Today is Elgin Baylor Day in Washington!

But not this Washington. Greg Nickels, the mayor of Seattle, Wash., has officially dedicated today to Baylor.

Baylor was in Seattle for a couple years of college ball. So if he gets a day named after him there, Baylor should have a day named after him in D.C., too. And a street named after him. And a building. Maybe even a neighborhood. Why not the whole town! (Instead, all he's got is Ginuwine -- a D.C. native whose real name is Elgin Baylor Lumpkin.)

Butt seriously: Baylor's the best basketball player this city ever produced -- and that's saying something -- and he remains a legendary figure to an elderly generation of black folks. His lack of any real presence in his hometown is a crime. He's 75 years old now. Because the white media ignored his side of town, Baylor never got his due when he was a schoolboy god at Spingarn and local playgrounds in the early 1950s, though he was literally changing the way the game of basketball was played.

Give Elgin Baylor his due now, D.C.!

Who do I call?

***

More evidence that the Redskins don't have god on their side.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Christians don't turn the other cheek on "redskins"? Dan Steinberg calls off the Kornheiser/Wise war? Without telling me? FIOS is great, unless you're a Caps fan? Chris Webber, down and out, still gets razzed for that timeout?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Elgin Baylor Gets His Day, But Not Here?" »

Today is Elvin Hayes' birthday. Big E is 64.

Hayes was the star power forward on the Baltimore/Washington Bullets during the 1970s. The team went to the NBA Finals four times in that decade.

FOUR times! The NBA Finals!

Four times! (OK: Hayes was only there for three of 'em. But, still...)

And, of course, the Bullets won one of those title tilts, during the 1977-78 season.

The late-model Bullets, playing under another name, are already in last place in the division, six games out of first place after playing only nine games, and, as Eastern Conference champs Cleveland come to town tomorrow, hope is scarce.

The cure? Easy! Just get it over with and change the damn name back to "Bullets," Abe Pollin! What could it hurt?

Happy Birthday, Elvin!

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Speaking of names that should change: The Redskins won't lose trademark rights just yet.

The Supreme Court disclosed yesterday that it won't hear an appeal filed on behalf of an American Indian group that sued the Redskins, saying the team's name is offensive and therefore under federal law shouldn't be afforded trademark protections.

Redskins lawyers, including Dave "Yeah, That's the Ticket!" Donovan argued successfully that the plaintiffs waited too long to file the suit.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Another Redskins trademark lawsuit bubbles up? Why doesn't Dan Snyder just change the name? Maryland Nighthawks come back with a new name? With sign ban lifted, Redskins fans are back to complaining about players? Redskins fans worry that FedExField guards will turn "hi-def" cameras on them looking for bad sign carriers? Birthers take their fight to basketball? Ex-high school star WASN'T 24 years old when he played prep hoops here?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Name Changes Again the Talk of the Town’s Teams?" »

It's not clear to me which is the bigger travesty: Vinny Cerrato keeping his job so long after running the Redskins into the ground, or Dan Snyder staying atop Six Flags despite making all the wrong moves since taking over the now-bankrupt theme park chain in 2005.

Six Flags' reorganization is nowhere near complete, and god only knows what's beneath the surface of this debacle. But from the sound of things, when all's said and done Snyder will still be chairman of Six Flags board of directors when that company comes out of bankruptcy.

How can this be? In Snyder's world, what do you have to do to lose your job?

One small aspect of the fiasco: Would somebody PLEASE explain to me how Snyder was allowed to pay a whopping $175 million for Dick Clark Productions using private equity money from Red Zone Capital, a fund he controls, then turn around and sell 40 percent of Dick Clark Productions to Six Flags, using public equity money, which he also controlled? And Snyder did this deal, remember, in 2007, while Six Flags was on the way to the bottom and he was already blaming the company's woes on its billions of dollars of debt.

Snyder made the Dick Clark Productions sale around the time he made a licensing deal between Johnny Rockets, another Red Zone-owned company and controlled by Snyder, and Six Flags. Again, would SOMEBODY please explain to me how that's allowed?

I mean, I make a lot of fun of Lindsay Czarniak and Dan Hellie working for Snyder's Redskins Broadcast Network and WRC News at the same time. And that really does bug me. But Czarniak and Hellie's conflict of interest ain't a hair off the ass of the conflict of interest Dan Snyder had in dealing with himself during Red Zone's sale of a huge chunk of Dick Clark Productions to Six Flags. Let alone the Johnny Rockets deals.

How hard a bargain do you think private-money Dan Snyder drove with public-money Dan Snyder in making these deals?

(AFTER THE JUMP: More on Dan Snyder, Red Zone and Dick Clark? DeMatha sends more jocks to college? Remember Harvey Grant? The DC Armor are gonna just disappear? Somebody's still kvetching about the El Al/FedExField comparison?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Hey, Dan Snyder: How’d That Dick Clark Deal Work Out for Six Flags Stockholders?" »

Dan Snyder came out of hiding or France or wherever he went while Rome burned to say he's sorry. Well, to say "we" are sorry.

"We feel frustration and we feel sorry for our fans," Snyder told a crowd at an event the Redskins organized. He was standing at a podium in front of a gang of players in jerseys and behind a placard that said "Children Come First." As I noticed during a shot of the owner's box in last week's Monday Night Football broadcast, Snyder looks smaller these days than he ever did. (Seriously: Check out this video from WUSA.) Reminds me of what happened to Rev. Dimmesdale in the Cliff's Notes version of The Scarlet Letter.

(AFTER THE JUMP: 2% of WRC viewers are "Thrilled!" by Dan Snyder's mini-contrition? The Bathroom Diaries are looking for a few good places to squat? Have they considered FedExField's beer-friendly head? The EagleBank Bowl adds a conference? Wes Unseld gets a street named after him? Will it be clogged in the middle at all times?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Why Is Dan Snyder Shrinking?" »

In case you missed it: "Art Monk and Charles Mann Sell Former City Property for Millions, Bail On Anacostia Job Training Center."

Over the years, there aren't many things I've written about more than Monk and Mann's training center.

For a decade, the beloved former Redskins said the Carver Theatre building was going to be rebuilt by their non-profit organization, called the Good Samaritan Foundation, and promised that the building would become an epicenter of goodwill in a neighborhood historically lacking in it.

It never happened. But every time I wrote that the training center still wasn't open -- almost like "Saturday Night Live"'s repeating that Francisco Franco was "still dead" in every fake newscast -- officials of the organization continued insisting that their actions would soon back up Monk and Mann's words.

It's not like they didn't use Good Samaritan Foundation to make themselves look good. Monk's son even spoke of the organization in the speech he gave during Dad's Hall of Fame induction in August 2008.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Still more on the neverending story? Karl Swanson holds no grudge against the Washington Post? Roger Phegley DIDN'T mess up the Bullets forever and ever? Clearing on the Road to 100 Losses?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: An Awful Ending to Monk and Mann’s Neverending Story?" »

Today's Washington Post has a special pro football insert headlined "NFL '09."

The most interesting reading in the 14-page pullout comes in one of its few advertisements. Main Line Animal Rescue, a Philadelphia group that apparently specializes in saving "Bully Breeds" of dogs, bought space in the section.

The ad copy, placed alongside a photo of what I assume is a pit bull:

Attention Football Fans: Philadelphia is playing Washington on October 26.

Every time Michael Vick is tackled during the game, Main Line Animal Rescue will donate 5 bags of dog food to your local animal shelter.

"Because there are no second chances on an empty stomach."

Consider volunteering at your local shelter on the day of the game. Spend some time walking, or brushing, or bathing, or hugging a homeless Pit Bull.

Not exactly the bounty on players' heads that led to the famous "Body Bag Game" between the Skins and Eagles in 1990, but, still.

My sense is the outrage against Vick has waned so much and so fast that by the time the Eagles get to DC, there'll be a lot more talk about the wildcat offense than dog killing.

(By the way: The other ads in the Post's football section are: four small spots for imported car dealers, one for a job fair, and a half-pager, the biggest in the section) announcing a blowout chain saw sale. Men! Men! Men!)

***

(AFTER THE JUMP: Wilbon already blames Snyder for lousy season? Kornheiser speaks no Snyder? Unseld whupped Yao's dad? The Asian Bias™ in golf affects White House visit? The Nats Countdown to 100 Losses starts now? Pedro Martinez already has more wins than most Nats?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: And If You Break Michael Vick’s Leg, We’ll Throw in a Chew Toy!" »

FanZoneGate™ Update: Redskins spokesman Karl Swanson says WJFK, a new sportsradio station and rival to Dan Snyder's WTEM, had no business selling passes to the FanZone, a new private parking lot near FedExField that was set to compete with the Snyder-owned lots on Redskins game days.

Folks who bought FanZone parking passes on WJFK's web site and showed up to Saturday's preseason game with Pittsburgh found that Snyder had taken over the lot.

Yesterday, a marketing rep for CBS-owned WPGC, a WJFK sister station that was also promoting the parking lot, told me “some situations occurred” that led to Snyder’s takeover.

The marketing rep, however, would not go into detail over how the promotion, which positioned the FanZone lot as cheaper than Snyder's lots and without the new tailgating restrictions that so many fans are concerned about, fell apart.

Swanson says all the problems come from WJFK selling parking passes before getting the rights to use the land.

"[I]n a nutshell the Redskins, the radio stations and (I think) one other group were in separate negotiations to lease the lot as a parking site," Swanson tells me via email. "For reasons unbeknownst to us, the radio stations began advertising the lot without a contract and as negotiations were ongoing.  We entered terms and leased the lot for game day parking."

The Redskins did the fans who bought passes a solid for the Pittsburgh game, Swanson says: "[W]e decided to honor all of the passes the radio stations had already sold."

(AFTER THE JUMP: The sad tale of Bullets gaffer Dick Gibbs? Local rookie Brett Cecil makes his own blooper tape? Best of the decade time...already? AAU teammates Durant and Beasley make different sorts of news? Would only an idiot reference the Tom Boswell Curse?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Snyder Crushes Radio Rival WJFK in Redskins Parking Lot Battle" »

Rob Dixon has at least one thing in common with Gandhi: Gandhi never played for the Bullets, either.

There's one difference between 'em, also: Gandhi never claimed he did.

Now, according to Dixon's charity, he'll stop making such claims.

Dixon was one of the good people featured during pre-game ceremonies at the All Star game. He runs Project Rise, a charity in the Boston area that for years has tried to get kids who otherwise might not go to college into college.

His tale was enough that he was voted via a People Magazine national contest as being among the do-goodingest folks in the country. Dixon and the other winners stood on the field in St. Louis last night as President Obama and all the living ex-presidents talked them up via videotape. Dixon was among a small group that got a personal presidential tribute: George W. Bush talked about Dixon's charity to the stadium crowd and a national TV audience. Bush didn't mention Dixon's basketball experience.

But while successfully campaigning for this People honor, Dixon claimed to have played for the Washington Bullets. That NBA experience was repeated in pretty much every news story about the People awards; he was identified as a "former Washington Bullets guard who left the NBA in 1983" by a publication near his hometown of Dorchester, Mass.

One problem: Dixon's name, according to Abe Pollin's franchise, doesn't appear on any Bullets rosters. The organization has no record that he ever did play for the team. Neither does any other NBA squad.

Read More "Update: Charity Says All-Star Honoree’s Bogus Bullets Boast Has Been ‘Addressed’" »

Troy Mathieu has quit as athletic director of DC Public Schools. He didn't last a year. Mathieu had replaced Allen Chin, who had the AD job for decades but was an early sweepee of Michelle Rhee's broom. Based on limited exposure -- mainly the flip-flopping and bungling I witnessed from her office while she was trying to install a five-year eligibility rule in DCIAA -- I've never got the sense that Rhee takes school sports very seriously.

***

The streaking Nationals captured their seventh loss in a row. The long skein was in jeopardy until Joel Hanrahan's bases loaded wild pitch in the top of the ninth.

I'm no Casey Stengel, but does anybody get why Manny Acta keeps throwing Hanrahan out there as the closer? How many dead will it take 'til he knows that too many people have died?

I, for one, miss Charlie Slowes' "Curly W!" calls on the radio.

***

DC United took a four-goal lead and didn't blow it all in beating HATED RIVAL the New York Red Bulls, 5-3, at RFK. The game was billed as a play-in for the U.S. Open Cup, a tournament that goes back to 1914, and which United won last year. I always thought the defending champion automatically qualifies in major soccer tournaments -- World Cup, Champions League, etc. Only about 5,000 fans showed up for the game, so maybe United fans figured the same.

***

DeMatha's own Danny Ferry has been named NBA Executive of the Year by the Sporting News. The Cleveland Cavaliers GM, Bob Ferry, won the same award twice during his days as general manager of the Washington Bullets, despite making these first round picks over his years here: Tom Hammonds, Mugsy Bogues,

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Trouble at the Top of DC Schoolboy Sports, Nats Keep Hopelessness Alive, United Wins in Front of Nobody, Danny Ferry Wins GM Award" »

For the first time since the Natinals scandal, the natinal media paid attention to our baseball team yesterday.

Folks only took notice, alas, because our boys were in L.A. while the Dodgers learned they'd be an odd Manny out. For a long time.

Looks like Manny Ramirez took some sort of estrogen. So Manny was just being Womanny?

In any case, it's gonna cost him...50 games and $7 million!!! (That's a lot for baseball: The most heinous on-field act in baseball history came in 1965, when SF Giant Juan Marichal pounded on Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro's helmetless head with a baseball bat -- though I guess in this context simply "with a bat" would work -- and Marichal only got a nine-day suspension and a fine of $1,750.)

So for now, it looks like the Mount Rushmore of baseball's Dead Balls Era™ would be Manny, A-Rod, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.

Between 'em, there's 49 All-Star game appearances, 11 MVP awards and over half-a-billion in salaries.

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Nats Take Advantage of Odd Manny Out!" »

The Maryland Nighthawks aren't playing this season.

Worse news for the team: Who noticed?

"The team's taking this year off," says Adam Dantus, the Nighthawks' 21-year-old general manager and spokesman.

The Nighthawks, affiliated most recently with something called the Premier Basketball League, played home games at Georgetown Prep's athletic center last year.

Dantus says the spiffy school's administration tried to jack up the rents for this season, and the Nighthawks didn't feel they could afford to play there.

When deals with other big gyms, most notably American University's Bender Arena, fell through, the 'Hawks decided to pack it in, at least temporarily.

Dantus, who as a teenage marketing wiz, says the team hasn't folded.

"There's a plan to take a tour of China later this year and play some games over there," he says.

Read More "Minor League Basketball Quietly Disappears from the DC Market" »