation of the Rhee regime:
Read More “Weekend in Review” »

The NFL season starts tonight. The only must-read of all the pre-kickoff previews: Erik Wemple’s take on Sunday’s Redskins/Giants game. His post attracted a group of meatheads to the comments section the way a roach motel does roaches. It’s a meathead motel, is what I’m sayin’. Don’t miss it.

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A near-miss must-read: “A Decade of Snyder the Decider,” an interactive piece that came out this week on the Washington Post’s site. An amazing amount of work and brainpower went into the feature. Everything you want to know about Dan Snyder’s reign is right there in a few squared inches. You just have to click and click and click and click to get it.

But in the end this delivery system is totally unsatisfying to any football fan who likes to read about the game in a real sports page. It’s the difference between listening to the White Album on vinyl through a tube amp while holding the double-LP’s sleeve and fingering through all the sleeve-candy, or listening to the White Album through headphones and an iPod (if it were available on iTunes, that is).

(AFTER THE JUMP: Vick Chew Toy giveaway is real? Marv Throneberry trumps Cal? The Felds run Monster Trucks, too? Harvey Grant’s kid follows in Adrian Dantley’s footsteps? Mark Brunell’s the Bill Graham of Christian rock? Nats countdown update?)

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: Special Non-Pullout Football Preview Section!” »

ANOTHER HORSE’S ASS NAMED JOE WILSON, this time a Republican, breaks decorum and accidentally says what he thinks. This is a cause of great concern! In American politics, there is a ridiculously precious conceit called decorum, which means you can Twitter a retort or pound your opponents on a chat show later, but you must never, ever, show the passion for your job one would take for granted in a high school football coach.

Someone just called me, from Germany (!) to say that there are 22 ghost bikes in Dupont Circle today to honor Alice Swanson. Great!

AFTER THE JUMP: Trees, eagles, bells, weird traffic circles, Giants fans, Beatles, Big Star
Read More “Morning Roundup: “You Lie!” Edition” »

The Washington Post runs a Metro story about the fans who spend a day watching practice at Redskins Park. (Lemme quote Allen Iverson: “PRACTICE? We’re talking PRACTICE?”) One of the fans quoted in the piece is Peter Lalich. Though the story doesn’t go into it, Lalich was the Everybody’s-All-American kid from Springfield who was headed for stardom as a UVa quarterback before getting booted off the team for a string of teensy crimes that weren’t considered crimes a generation ago, before we went to war on the use of even low-level mind-altering substances.

Lalich transferred to Oregon as soon as his run in Charlottesville went to hell, and, because of some weird quirk having something to do with his new school being on a quarter system and not semesters, he’ll be eligible to play this season.

If the punishment schedule announced last year still holds, Lalich should get his drivers license back this week from Virginia authorities. It makes sense that Lalich would be on a practice field this time of year, but… Why isn’t he in Oregon?

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Another formerly local athlete in some legal heat, and not dealing real well with it: Antonio Pierce, the ex-Redskins linebacker turned Giant person of interest in the Plaxico Burress thigh blast case, is making enemies with his tweets.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Examiner column calls out Duds? Godly folks are coming after the racist Redskins? Who says Cal Ripken and/or Eddie Murray were juiced? FedExField also sucks for things other than football games? Jeremy Mayfield called his stepmomma THAT? Van Pelt goes for big bucks, but Czarniak goes bid-less?)

Read More “Cheap Seats Daily: FedExField Still Blows?” »

Late last week, the New York Giants released troubled wide receiver Plaxico Burress in what news accounts described as a very unexpected turn of events. The team, after all, had left the door open for Burress’ return following a November incident in which his unregistered gun allegedly went off in a New York nightclub.

Perhaps what set off the Giants was Burress’ behavior in a March 18 traffic stop in south Florida. The 6-foot-5 receiver was reportedly driving like “he was going to kill somebody,” according to a police report cited in an account in the New York Post. It was apparently Burress’s fifth traffic violation in a month.

Once pulled over, Burress acted like a guy who’d learned nothing from the events of the past six months. Here’s the Post’s news account:

The embattled gridder– who was released by the Giants on Friday and faces 3½ years in prison on a gun-possession charge after shooting himself in the leg at a Manhattan nightclub on Nov. 29 — followed every question and command with a “F- – - you,” according to the citation.

How’s that for making T.O. look like an angel?

As predicted in this space last week, the Cardinals and Eagles benefitted from the Anti-Curse of the Redskins.

Turns out that since Dan Snyder started calling the shots around here, letting the Redskins beat you has become a surer way to get your hands on a Lombardi Trophy than having Tom Brady as your quarterback.

Snyder took control of the team in the summer of 1999, too late to have any influence until the millennium.

The Redskins have had only two winning seasons in this century.

Yet five times since 2000, a team the Skins beat went on to win the Big Game® that season. (Brady, who came into the league the same year, only has brought Bill Belichick three Lombardis.)

Before winning Super Bowl XXXV in 2000, for example, the Baltimore Ravens were shamed by the Skins, 10-3.

Read More “The Redskins Anti-Curse™ Holding Strong” »

Bet the mortgage on the Eagles and/or Cardinals this weekend.

Both these squads got beat by the Redskins this year — the Cardinals in Week 3 and the Eagles in Weeks 5 & 16.

In recent seasons, there aren’t many harbingers of Super Bowl success as trusty as taking a whupping from the lowly Skins.

You can look it up.

In 2000, the Redskins beat the Baltimore Ravens, 10-3 during the regular season. The Ravens went on to beat the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.

Read More “The Giants Should’ve Let the Redskins Win One” »