"Nah, it ain't enjoyable," Haynesworth said.

Which means one thing: Big Al didn't bet the Cheap Seats Daily Double™!

Because had he followed Cheap Seats Daily's Tout #1 and bet this month's mortgage on the Ravens, laying three points, he would have won. And if he'd have followed Cheap Seats Daily's Tout #2 and bet next month's mortgage on the under (31 1/2), he'd have won that, too.

Haynesworth would be rich!

***

Lindsay Czarniak showed up during the game broadcast and the post-game show wearing a licensed Redskins shirt, logo and all. That makes sense, since she was working for the Redskins Broadcasting Network, owned by Dan Snyder.

But Czarniak was carrying a WRC microphone. She took off the Redskins costume and put on a blue fluffy top for her 11 o'clock news segment from Baltimore, so clearly her superiors have some inkling about the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Why is this dual role allowed? Czarniak works for the news department of an NBC affiliate. But she works for Dan Snyder, too. For the ethics police, other than the import of the subject matter, what's the difference between Czarniak's Redskins deal and Armstrong Williams taking money from the Bush White House?

(AFTER THE JUMP: Why not have Redskins salons? Joe Theismann, musicologist? Will Ladell Bettis ever get over it? What's Cora Masters Barry trying to get away with now? Karl Swanson writes in? The Tom Boswell Curse lives on?)

If the Washington Post hosted a salon where it promised sports reporters and Redskins would be available to anybody who ponied up big money, would that bother anybody?

Ain't sports news news?

***

Jim Zorn, talking with Czarniak's co-worker Larry Michael of the Redskins Broadcasting Network about fumbles and penalties and assorted miscues after his team's shutout loss: "All these things were like bullets hitting me in the chest."

***

This morning, early in the debut of "The Joe Theismann Show" on Dan Snyder's WTEM, host Theismann came out of commercial with a song from what he called "one of my favorite bands in the world, Journey." As the music faded he advised fans, "Don't stop believing!"

Later, also coming out of a break to Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog," Theismann said, "I love music. Elvis, Michael Jackson. The next one to be in that [class] is going to be Justin Timberlake. Justin is such an amazing talent. As was Brian Orakpo last night."

Smooove...

***

Prediction: The Bettis jersey debacle will be referenced much more than any play in last night's game, and remembered much longer.

***

Redskins and Dan Snyder spokesman Karl Swanson wrote in to dispute wording I used here yesterday when describing Snyder's sneaky parking surcharge at concerts and other non-Redskins events held at FedExField, which he owns. While all other venues in the area include parking charges in the advertised price of the ticket, Snyder adds it as a line item on the invoice on top of the advertised price. This scheme can mean an extra $700,000 for Snyder for U2's show next month. I wrote: "And this is with zero overhead."

Swanson, via email, responded:

Regarding your City Desk post of today, contrary to your claim "this is with zero overhead" there is significant overhead in the form of parking attendants, security, police, and post-event cleaning.

What I wrote was not clear. I meant that adding a line-item on an invoice costs Snyder nothing, not that operating a parking service has no overhead.

***

Cora Masters Barry got an eviction notice yesterday from the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center because, according to the Washington Post, the corporate registration of her organization, the Recreation Wish List Committee, had lapsed. She's got 30 days to vacate the building, according to reports.

In a puffy WRC interview aired last night, Masters Barry, who only talks to the media when she needs 'em, acted like she was crying.

And Masters Barry, who's as good an actor as her husband and has as many lives, whined to the Washington Post, "This has been my life's work!"

That's not really true. Her life's work also includes a stint as commissioner of DC's Boxing and Wrestling Commission. At the time, she was known as Cora Wilds.

In that job, which former members of the commission say she got only because of her relationship to her future husband, then-Mayor Marion Barry, Masters Barry made the DC boxing scene a national laughingstock. Her only accomplishment came in earning a federal conviction for defrauding the city and its residents.

Masters Barry was boxing commissioner from 1980 to 1987. A 1987 investigation by the Washington Post showed that while on the job Masters Barry had taken 25 trips around the globe, to spots such as Venice and Aruba, to watch championship fights. She flew first class despite city regulations that required coach for business travel. Masters said her back hurt too much to fly coach.

But Masters Barry couldn't explain away all the receipts that showed she'd been illegally double-billing both the DC government and the boxing commission for all her travels. She was convicted in federal court in 1988 for the fraud.

In her seven years as commissioner, for all the championship bouts she flew to abroad on our dime times two, Masters Barry never brought a single title fight to DC.

The one big match that was scheduled during Masters Barry's reign, a bout between Michael Spinks and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad for Spinks’ undisputed light heavyweight crown in July 1983, was cancelled hours before the bell was to ring because of, depending on who you believe, either Muhammad's weight or a problem with the scales used at the weigh-in, which were provided by Masters Barry.

York Van Nixon, a DC boxing commissioner before and during Masters Barry's reign, told me last year: “Boxing still hasn’t come back here from what she did to it. It never will.”

***

Update on the The Tom Boswell Curse:

Nats get crushed in Cincinnati. No runs, two hits.

Nats' record with Boswell on vacation: 14-6.

Nats' record since Boswell returned from vacation: 0-3.

Good thing it's betting football season!

***

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

So the Washington Post appeared to want to make you pay big bucks for meet-ups with their reporters and editors. Politico had the scoop on the Post scheme in which Publisher Katharine Weymouth would host "salons" in which lobbyists and association muckety mucks would pay large sums of money to hobnob with Posties, Obama administration officials, and members of Congress.

Let's stop and just say it: This is/was really, really dumb. Unethical and dumb. Yesterday, Weymouth published a "Dear Reader" letter apologizing for the now-abandoned salons. It reads in part:

"A flier distributed last week suggested that we were selling access to power brokers in Washington through dinners that were to take place at my home. The flier was not approved by me or newsroom editors, and it did not accurately reflect what we had in mind. But let me be clear: The flier was not the only problem."

I wonder if the Weymouth has to put a stop order on the hot appetizers she planned on serving to D.C.'s elite. I hope the Post doesn't have to eat the cost of the flower arrangement orders. And I hope they got a deal on those fliers they're not going to use. Next time: Evites.

There had been a lot of dithering on the part of the Post's staff on the subject of these salons. Howard Kurtz, the paper's media reporter, suggested the events were like the New Yorker Festival. [Um, no the salons would not have been like the New Yorker Festival]. It is really doubtful that the salons would have been open to the public and given big-time ad treatment within its pages. The salons appeared to be private affairs between Washington elite.

The best takedown/summation of this scandal? You can find it at The Awl. The Shadow Editors---featuring WCP alum Tom Scocca---dissect the scandal and the Weymouth letter. It's actually funny.

I am still confused about the extent of the Post's editors and reporters involvement in setting up the salons.

*photo courtesy Business Week.

Now come a flurry of memos in the wake of the crisis. Here are a couple of them:

From Publisher Katharine Weymouth:

All:

You will have seen this morning a story in Politico and now widely picked up that we were planning a series of salon dinners. A flyer went out that was prepared by the Marketing Department and was never vetted by me or by the newsroom. Had it been, the flyer would have been immediately killed, because it completely misrepresented what we were trying to do.

I do not normally respond to stories but this one has created enough of a stir that I wanted to take the time to reaffirm our commitment, first and foremost, to our journalism and our integrity. There is nothing more important and no amount of money that would cause us to jeopardize that. We are always looking for new revenue streams but we will pursue only avenues that uphold our high standards of journalism.

We were planning to do a series of dinners and had requested newsroom participation but with parameters such that we did not in any way compromise our integrity. Sponsorship of events, like advertising in the newspaper, must be at arm's length and cannot imply control over the content or access to our journalists. At this juncture, we will not be holding the planned July dinner and we will not hold salon dinners involving the newsroom.

We do believe that there is a viable way to expand our expertise into live conferences and events that simply enhances what we do - cover Washington for Washingtonians and those interested in Washington. And we will begin to do live events in ways that enhance our reputation and in no way call into question our integrity.

From Charles Pelton:

As many of you know, a flyer was distributed this week offering an “underwriting opportunity” for a salon dinner on health-care reform, in which the news department had been asked to participate.

The language in that flyer, which was not vetted with the newsroom, precludes the participation of the newsroom. We're canceling the Salon. The Washington Post newsroom will not participate in events where promises are made or implied that in exchange for money The Post will offer access to key sources, newsroom personnel or will refrain from confrontational questioning. Our newsroom's independence from advertisers and sponsors is inviolable.

There is a long tradition of news organizations hosting conferences and events, and we believe The Post, including the newsroom, can participate in conferences and events in ways that are consistent with our values.
Charles Pelton
General Manager
Washington Post Conferences & Events