Let the media frenzy begin! Appearing on The Colbert Report last night, Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher kicked-off World Cup fever in true American fashion–by trashing the game of soccer entirely. "Soccer is un-American," Fisher, proud owner of the title America's Most Prominent Soccer Hater, told host Stephen Colbert. "It's a great game for little kids running around on a field, they get a little cardio in, they go eat cookies, but then they grow up." No fan of the footy himself, Colbert, who denounced the sport as "just another thing the rest of the world tries to shove down our throats like the metric system and the Geneva Convention," was nonetheless looking foward to Saturday's marquee matchup, the United States versus England: "We will finally have a chance to get back at those limey bastards for the oil spill!"

WTOP's Neil Augenstein interviewed a South Africa fan at Cafe Citron in Dupont Circle about the allure of watching Friday's opening match at her local D.C. watering hole. "If things are going well for South Africa, you can always, you know, trash talk," she points out, "whereas if you're sitting on your own...who are you going to trash talk?" No one was trash talking on this day: South Africa and Mexico battled to a 1-1 draw. Meanwhile, Uruguay frustrated former World Cup champion France, 0-0.

WJLA-TV's Julie Parker staked out Summer's Restaurant in Arlington, where some 40 people where waiting to get in at 7 a.m. on Friday, followed by a visit to busy Lucky Bar near Dupont Circle. "I'd say, by this time of day, my sales have easily tripled," bartender Meredith Pearson reported. "We had a packed house the other night for the Nats game when Strasburg was pitching but this is even well beyond that."

DCist shows us that World Cup fever has even reached the Smithsonian's National Zoo, where small mammals have been "playing with soccer balls covered in peanut butter." Animals!

Games resume at 7:30 a.m. Drinks at 8 a.m. Where to go? Consult our trusty guide: Where to Watch the World Cup.

Two men dressed as construction workers, one reportedly wearing a hard hat and carrying a black and blue canvas bag, robbed an armored car in Columbia Heights this morning, making off in blue-green minivan with yet untold sums of cash. Reporting from the scene, WJLA-TV's Stephen Tschida notes, "this incident is very similar to one which occurred about two weeks ago in Southeast D.C., where two men, again dressed as construction workers, held up an armored vehicle."

Those armored cars. So hot right now: An armored car courier was reportedly robbed just the other night at a Safeway supermarket in Hyattsville. Police in Prince George's County are also investigating a recent armored car robbery that occurred on May 21 in Fort Washington, Md. No construction outfits, however, reported in either of those cases.

How does he know for sure? Simple. He also heard the voice of WJLA-TV newscaster Maureen Bunyan in the background.

"I know her voice after all these years," testified William Thomas, who lives at 1507 Swann Street NW, next door to the house where the victim Wone was found dead one August night nearly four years ago. Thomas says he's been watching Bunyan since back when she was on Channel 9.

Thomas' wife, Claudia Thomas, testified that she was downstairs watching television at the time. A defense attorney asked whether she might be mistaken, say, watching Nightline instead, which starts a half hour later. Ms. Thomas was adamant. "I like Maureen Bunyan," she says, "and that's who I watched."

The timing is important to prosecutors' attempt to prove that defendants Joe Price, Dylan Ward, and Victor Zaborsky, conspired to cover up Wone's killing. Each man is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.

Williams' claim to have heard only one scream would also seem to contradict suspect Price's account of hearing several grunts.

Defense attorneys have argued that the witnesses' memories are not fresh, given that several years have passed since the incident took place.

The poll, echoing another poll done earlier this summer, shows an emerging racial split on Hizzoner. Where 23 percent of blacks approved of Fenty, 66 percent of whites approved.

And members of his own party like him less than others: "Among Democrats, Fenty had a 54-percent disapproval rating. Throughout the survey, Democrats judged Fenty more harshly than Republicans or independents, who make up a very small percentage of District voters."

All this despite the fact that 72 percent of the 500 households polled by SurveyUSA felt that crime had improved or at least not worsened.

Margin of error for the automated poll is 4.5 percent.

ORIGINAL POST: Did Gordon Peterson call you last night?

LL received a report this morning that the avuncular WJLA-TV anchor was heard on a robocall sent to D.C. households last night, introducing a poll on local issues.

Among the issues polled: Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's approval; his current support relative to at his inauguration; school reform; and mayor-council relations.

LL is told that the poll results will be released by WJLA-TV at 3 p.m. today and that the results are "interesting."

Updates to come. If you got the call, describe it in the comments.

"I have been in media for 30 years, and there's never been a more preposterous story than this one," he says.

When WJLA-TV trained his cameras on him last week outside the John A. Wilson Building, he says, he mentioned nothing of legislation—only that jumbo slice pizzerias happen to be associated with certain problems, he says. "When they turn their speakers to the sidewalk, ramp up the volume, and have terrible fights occur not only outside the place but inside the place, when they provide kind of an unruly boardwalk atmosphere, they become a nuisance." But that doesn't mean legislation! He has no such bill in the works, Graham says.

"It's wrong, it's inaccurate, and it's unfair," he says. "To suggest that this is my point of view is absurd."

LL is currently seeking a response from Channel 7.

UPDATE, 6:10 P.M.: WJLA-TV reporter John Gonzalez says Graham indeed told him, in response to a question, that he was considering legislation. “He said, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve already talked to the mayor.’ And I asked, ‘You mean to revoke licenses?’ He said, ‘I mean, yeah.’”

“I have it on camera,” Gonzalez adds. “I have the raw video!”

If Graham has a quarrel, he says, it might be with the lede-in read Friday night by anchor Leon Harris, which said that Graham “wants to ban the sales of single-slice pizza.”

Says Gonzalez, “I can understand why that made him a little upset…it’s sexy to say that the councilmember wants to get rid of pizza, but that’s not really true.”

Gonzalez adds that many of Graham’s anti-pizzeria comments were left on the cutting-room floor. “I don’t think he realized the kind of reaction he was going to get,” he says. “Apparently people take those jumbo slices very seriously.”

LL follows up on DCRTV's reporting earlier today of massive layoffs at Allbritton Communication's TV operations (ABC affiliate WJLA-TV and NewsChannel 8).

As far as on-air talent goes, reporter Andrea McCarren is out, DCRTV says, as well as reporter Alisa Parenti, sports guy Greg Toland, and reporters Sarah Lee and Emily Schmidt. Also out, LL hears, is planning editor Vince Vaughan.

Some other details revealed at a 3 p.m. staff meeting by Allbritton President Fred Ryan:

• 26 fired
• Across-the-board 3.9 percent pay cuts (the significance of the figure isn't known)
• Three-year salary freeze [UPDATE: until the economy recovers, which Allbritton is predicting will last three years]
• No more company matching contributions to 401(k)s

What about Joe Robert Allbritton's latest venture—Politico? They're, for the most part, off the hook, LL is told, and will keep hiring. DCRTV says Politico "has also cut back on other expenses – travel and some salary re-negotiations. However, another source tells us that there are no trimmings at the Politico, which is the only Allbritton division ahead of budget."

Says tipster: "this has sent shock waves thru the broadcast media in town."