From Washington Post sports writer/blogger Dan Steinberg's interview with Washingtonian.com:

I took an oath upon starting for the Post not to root for any sports teams. Frankly, I don't understand why the Post forbids us from giving even five cents to a political campaign but doesn't mind staffers who are blatant cheerleaders for various pro sports teams. But whatever--I don't make the rules; I just keep my own mind pure.

We hear that Tony Kornheiser's car was stolen from the ESPN garage in DC, last week causing "mad drama," to quote one source. He dropped his keys in the garage, someone took the car and now he's demanded extra security because he claims its a stalker.

The WaPo's Dan Steinberg explains.

We knew he couldn't stay away from column writing for very long...

washingtonpost.com's Sports Bog talks with Fox News' Molly Henneberg about her longtime love for our very own Washington Redskins:

And when do you remember starting to pay attention?

Every Sunday we go to church, pick up McDonald's and come back and watch the Redskins. I don't ever remember not being part of it. It was just always part of our Sunday routine. And then the Super Bowls, of course. And I remember a Monday night game against the Giants, I went to bed after the first quarter, I heard my parents yelling, I came down, and that was when Taylor and Theismann had their little run-in. That was one of my most vivid memories: hearing my parents yelling, running down, and just being crushed that Joe Theismann was hurt.

Do you still eat McDonald's and watch the game?

I do go to church and come home and maybe not pick up McDonald's, but we have a family meal and watch the game.

Read the rest here.

They've forfeited their final two softball games of the season due to an all-staff meeting.

(Getting to this late, sorry...)

The Washington Post's new Nationals beat writer, Chico Harlan, had to make a public confession to readers after missing a key part of a recent Washington Nationals game:

One note about today's game story, and I mention this only as a tail-between-legs explanation. You'll notice it focuses on the game-winning home run but gives short shrift to something Nats fans are probably curious about -- a post-home run disagreement between Manny Acta and Elijah Dukes. Bottom line, I missed it (with great regret) because I had my head down at the computer, trying to make deadline. Sometimes, the need to file a "running game story" impairs the ability to do the most important thing in journalism -- watch everything. So, I'll ask the right questions today at the ballpark and learn more. Please accept my apologies for the whiff. I feel rotten about it.

The Washington Times' Mark Zuckerman got the story, though, and then later explained how others missed it:

OK, by now you're probably aware of the dugout dust-up between Manny Acta and Ellijah Dukes in the ninth inning of last night's 7-6 win. It wasn't a pretty sight, and very out of character for Acta (usually the picture of patience and calm temper). It was not, however, seen by everyone, hardly anyone back in D.C. The MASN telecast missed it altogether. Only the Pirates' TV broadcast had the pictures as it happened. Few people in the press box saw it either. I managed to catch glimpses of the incident as it was happening, though not the entire thing.

Say hello to the Washington Post's Dan Steinberg.

What word do you routinely misspell? Laveraneus

What's the name of your cell phone ring? Vibrate. But my phone is broken, having swallowed some dishwashing overflow.

Same as every morning: whenever the daughter starts crying. Today, around 6 am.

When did you last cry and why? Same as every morning: whenver the daughter starts crying. Today, around 6 am.

How many emails do you receive a day, roughly? Low three figures.

What's your favorite letter? Backwards k.

What single person played the biggest role / had the biggest influence on your journalism career? If my boss is reading this, I'd say Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, the brilliant and forwarding thinking WaPo sports editor. If he's not reading this, I'd say Elissa Leibowitz, who used to run the sports section and hired me from behind the supermarket's cheese counter.

When's the last time you volunteered? Where? I frequently volunteer to change dirty diapers.

Read the rest when you click below...(and see previous FishbowlDC interviews: Julie Mason, David Shuster, Joe Curl, Alex Pareene, Peter Beinart, Jonah Goldberg, Megyn Kendall, Ana Marie Cox, Jim Brady, Howard Mortman, Amy Argetsinger, Jose Antonio Vargas, Chuck Todd, Tom Gottlieb, Kelly Ann Collins, David von Drehle, David Lat, Mark Leibovich, Zain Verjee, David Plotz, Paul Kane, Karen Travers, Mark Halperin, Hugo Gurdon, Greg Kelly,Ken Rudin, John Dickerson, Anne Schroeder, Spencer Ackerman, Bret Baier, Bob Sellers, Greta van Susteren, Danielle Jones, Jonathan Salant, John McCalla, Pam Hess, Ryan Grim, Marc Ambinder, Marty Kady, Jack Shafer, Annie Lou Bayly, Jerry Zremski, Charlie Cook, Dave Hughes, Howard Fineman, Katie Tarbox, Mark Segraves, Chris Cillizza, Tom Sietsema, Bill Triplett, Robin Givhan, David Brody, Norah O'Donnell, Carl Cannon, Jordan Lieberman, David Folkenflik, Molly Henneberg, Ernesto Londono, Brody Mullins, Aaron Blake, Martha Raddatz, Andrew Sullivan, Christina Bellantoni, Shane Harris, Nora McAlvanah, Adam Nagourney, Erin McPike, Mike Memoli, Ju-Don Marshall Roberts, Arthur Delaney, Chris Mincher, Rachel Sklar, Laura Sullivan, Jeff Kosseff, Matthew Cooper, Scott McCrary, Dan Reilly, Jennifer Griffin, Ari Shapiro, Jonathan Kaplan, Rick Klein, Mike Allen, Olivier Knox, Erik Wemple, Nathan Burchfiel, Andrea Mitchell, Mike DeBonis, Anne Kornblut, April Ryan, Amy Morris, Keith Koffler, Mark Silva, Ann Compton, Mark Knoller, Betsy Fischer, Katherine O'Hearn, Pamela Brown, Beverly Kirk, Wendell Goler, Glenn Kessler, Susan Page, Michael Crowley, Claudia Milne, Kelly Dinardo, Bruce Becker, Michael Rogers, Paul Schur, Diana West, Eric Nuzum, Bill Adair, Jonathan Ward, Jennifer Sergent, Jeffrey Goldberg, Ken Silverstein, Dana Milbank, Mark Murray, Katherine Lewis, Joe Mathieu, Chrystia Freeland, Sam Youngman, Christopher Dorobek, Greg Mitchell, Candy Crowley, Steve Chaggaris, James Pindell, Linda Kramer, Reid Wilson, Jay Newton-Small)

Also, drop us a line to let us know who else you'd like FishbowlDC to interview. They must work in the Washington area and you must include their email address.

continued...

In Week Two action in the Metropolitan Media Softball League, WTTG, CNN, The Gazette, the Washington Times, Team Video, Atlantic Video, CBS News and Allbritton all posted sweeps. With all that winning, their naturally has to be some losing and as such, Discovery Channel, ABC News, Comcast Sportsnet, WRC, WUSA, the Washington Post, AP and the City Paper all had winless weekends.

The despair of the City Paper was aptly related here, where Mark Athitakis said:

...[O]ur performance in the second game at Layhill was every bit as brutal as the 22-1 final score suggests; clearly Atlantic Video is hungry after making an early exit in the playoffs last year. Swunting is no use against a team that was still working hard to make put-outs even when the game’s outcome was certain. All we could do was watch the hammering, as the photo above shows; that’s me on the right, softly sobbing and looking forward to the bye week.

There are no games scheduled this weekend, but look for the action to pick back up next week. Will CNN, Fox 5 and the Gazette remain undefeated? Will the City Paper's "swunt" work its magic? Will ABC News actually win a game? The answers to these questions and more will be provided next Saturday -- on the field.