Earlier today, Cheap Seats Daily reported that J.P Szymkowicz, an expert on Dan Snyder's parking operations, had no problems getting to and from FedExField for the U2 show.

By reporting Szymkowicz's anecdotes, Cheap Seats Daily could have left the impression with readers that Snyder had, after 10 years of owning the stadium, come up with a way to get people to their seats on time.

But, upon further review, it seems traffic at FedExField was as Snyder'd up as ever. A quick reading of the comments section of Washington Post rock critic Chris Richards'* review of the show reveals that about as many concert goers are venting about their commute as are praising the band's performance.

After the jump, some of the early returns.

Read More "Clarification: Traffic Situation at FedExField for U2 Was Indeed Snyder’d Up" »

Hard to imagine much going on over the next two or three news cycles save for post-mortems on the Redskins central role in ending the 19-game losing streak of the Detroit Lions. I suppose ending that terrible run of fecklessness has to fall to one team or another. But the fact that it was the once-proud Redskins does indeed chalk up another mark of ignominy for the reign of Daniel Snyder. So add an historically bad performance on the field to the Frerotte wall head-butting to the ripoff parking schemes to the club-seat fleecing to the ripoff parking schemes to the ruinous free agent acquisitions to the ripoff parking schemes to the filing of lawsuits against lifelong fans to the ripoff parking schemes to the commercial exploitation of 9/11 to the ripoff parking schemes Read More "Weekend in Review–Lions Edition" »

Even in the NFL, employees take their cue from the boss. So all the Redskins are feeling persecuted these days.

"Our media have been our harshest critics," whined Mike Sellers during his media session yesterday.

He's the fullback who dropped what would have been a touchdown pass from Jason Campbell in Sunday's game with the Rams.

Sellers' comments, which were aired repeatedly on WTEM-AM, Snyder's sportstalk station, and rival WJFK-FM, also included a rant about how one of his Redskins coaches told the players that reporters in other towns where he'd coached were much better cheerleaders than DC's.

"Instead of boosting you," Sellers said of local scribes, "they kind of tear you down."

If you make a touchdown catch, Mike, I bet even some folks around here will write that you made a touchdown catch.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Now Cooley's whining, too? Portis admits a day at FedExField is money well wasted? Should Olie Kolzig have waited until NHL training camps opened before retiring? What? NHL training camps are open? Have you spent your Guaranteed Win Night winnings yet? Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman, the sluggingest sluggers in DC baseball history? So it's the pitching?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Portis Wants You to Get Your $700 Worth?" »

Good get by Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp: Pulitzer Prize-winning Middle East correspondent Anthony Shadid is making the familiar jump from the Washington Post to the New York Times, joining Peter Baker, Peter S. Goodman, David Segal, Mark Leibovich, Serge Kovaleski, Michael Powell, Jo Becker, Sharon Waxman, and others who escape me at the moment.

Shadid's prize-winning work focused on the tumult in Iraq at the time of the March 2003 U.S. invasion and its aftermath. It was amazing stuff, and a great point of pride within the Post.

His official explanation to Strupp, as is usual in such cases, yields absolutely no insight into why he went from one huge sinking ship to another: "It was a difficult decision to move. I still have deep affection and admiration for the Post. My time there represents my favorite years in journalism, and Don Graham remains an inspiration to me. Nada [Shadid's wife] and I just thought it was time to seek new challenges."

Joel B. Anthony took the words right out of my mouth. Writing on the Washington Post's Free for All page on Saturday, Mr. Anthony articulated a lingering feel that I'd had about a piece of columnizing by Washington Postie Michael Wilbon.

Read More "Weekend in Review" »

The District's unemployment rate "rose dramatically" to over 11% last month, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. There were about 36,000 Washingtonians without jobs in August.

11% is certainly not pretty, but D.C.'s actual unemployment rate is probably higher, because the unemployment rate that appears in the newspaper is often misleading.

The problem? It doesn't include what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "marginally attached workers"--people who want a job, but aren't looking because they don't think there's much chance of getting one. Also left out are those who are involuntarily working part-time.
Read More "D.C. Unemployment: It’s Worse than You Think" »

Yesterday, I interviewed Washington Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli for a story I was writing on the Washington Post Magazine. I was working on allegations that Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth may have played a part in killing a magazine story written by a freelancer who happened to be a friend of hers.

Read More "Brauchli: Washington Post Swamped with Media Calls" »

Clearest sign that it's about time to crank out the Countdown to Cowher™: Jim Zorn's post-game interview with Sonny Jurgensen, heard on Dan Snyder's WTEM.

Here's the opening:

Sonny Jurgensen: You had one offensive touchdown...

Jim Zorn: Thank you.

Sonny Jurgensen: You've got to get into the end zone...

Jim Zorn: Yes.

Uh oh.

Dan Snyder and Jurgensen are cigar smoking buddies. Jurgensen wanted Jeff George. So it's a good bet that in private Snyder's getting everything the Redskins listening audience got from Jurgensen and then some.

(AFTER THE BREAK: Albert Haynesworth don't play that? Folks want to trade in Jim Zorn et al on something with less mileage? Even the all-news station is piling on? Snyder's dastardly deeds have trickled down to 'Bama? Everybody but the Washington Post thinks Michael Jordan's a jerk? ANOTHER blonde DC sportscaster?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Monday Morning Coming Down!" »

Dan Snyder was in the news a lot while I was on vacation. He's keeping whatever thoughts he has about the Washington Post's series on selling tickets to scalpers and litigation against down-on-their-luck grandmothers to himself.

While some team lawyer nobody ever heard of named David Donovan did radio and print interviews attempting to counter James Grimaldi's well-told tales of ticketing malfeasance, Snyder stayed quiet in some undisclosed secure location.

Snyder's refusal to personally rebut the awful press reminded me of a conversation I had a few months ago with crisis PR guru Eric Dezenhall. I asked Dezenhall what, if Snyder were a client, he'd do to improve the Skins owner's public image among the locals.

But Dezenhall, who worked on image rehab for Enron's Jeff Skilling and alleged-molester-era Michael Jackson, guessed that Snyder might not want any such help from him or anybody else.

“Some people may like to be liked by the community," Dezenhall told me, "some people just like to be liked by fellow billionaires."

Sure seems the latter's the case here.

***

Will all the talk about the Redskins waiting list please stop?

In the instant-classic Washington Post series, there were frequent references from the team that the list was "160,000" strong.

Yet earlier this year, the Redskins put out a press release with Mitch Gershman, the team's chief operating officer, offering a much bigger number.

(AFTER THE JUMP: Lying about demand for tickets isn't consumer fraud? Lindsay Czarniak doesn't have to take off her Redskins logo any more? The Skins PR staff knows what goes on at Redskins Park? That deadbeat grandmother's got the real Dream Seat? Did fan love save Colt and chase Chase? The Redskins still have a white guy on defense? Williamses and Hoyas take a beating on Cutdown Day? DeMatha has how many guys in the NFL? The Nats lose when I leave town?)

Read More "Cheap Seats Daily: Where’s Dan Snyder? Where’s Dan Snyder’s Crisis PR?" »

This article about the Washington Post by Michael Wolff in Vanity Fair: commenting on such things is Wemple's beat. All I could hope to add to the discussion is my belief that the photo of Katharine Weymouth on page 2 of this article is a Prince song waiting to happen.

Hey, what's this in the Washington Post? Another story "uncovered by Redskins, verified by The Post, or whatever"? Why no! This story is about the Redskins suing fans who've fallen on hard times, and it is seriously harshing my day.

Read More "Morning Roundup: Burgundy, Gold, and Slimy" »

Some folks might be satisfied with the "innocent explanation" presented in this morning's Washington Post editorial on the enrollment of Mayor Adrian Fenty's twin sons at Lafayette Elementary:

Mr. Fenty's neighborhood school, West Elementary, has only one fourth-grade class. Most studies show that twins, particularly if they are of the same gender, should be in separate classes for both learning and social development. That's apparently why Ms. Rhee -- using a process employed for other families in similar circumstances -- assigned the boys to Lafayette, where the existence of four fourth-grade classes made it easy to accommodate them. The school is also in Ward 4, where the Fentys live.

Some folks, on the other hand, might not be satisfied.

Read More "Why the WaPo’s Fenty Schooling ‘Explanation’ Is Not Convincing" »

"The story was based on wire reports about a BBC broadcast this week of Dylan's weekly satellite radio program, 'Theme Time Radio Show.' The Post story did not report that the show originally aired Dec. 3; The Post failed to confirm the timing of the broadcast." (today)

Oh Internet, when will you learn? (1) (2) (3) (4)...

Activists with the PTA of John Burroughs Elementary school had a hectic weekend. Last night, the group issued a press release asking parents of the Brookland school to skip the first day of classes on Monday, lest the students end up breathing bad air. The group believed construction crews were still working Sunday night, pushing to get the Northeast building's summer renovations finished: "A Dumpster filled with trashed furniture and a large piece of machinery still sit on the Newton Street side of the school. The side doors open every so often and men in construction hats appear, hastily carrying in materials or tools. It's obvious that construction work is still going on even at this late hour..."

The group thought that such recent construction was likely to leave behind "fine dust and toxins." As a result, the association promised to meet parents "at the door" of Burroughs and urge them to keep their offspring out of school for the next 72 hours or until the EPA or OSHA conducts an indoor air quality test.

PTA president Clarence Cherry says he and member Maria P. Jones did just that. This morning, they stood outside Burroughs and warned parents. "I wanted the parents to be aware they were taking their children into a unsafe environment," says Cherry. Cherry says he convinced about twenty to take their kids home and not bring them back until Wednesday. He says he's not sure how many Jones persuaded, since she was standing at another entrance.

The Washington Post reports city officials claim "the school passed air quality tests." A suspicious Cherry wants to know just who conducted the tests and wants to see the results for himself.

Late last month, WaPo's Ian Shapira accused Gawker of ripping off his story about a pricey consultant: "Gawker's version of my story, headlined " 'Generational Consultant' Holds America's Fakest Job," begins by telling its readers to "Meet Anne Loehr" -- with a link to my story but no direct mention of The Post."

The fallout that ensued was tremendous. A few web-only writers went after Gawker, but even more argued that at least Gawker gave credit, whereas newspapers, television stations, and other old media frequently don't when they re-report a story.

Well, CNN recently did to criminal justice reporter Radley Balko, who lives in Northern Virginia, what Gawker supposedly did to Shapira, except it failed to give any credit where much credit was due.

Read More "Radley Balko Comments on CNN’s Unattributed Use of His Reporting" »