Virginia Tech's bass fishing team: Carson Rejzer and Andrew Blevins (Photo courtesy FLW Outdoors)

Ralph Nader attacked what he calls the "myth of amateurism" among college sports and cited a need to "de-professionalize" today's student athletes.

Nader would get a chuckle should he gaze toward Kentucky Lake this weekend. There, outside Paducah, Ky., he'd find Falls Church's Joe Wilkerson and Ryan Ingalls of Fairfax representing Christopher Newport University among a veritable school of university teams trying to land a $100,000 prize in a... college fishing tournament?

Yup. And while competing against 24 other college teams in the College Fishing National Championship, they'll be dressed up like a NASCAR fender, wearing the logos of all sorts of rod and reel manufacturers and— oh, right—a patch for Christopher Newport University.

Along with the 100 large, the winners also get to compete at the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup, the professional world championship of bass fishing.

God bless 'em.

Yet when Cam Newton's family asks for a teensy cut of the tens of millions of dollars he ended up making for Auburn while toiling for the school, that's put out as a "character issue" that will be used against him in the upcoming NFL draft.

As we check out for the holiday, I'd like to confess being thankful to two of the nicest people in D.C. media and personal heroes, Dan Steinberg and Grant Paulsen, for making me aware of the coolest story of the season: This weekend, Macho Harris will make the jump from Fairfax County flag football to the NFL.

Sure, Harris, a safety who has already spent time on the Philadelphia Eagles roster, only played one game of touchy-feely-grabby football in NoVa, and did it to help out some buddies whose resumes show stints on top-shelf D-1 teams.

But if you white-out those details, the Macho tale gives Hollywood more strange truths to work with than that fictional "Invincible" did, more even than the yarn about the D.C. kid (and alum of Gonzaga High) who leapt from a Notre Dame dorm football league to the starting lineup for the Fighting Irish.

How can you not root for Harris to come up large against the Vikings? Just make one play, Macho, and we'll start working on the script...

Back to me:

For those looking for something other than feel-good anecdotes about the Redskins as we head out, check out the audio of my appearance on WJFK's "LaVar and Dukes" show.

You'll hear about 20 minutes from somebody who cares way too much about caffeine and Dan Snyder, not necessarily in that order, than is healthy. Plus, if you stick around for the train wreck, several seconds of stammering while a four-year old yells that Grandma is at the front door and locked out.

Great radio!

Bad news: Police are "fairly confident" they've found the remains of Morgan Harrington, the 20-year-old Virginia Tech student who disappeared in October after getting separated from her friends at a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. The remains were found at Anchorage Farm by owner David Bass, who said he was out checking fences on a remote part of the property he visits only about once a year. Virginia State Police said the body has been taken to a forensic lab in Richmond so it can be identified and a cause of death confirmed.

How's this for a twist in the story plot of the guy who played the pimp in the undercover pimp-and-prostitute ACORN video that got the liberal grassroots group in hot water with Congress? Said guy, James O'Keefe, 25, has been arrested by the FBI for allegedly trying to bug the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

The Washington Post writes:

Federal investigators allege that James O'Keefe was among a group of four men who created a ruse to enter Landrieu's downtown office for the supposed purpose of repairing the lawmaker's telephones. O'Keefe and another man, Stan Dai, are accused of aiding the plot, while two others, Joseph Basel and Robert Flanagan, are accused of pretending to be telephone company employees, according to federal court records (PDF) unsealed today.

All four, including O'Keefe, were arrested Monday and charged by federal prosecutors with entering federal property under false pretenses and with the intent of committing a felony. If convicted, Flanagan, Basel, O'Keefe and Dai face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

How'd they do it? Wearing a tool belt, of course! From the FBI press release:

FLANAGAN and BASEL were each dressed in blue denim pants, blue work shirts, light green fluorescent vests, tool belts, and construction-style hard hats when they entered the Hale Boggs Federal Building, located at 500 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130. Once in the building, FLANAGAN and BASEL sought access to the offices of Senator Landrieu. O’KEEFE was already present in the office, holding a cellular phone so as to record FLANAGAN and BASEL. Once inside Senator Landrieu’s reception area, FLANAGAN and BASEL told a member of Senator Landrieu’s staff that they were telephone repairmen, and they requested access to the main telephone at the reception desk. FLANAGAN and BASEL then manipulated the telephone system. FLANAGAN and BASEL next requested access to the telephone closet because they needed to perform work on the main telephone system. They were directed to the main office of the United States General Services Administration, also inside the Hale Boggs Federal Building, where they again represented themselves to be employees of the telephone company and stated that they needed to perform repair work in the telephone closet. Both FLANAGAN and BASEL stated that they had left their credentials in their vehicle....

ACORN's reaction on Twitter to O'Keefe's arrest: "Couldn't have happened to a more deserving soul."

The GW Patriot, a journal of politics and culture at George Washington University, reports that Stan Dai was a former editor there; Robert Flanagan is the son of the acting U.S. attorney for the western district of Louisiana. Whoops.

If you missed it yesterday, check out Rend Smith's police blotter, "Officer to Burglary Suspect: Stop Resisting Arrest (and Grabbing My Junk)."

And don't forget about the street closures on Capitol Hill tonight. Some big speech going on.

The skeletal remains were found Tuesday morning by a farmer surveying his farm. The farm is about 10 miles from where Harrington attended the concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville.

State Police Superintendent Steve Flaherty said an autopsy will be conducted to confirm the remains are those of the 20-year-old woman.

Harrington's mother, Gil, told CBS affiliate WCAV they are "most likely" her daughter's:

Gil Harrington said she wanted to thank people for all their prayers and the efforts to find Morgan. "I was hoping we would find her alive, but at least we won't always be wondering for a lifetime," she said. "We're still kind of processing, trying to, although all this time, we've been trying to prepare ourselves for this endpoint," Harrington said.

If you recall, Living Waters, the California-based ministry of creationist Ray "Bananas Prove That God Exists" Comfort, has been gearing up to give away on college campuses 50,000 free copies of a revised edition of Darwin's book in honor of this month's 150th anniversary of its publication. Kirk Cameron is on board! Two things to know about the effort: 1) the anniversary edition contains an introduction declaring that "the legacy of Darwin’s theory can be seen in the rise of eugenics, euthanasia, racism, infanticide, and abortion"; and 2) Cameron is a crazy person.

The sighting is big news, though! When I called Living Waters in September to find out where the books would be distributed, I was told the list was not being publicized in advance because of "atheists who do not appreciate what we're doing." The head of the "Origin into Schools" project, Tony Miano, promised to email me if any area schools took part, but he must have forgotten. Or he read my blog post called "When Did Kirk Cameron Become So Fucking Weird?"

Anyway, Cameron himself was not there yesterday, Torres reports, just "a few people in a grey/silver minivan... A photog missed them by minutes."

A Roanoke TV station did catch up with the folks handing out the books, but they were told not to talk to the media. Why are creationists so unfriendly?

UPDATE: I reached Torres by email and asked what she did with the book. "It's sitting at the top of a book pile on the staircase in my apartment foyer. I'll probably read it at some point, but not right now, as I'm swamped with graduate school coursework." On Kirk Cameron: "He seems nice, though I haven't really gone out of my way to follow his career since my days as a 1980s teen fan magazine reader. He can believe what he wants, it's a free country, etc." On creationism: "Generally I am down with the evolutionists."

With over 1,000 beds, that's a lot of players.

But this year, Pritchard Hall was forced to shed some of its storied testosterone—and try to carry on. Ken Belcher, associate director of housing at Tech, says the dorm became co-ed this fall. Now, 40 percent of its residents are female.

For a dorm that used to be all men, that's a lot of females.

NPR reported earlier this year on the administration's decision to allow women in Pritchard, mentioning a few of the things that had taken place (in reality or according to legend) in the residence hall: "wild slip-and-slide parties" in the hallways, the pushing of a vending machine out a top-floor window, and an unofficial contest that centered around not flushing a urinal. "It went for a few days, and it was pretty bad," one student reported.

When the Collegiate Times, the student newspaper, reported in January on what it called the "end of an era" at Pritchard, one former resident, Scott, who lived in the building in 1999-2000, wrote in with a eulogy of sorts:

Men of Pritchard, Many years from now, tell your children and grandchildren that you lived in the days of hardship and glory, you lived in the days of fire alarms and alcohol poisoning, you lived in the days of Legends; of flaming couches and flying soda machines; of cries of "MAN IN THE PIT!!!" Many years from now, tell your grandchildren that you truly learned that What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Tell them you lived with Seven Layers of Players, that you lived before the castration of Pritchard Hall.

Perhaps stating the obvious, Belcher told City Desk yesterday that feminizing Pritchard has "really changed the whole dynamic of the building."

Ideas? Comments? I’m at eniedowski@washingtoncitypaper.com, and on Twitter.

Jules Cooper was a resident in the all-girls Vault in the 80s, when it was on the sixth floor of West Ambler Johnston Hall (the building has since become much better known as one of the sites of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre). Cooper didn't live there by "choice," as the rest of the students did (meaning their parents had carefully considered the risks of girls living among boys, and chosen it for them); she had a forced roommate switch a few weeks after the school year began, and the new roommate was a Vaulter.

The accommodations were such that everyone on the floor – mostly freshmen – shared a common bathroom, Cooper says. And the highlight of the day – I mean, not counting the days when there were panty raids – was "when an old guy from Roanoke came in to get trash and yelled, 'Man onna hall!'"

She writes:

Everyone on that hall was certifiable in one way or another. ... None of my friends on the hall made it past sophomore year, most dropped out from drugs, grades, booze, and yes, [conflicts over] sexual orientation. So much for clean living sequestered away from the boys.

From the outside world, though, we were the girls in the Virgin Vault, whispered reverently. I cannot explain the guy mentality, but it was there. There would be huge panty raids in front of the hall with 100s of frat boys yelling "Vault Vault Vault Vault."  We never threw panties. Mostly we lit a candle and sat on the floor until it passed. Also, a favorite hazing ritual from fraternities was to chain a guy to the lamppost in front of West AJ and make a bunch of noise so we'd all watch him take off his clothes to escape.  We watched that. Average time to work up nerve to unclothe? Shockingly, a minimum of 45 minutes.

(My, how times change.)

Not everyone living in a "Virgin Vault" is a virgin, believe it or not. Kelly King attested to that fact in a 2002 article in the campus' University of Virginia's Cavalier Daily newspaper called "It takes all kinds to be in the V-Club."

She wrote:

When I was in high school,
 I decided I no longer wanted to be a virgin. I was the last of my friends remaining in the precious V-club and I hated it. They would sit around and talk about sex with their boyfriends and all I could do was sit and listen or add the occasional oral sex tip. I wanted to know what I was missing....

Fortunately, when I left "the club," my fears were put to rest because I found the right guy, and I didn’t have to wait a decade to get some. Moreover, when I got to college I realized that real life virgins over the age of 16 actually did exist (OK, maybe my friends were way ahead of the game). I was actually one of the only people on my hall who had ever had sex, hence our nickname: the "Virgin Vault."

Jeff Craley, a 22-year-old Tech senior who works at the campus radio station, WUVT, has heard of the Virgin Vault, of course (the housing office says it does not have a "freshman-only, female area" on campus, though there are single-sex female dorms). His impression of anyone who would live in such a place: "I'd probably just assume that they're religious."

Other schools have so-called Virgin Vaults, too, as it turns out; some are all-girls floors, some are girls-only dorms (when the VV at the University of Wisconsin went co-ed in 2006 it was said the dorm had been "deflowered"). Some girls at Indiana University tried to get some T-shirts together commemorating the end of their time in the Vault there. Sadly, they couldn't get the money together in time, but here's the design:

Today, Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho's family has allowed for the release of his newly discovered mental-health records. The records were located recently at the home of the former-head of the school's counseling center. WaPo reports the not-stunning news that Virginia Tech's counselors essentially blew off Cho in late 2005—nearly two years before he went on his shooting rampage. He was never treated at the center despite a court order, and the recommendation of an area hospital.

WaPo writes:

"The long-awaited records, which were taken home by the fired director of Cook Counseling Center, do not provide a clearer insight into the mind of the college junior who would later kill 32 students and teachers before shooting himself in the deadliest shooting by an individual in U.S. history. Instead, they provide another window into the broken mental health system that allowed him to slip through its cracks."

The records do indeed read like a troubled student falling through the cracks.

Cho visited the counseling center several times in late 2005:  Nov. 30, twice on Dec. 12, and Dec. 14. An email sent that month from one of Virginia Tech's housing coordinators lays out some of what Cho was up to. It stated that Cho had a "history of erratic behavior and counseling-based issues over the course of the semester." And states that several school personnel were familiar with Cho's issues. It goes on:

"Cho's suitemate called VTPD because Cho expressed suicidal ideations and had previously had 'blades' in the room. Cho went to the Police Station on his own will to talk to an ACCESS counselor."

This is the incident that brought Cho before a judge. The judge issued a temporary detention order; Cho would spend a night at the New River Valley Medical Center for further counseling. He as at the Center on December 13, 2005. The new records include reports taken at the Center.

New River Valley's document shows that Cho was diagnosed there as having a "mood disorder." It goes on to state:

"The patient is very resistant to discussing how he feels and if he has any symptoms of depression or mood changes. He stated he E-mailed a friend yesterday that he felt like killing himself. The patient states that he was just kidding around, but that the friend ended up calling the police....He says it's all a misunderstanding. The patient denies suicidal ideation. However, he is very non-verbal and did not discuss his feelings."

Under history of present illness:

"Apparently, he had been told by this girl not to instant message her anymore. The message was left outside on the erase board outside this girl's room. Patient claims that he did not leave this message. However, he became upset at being accused...Later he told his sweetmate (sic)  that he may as well kill himself because 'everybody hates me.' He did not have any plan or intent to hurt himself."

Under medication history, the attending doctor wrote that Cho did not answer if he had any previous history with depression, noting that "he just looks down at the floor."

Under social history, the attending doctor wrote:

"The patient is a junior at Virginia Tech studying in English. He wants to be a creative writer. Does not want to go to graduate school. Lives on campus with a roommate. He says they get along okay. He has lived in Northern Virginia for 10 years. Prior to that he lived in Korea. He denies use of tobacco, alcohol or drugs. Occasionally he states he goes to the gym, but otherwise does not discuss what he does for fun. Denies having any hobbies....States he has an exam tomorrow in British Literature."

At the time, Cho was taking Ativan for anxiety, the document states: During a physical exam, the Center noted Cho's behavior:

"Patient very non-verbal, very quiet, sits in the chair looking down at the floor, does not blink. Often does not answer questions, or perhaps shakes his head yes or no. When he does speak, it's very slow, very soft spoken. No smile, no laughter, no crying. Patient does not blink. The patient speaks so softly it's almost difficult to hear him."

A Center document goes on to describe his stay:

"The patient spent overnight in the hospital, essentially it does not appear that he had any serious intent when he made the suicidal statement. It appears to be more an act of frustration. He was counseled about the need to need to act responsibly and the fact that in his adult life his actions will be followed by consequences. He seems to receive that message fairly well."

The Center stated that Cho should be treated for his mood disorder on an out-patient basis. The next day, Cho visited V-Tech's counseling facility. Records show he met with an employee there for 30 minutes and denied wanting harm himself or others. Cho was encouraged to come back in January.

Cho had sought help from the center before. He talked to a counselor on the phone on December 12. He indicated that he had trouble sleeping and interacting with his peers. On Nov. 30, he told another counselor that he had been in a depressed mood for two years, that he has no relationships with peers, and that he gets anxiety attacks when he has to talk to people. They listed him as "troubled."

But records indicate, Cho did not make a follow-up appointment after his last 30 minute visit. He told the intake worker that he did not yet know his class schedule for the following semester.

In one of the records, a pre-screening for River Valley, it stated that Cho "is unable to come up with a safety plan to adequately ensure safety."

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Peter Nickles: I Will Not Call You Back," "Video: Is Cleveland Park Dead?" and "The Pershing Park Case: Did A District Official Commit Perjury?"

Morning all. A big thanks to the local politico reporters and Wilson Building staffers who a) Jokingly thought I had become LL; b) Wished me luck in compiling the must-read briefing on local politics; and c) failed to mention the "resident" controversy from yesterday. A few local heavyweights inquired about LL's bike ride to Dewey Beach and wondered if he had made it to the Rusty Rudder safely. I reached LL via e-mail. Here is what he wrote about his trek:

"Uh, well, we left gonzaga HS at 4:30 a.m. then took back roads to just across the severn river in annapolis where we were bused across the bay bridge to where 50 meets 404. it started out looking like it was going to be cloudy and rain all day, but by the time we crossed the bridge the clouds were gone and the sun was shining. so it was really hot. the route kinda sucked. its exactly the same as driving; we rode on the shoulder of these roads the whole time, trucks whizzing pasy, chickenshit in the air, no real scenery of note. but it was for a good cause–autism research–and it was pretty well run, lots of rest stops with powerbars and water and bananas and all that stuff. The first leg I did pretty fast, finishing 35 mi in about two and a half hours. the second leg was somewhat slower—five and a half hours to do 65 mi to Bethany Beach–but i was among the first half of finishers (at 2:15 p.m.) on my junky old bike. so yeah, it was good."

Now on to the news: Councilmember Phil Mendelson has joined colleague Councilmember Mary Cheh in calling for AG Peter Nickles to resign. Cheh spoke out to City Desk last Friday. So what has provoked the councilmembers? The OAG's conduct in a Pershing Park lawsuit in which police evidence has gone missing and/or has been destroyed, among other discovery problems. The U.S. District Court judge in the case has promised painful sanctions, has called on the D.C. Council to investigate the matter, and ordered Nickles to provide a sworn statement explaining his office's conduct. The Examiner's Bill Myers gets Mendo on the record calling for Nickles to go. Nickles offers his usual bulldog-with-rabies react: "It's politics at its worst. They have no idea what's going on." What's going on is available via transcript. News Channel 8's Bruce DePuyt has Cheh and Nickles on the Pershing Park issue. Nickles says he is "troubled" by the missing evidence, and will follow the law. Cheh stands by her comments and says D.C. needs a new attorney general.

LEAD TROUBLES: WaPo is reporting that House investigators have found many more children than previously reported had high levels of lead in their blood during the drinking water crisis from a few years ago. Key graphs: "Local officials could not say Monday whether some children with unsafe lead exposure have gone without intervention to reduce their health risks. The CDC and city health department had reported dangerously high lead levels in 193 children in 2003, the worst year for high concentrations of lead in city tap water. But lab data gathered by congressional investigators this year show that the actual number was 486 children."

AFTER THE JUMP: More public transpo issues, D.C. Police are getting some federal dough, Legal Seafood is fighting to stay inside National Reagan National Airport, WaPo stands up for press freedoms(!) and much, much more.

PUBLIC TRANSPO continues its stretch of bad press. Last night a man was stabbed at Union Station, News Channel 8 reports. It is unclear whether the man was stabbed on a train or on a platform. The man was taken to an area hospital. A female suspect was taken into custody. (Also reporting: WTOP). During rush hour, doors opened on a moving Metro train. Scary. WaPo reports that the incident occurred on an Orange Line train. No injuries were reported and the train was promptly taken out of service. Key graph: "A passenger, who requested anonymity because he is restricted from speaking to the media in his job as a House aide, said that the left panel in the middle door of a middle car came open and that the door closed as soon as the operator hit the brakes."

WJLA is reporting that 27 bus shelters have been busted recently. A DDOT source speculates that this appears to be the work of one person: "Metropolitan police will be handling the investigation. They say the damaged bus shelters are located across the city from Upper Northwest across the Potomac and into Southeast. Clear Channel, the company that began installing the shelters two years ago, said the first damage reports started coming in Sunday and then Monday the number of vandalized shelters passed the two dozen mark."

D.C. cops are getting a bit boost from the feds. Police coffers will see an increase of $12 million from a federal grant. The money will be used to hire an additional 50 officers. News Channel 8 reports this may not necessarily boost the rank and file's numbers: "At the same time the department is getting more officers, the D.C. Council passed a budget calling for a hiring freeze in the department. Over time, it will result in less officers all together. 'Whatever number we ended up at, we're now 50 more than that and that's great news,' said Fenty." NBC4 has a brief on the boost.

An Inspector General's audit has found that the District's financial office has failed to collect $750,000 in motor fuel taxes during the past couple years, the Examiner's Michael Neibauer reports. The news is kinda ironic: "The Office of the Inspector General 'identified uncollected motor fuel tax revenues of about $733,000 for six years,' said the audit, dated July 26. The District's Office of Tax and Revenue, auditors reported, 'has not been aggressively pursuing potential revenues,' as it never followed up with motor fuel importers who didn't pay. The audit was issued July 26, five days before the council voted to increase the gasoline tax from 20 cents to 23.5 cents per gallon."

WaPo is reporting that Legal Seafoods is seeking a court order to stop airport officials from kicking them out of Reagan National Airport's choice Terminal C locale. The chain says it's being pushed out to make way for a steakhouse. Nerdy highlight: "Owner Roger Berkowitz says the problems started last year during lease negotiations with officials from Westfield Concessions Management, the Los Angeles-based company that oversees retail stores and restaurants at National and at Dulles International Airport. He said Westfield encouraged the seafood chain to spend $2.3 million to expand, primarily by taking over the space of a bookstore next door. Berkowitz said he agreed to make the changes but insisted that the seafood chain pocket any construction savings. At the time, he said, construction costs were plummeting due to the weak economy." Of course, there's more.

Gov. Tim Kaine has told families of the Virgina Tech massacre victims that he will not reconvene his investigatory panel. The families had urged him to re-investigate the shootings in light of the shooter's mental health records being found. WaPo reports that more than 60 families and victims had signed a letter urging Kaine to bring the panel back. Key graphs:

"In an e-mail to families sent about noon Monday, Mark Rubin, the governor's counselor, ruled out reconvening the panel.

'While we would not rule out inviting willing members of the Panel to review proposed revisions to the report, we are sensitive that there are families who expressly do not want to reconvene the Panel,' he wrote. 'Our hope is that the current process for revisions will satisfy the need for a thorough report without upsetting families like your own any further.'

But Rubin added that Kaine will accept any factual corrections families wish to make to the report until Aug. 19."

PEGGY COOPER CAFRITZ—one of the District's most impressive politicos—talks about last week's fire that destroyed her home. She tells FOX5: "We'll always find the light, you know. We went through an exercise of looking through the plural of 'phoenix' and we found it, and it's 'phoenixes' and as I told others, that's exactly who my children and I are and will be." WUSA's Bruce Johnson had the exclusive first interview and some news on the fire: "Sources tell 9NEWS NOW that WASA had four reports of low water pressure in the area in the past year. At least two hydrants are clearly marked out of service." Let's hear it for "sources" whoever they are!

WaPo Editorial Board slams the D.C. Council's penchant for closed-door meetings. A must read for....fans of Sherwood, Segraves and any another local reporter who has pounded on those closed doors. Key graph: "THE D.C. COUNCIL was able to shut the public out of its recent budget deliberations because supposedly, it wasn't really taking action. Never mind that all the big decisions were being made behind those closed doors. That such an outrage could occur is the latest example of why the District is viewed as having one of the most worthless open-meetings laws in the country and why that law needs to be changed."

FENTY'S SCHEDULE:

10:45 a.m. Remarks
Demolition at Gage Eckington Elementary School
Location: Site of Former Gage Eckington Elementary School
2025 3rd Street, NW

4:00 p.m. Remarks
Petworth Recreation Center Ribbon Cutting
Location: 801 Taylor Street, NW

7:30 p.m. Remarks
79th Grand Chapter Meeting of Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc.
Location: Marriot Wardam Park Hotel
2660 Woodley Road, NW

Vinny Cerrato yesterday told the Washington Post that the Redskins will not pursue Vick, doggedly or otherwise. But Cerrato has fibbed so many times about personnel matters, most blatantly while acquiring Jason Taylor from Miami last summer, that his credibility in these situations is less than zero. So over at Dan Snyder's message board, extremeskins.com, the should-we-or-shouldn't-we talk raged on. Vick has a surprising amount of support among the Skins fan base, probably from a combination of loyalty from Virginia Tech alums and Jason Campbell's lack of a strong following.

But the anti-Vick crowd around here is much more passionate. The poster Bostic Hog spoke for a bunch of folks when he wrote: "Do you think Danny will offer us a refund on our season tickets if he signs Vick? Kind of like a breach of contract thing, or maybe a morals clause, like the players have."

I'm guessing the chances of Vick signing with the Redskins are better than the chances that Snyder will offer refunds to fans if he does. And no matter who Vick plays for, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should make him wear jersey #K9.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Vick programs cable TV? Nats feel more thunder? Weequahic High School was a bunch of losers?)

***

Vick may not be a great role model for America's youth, but he's already had a profound influence on our grownups, or whomever's running the media.

The show biz trade bible Variety reports that Animal Planet has begun production on a series of investigative documentaries for next year as a result of the boffo ratings the channel got with last year's special about history's most famous dogfighting quarterback: "Animal Witness: The Michael Vick Case" in 2008. The show gave Animal Planet its biggest adult audience of the year.

The new series of hour-long shows will be called "Animal Planet Investigates."

Animal Planet president and general manager Marjorie Kaplan explained her channel's inspiration to Variety: "We thought the Michael Vick special would do well, but we were blown away by how well it did out of the gate," Kaplan said. "We looked at [the ratings], as well as the success of something like 'Whale Wars,' and were moved [by] the passion our audience has for these kind of things."

"Whale Wars?" Geez.

***

Nats win!

Update on Us: The Washington Times, awesomely offbase, tries to give credit for the new winning ways to manager Jim Riggleman's postgame talks to the team. Please. Riggleman, as this article points out, was giving these speeches as soon as he got the job. And the Nats lost his first four games in a row. But since Cheap Seats Daily foisted "Thunderation" on the Nats as the team's unofficial official fight song on July 21, the team, which could boast a five-game losing streak at the time and a winningless new manager, has gone 6-1 in games that went the full 9 innings.

The Nats are now on a four-game winning streak in which they’ve outscored the opposition 38-12.

As both my readers know, Riggleman’s Rockets of Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville posted more than 20 consecutive winning seasons with “Thunderation” as their cheer.

So once more with feeling, we'll SING!:

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

Now, if only the Nats can keep this "Thunderation"-inspired winning streak going for 40 games, not only will we have a Soul Sensation on our hands, but the team will be .500!

True story: My momma, a huge Nats fan who I've never burdened with my "Thunderation" fetish, was so excited after last night's win that she chimed in, unsolicited, with two of her own cheers, recalled from the football games at Weequahic High School in Newark, NJ, in the 1940s: "Our team is red hot!  Your team is all shot!" and "We play football, We play Soccer, We keep matzoh in our locker!  Yay, team!"

She admitted that her school had the worst team in the city. Sorry, Ma, but we'll stick with a proven winner. We'l stick with "Thunderation!"

***

The Washington Mystics lost in Indiana. I'm not happy about this, but: I have trouble working up interest in the WNBA unless players are brawling or fans are kissing. From a spectating standpoint, DC Divas games are a far better live product, I swear.

The new records contradict Virginia Tech's old narrative of events. The records appear to suggest that Cho received far more counseling at the university than had been previously reported. How the records disappeared is now being investigated as a criminal matter.

The Post writes:

"According to a memo written by a university lawyer and obtained by The Washington Post, the former director, Robert Miller, had moved the records into his home more than a year before the April 16, 2007, massacre, during which Cho also took his own life.

Word the records had been found first came from Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine during a Wednesday morning news conference. Kaine said only that missing mental health records were located at the home of a former employee of the college's counseling center.

Kaine said a criminal investigation is underway to determine how the employee was able to take the records and why the documents were not uncovered during state investigations following the shooting."

The records only came to light because of scrutiny from two remaining civil lawsuits filed by victims' families. The other families that had settled their cases had been informed that the records were simply missing. Not so.

This is an instance where the persistence of the two families really has paid off. No amount of state money will bring back their loved ones. But at least they can be comforted by the fact that now Tech has to explain the missing records and what those records say about the school's mental health care.

Yesterday, an important moment came between all the memorials and tributes marking the two-year anniversary of the massacre at Virgina Tech. Two victims' families filed lawsuits in Fairfax County. The families of Julia Kathleen Pryde and Erin Nicole Peterson had opted out of the $11 million settlement and had to meet a two-year time limit to file suits. They met their deadline.

Good for them.

I had a feeling the Peterson family would choose to fight over taking such a settlement. I had met them just hours after the tragedy. They had still not heard about their daughter. They waited in the lobby of a hotel/conference center. The medical examiner had quit for the night. The family refused to sleep.

In the morning after, the Peterson family still hadn't gotten word from the ME. They were furious. I was there in the lobby. They grew suspicious of Tech's volunteer handlers and flacks.They wanted to express their anger to reporters. The handlers tried to shield them, prevent them from talking, from straying far from the script. I chronicled the tense scene for a cover story.

Here's what the family told me about Erin:

Erin picked Virginia Tech because it was still close enough to home. This past weekend, she had been accepted into the university’s honor society fraternity and her parents drove down to take her shopping and out to dinner.

“She was just a super child,” says William Lloyd, Erin’s godfather. “Never ran the streets. Her and her dad, man, you couldn’t separate them. He lost a child from cancer —a daughter, 8 years old. A week later, [Erin] was born.”

The only time Erin and her father, Grafton, parted ways was when the Redskins played the Cowboys. “She was a Redskin,” Lloyd says. “He was a Cowboy.”

If you knew Erin, you'd be angry too. Mary Peterson told the volunteers that she was tried of watching them drink coffee. She wanted answers. Maybe now, the family will get those answers.

The two families would certainly have a supporter in Lucinda Roy, a V-Tech professor who tried to help Cho. She recently published a book called No Right To Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech. Yesterday afternoon, I heard her on NPR. She mourned the loss of her students. But she also mourned the behavior of the school's administration both before and after the tragedy. She suggested they simply have not done enough to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

Roy had tutored Cho one-on-one and had pressed him to get counseling. Yet, Roy told NPR, the administration has not once asked her for advice on how to prevent such tragedies from happening again. They never once solicited her experience or insight in the past two years.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.