The latest evidence: "Hail the the Redskins," a new, cheaper scatch ticket coming out of the partnership between the team and the Virginia Lottery.

Hail to the Redskins is the third Redskins scratch game in as many years.

The original Redskins scratcher, Redskins Mania, debuted in 2009. In keeping with the Redskins' charge-'em-more! philosophy in the Dan Snyder era, that ticket had a sale price of $20, making it as costly a scratcher as had ever been sold by Virginia Lottery.

The Redskins ticket was also the most expensive of all the NFL-themed scratchers introduced that year, the first year in which the league approved alliances between teams and state lotteries.

Up the road in Baltimore and also in 2009, for example, the Ravens introduced their scratch ticket, Baltimore Ravens Cash Fantasy, and affixed a blue-collarish $5 price on it.

The Redskins $2o ticket flopped and was discontinued after one year.

“We sold about 37 percent of our tickets,” Virginia Lottery spokesperson Jennifer Mullen told me last year. “We discovered the $20 price point was a bit of a barrier.”

Meanwhile, the Ravens ticket immediately became the most successful scratcher in Maryland Lottery history.

While the Ravens continued selling the Cash Fantasy tickets with the same low price in 2010, the Redskins rebooted and partnered with the Virginia Lottery on a new game, Redskins Legacy, trading on the good ol' days Before Snyder, like so many of the team's ventures since Bruce Allen was brought in.

The price on Redskins Legacy was $10, lower but still twice the cost of the Ravens.

Still, no dice. The $10 Redskins Legacy scratcher also closed after just one season this July.

Now there's Hail to the Redskins. The only eye-opening aspect of the new ticket: It costs $5.

Just like the Ravens Cash Fantasy scratcher has all along.

The Ravens ticket is still running strong in its third season.

Now That It's Raining More Than Ever: First, we need to preface this item by saying we do know there's nothing more annoying than breathless news reports telling you what the weather's doing. You know what the weather's like! You have windows! That said... Have you noticed it's been raining? The District, predictably, fell to pieces; manholes started smoking on H Street NE, accidents snarled traffic everywhere, the Redskins had to practice in a hangar at Dulles. Nearly half a foot of rain could fall by the end of the day. But the weekend looks nice! -4

Metro Fights Back: Every now and then, another story pops up about how none of the members of the Metro Board of Directors ever actually ride any subways or buses. Now we know why: Alexandria Mayor Bill Euile, a member of the board, was injured today trying to take the train to a Metro board meeting, falling while boarding a subway at Braddock Road. He'll need surgery. Yes, really. There was a time when Metro was the pride of the D.C. region. But now, raise your hand if you'd trade a working, 24-hour, if dirty, New York subway system for our clean, but utterly dysfunctional one? -3

Google This: Readers of Greater Greater Washington noticed updated Google Maps satellite photos of the D.C. region recently—and promptly set about figuring out when they were taken: Between 1 p.m. and 1:35 p.m., on Sunday, Aug. 29. Clues that tipped them off included Metro track work (naturally), farmers markets in Dupont Circle and Greenbelt (which only meet on Sundays), and the lack of some Capital Bikeshare stations installed not long afterwards. Behold the power of crowd-sourcing! There is nothing that the hive mind cannot conquer! (Well, nothing mostly trivial, at least.) +2

Players Win and Winners Play: Glebe Road turns out to be a rather lucky place—Pura Valdez bought her first-ever Virginia Lotto Ticket at a Giant Food there recently, and won $1 million. (Certain City Paper editors have been buying Powerball tickets once or twice a month for years now and never won anything more than a lousy $3!) The store got $10,000 for selling the winning ticket. Valdez says she's been crying, sleeping badly, and not eating since she won; maybe being a millionaire isn't all it's cracked out to be. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 42 Today's score: -4 Today's Needle rating: 38

Who gets the $2 million?

The Virginia Lottery recently ended Redskins Mania, the Redskins scratch ticket offer. The tickets cost $20 apiece. But several weeks after the last ticket was sold, there's a lot of money that never found its way back to lottery players.

Two of the three million dollar giveaways hailed when the Redskins Mania program was announced haven't been given away. Three of the six $25,000 prizes also went unclaimed, as did more than 60 percent of the $5,000 and $1,000s winners.

In fact, there was only one prize category in which Virginia Lottery gave away all the prizes it said it was going to give away. That category? Season tickets to Skins games for the next 20 years!

That was called the "top prize" by lottery officials.

Lesser beings would insert a joke here about second prize being season tickets for the next 40 years.

But, according to one of the "top prize" winners, that wouldn't be a joke: A sad sack going simply by the name of "John" went on a lottery blog a couple months ago to warn folks that winning isn't everything.

I’m one of the winners of Virginia Lottery’s 20 years of Redskins Season’s tickets, and believe me it took 300 $20 Redskins Lottery ticket entries, to be lucky enough to be selected to be one of the 16 finalists that went to FedEx field. Then from there 7 out of the 16 won the 20 years worth of Redskins tickets at the drawing held at FedEx field. Sometimes it just comes straight down to luck. LOL, of course, the extra taxes for winning 20 years of tickets is going to kill me in the 2010 tax season, so just maybe you can count yourself lucky for not winning the 20 years worth of Raven’s tickets.

In other words, dear John spent more than $6,000, got Redskins season tickets, and still feels screwed.

Sounds like a typical Skins season ticketholder to me!

So, what gives with the lack of giveaways? Why is the lottery holding back so many prizes? Did Skins fans not claim them? Were fans unable to figure out the complicated scratch game rules and let the winnings go to waste? Did fans find Redskins lottery tickets, like actual Redskins tickets, just not worth their price last season? Can we blame this all on Albert Haynesworth?

I'm waiting for answers to these questions from Virginia Lottery officials.

Redskins Scratch Mania statistical roundup available after the jump.

Prize                      Available     Unclaimed

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!