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.

Michael Tunison, who was recently let go by the Washington Post after some unflattering pictures and posts were discovered on the website Kissing Suzy Kolber, spoke with "On the DL Podcast" about his firing.

Tunison said he was let go by the Post "because of the content of the blog" and for "identifying myself at the Post." Tunison said he was told he should check all outside work with superiors.

"I can't see any conflict of interest between what I was doing at Kissing Suzy Kolber and what I did at the Post," said Tunison.

And about FishbowlDC:

I think the reason, I think there was such a sudden angry response because a DC journalism centric blog -- mediabistro DC -- put up a post about it on Tuesday during the middle of the day, which emphasized the fact that I worked for the Post ... They kind of sensationalized it a bit but obviously being a blog that isn't afraid of pictures of people drunk I'm not going to fault them for that. I'm sure that's what prompted at least some of the frustration on behalf of the Post editors.

Also:

When you're dealing with media professionals of that sort they're very concerned what other top papers and other journalists are thinking of them and it sort of embarrasses themselves within the journalistic community. ... I hate to say the media elite but that's what it is. They're more concerned what they think of each other than what the public thinks of them.

The sun is shining, the bats are wooden, and the outfields are lumpy. That's right -- Opening Weekend is approaching for the Metro Media Softball League.

Will USA Today make it a Three-peat? Will the Press Club manage a winning record? Will the City Paper surprise everyone and win more than one game? Only time will tell.

Check back here for updates, scores and commentary throughout the season.

"Washington Post Fires Michael Tunison Over His Blogging at Kissing Suzy Kolber"

"KSK Blogger Disgraces Washington Post's Pristine Image"

"'Washington Post' Staffer Fired for Profane Sports Blogging"

Best we can tell, that's the number of reporters the Washington Post had on the Nationals story for today's paper (Gerald Martineal, Dave Sheinin, Daniel LeDuc, David Nakamura, Roxanne Roberts, Jonathan Mummolo, Michael Ruane, Barry Svrluga, David Fahrenthold, Steve Hendrix, Marc Fisher, Amy Argetsinger, Petula Dvorak, John McDonnell, Marissa Newhall, Michael Ruane, Philip Kennicott, Thomas Boswell, Jonathan Newton, Richard Lipskin, Preston Keres, Linda Davidson).

Also, see washingtonpost.com's new blog, "Grounds Crew", which is written by 15 Nationals fans (not WPNI employees) and it's meant to cover the fan experience at the new stadium.

From the former Post's columnist op-ed in yesterday's WaPo (emph. added):

I'm hoping that Roger Clemens polls the members of Waxman's committee on their use of performance-enhancing drugs. Start with Viagra. Or Cialis, ready for action "when the moment is right" -- say, a congressman stumbling home after a late-night floor vote on an earmark bill. Clemens might ask the members how many need shots of caffeine drugs to get themselves up and out every morning. He might ask the members how often they reach for another shot of Jack Daniels to enhance their performance while grubbing for bucks from lobbyists at fundraisers. And before leaving Capitol Hill, he should grill the allegedly clean-living baseball reporters on how many of them sit in the press box enhancing their bodies with alcohol, nicotine and caffeine drugs. And a blunt or two when night games go extra innings and deadline nerves need steadying.

WTOP Sprawl and Crawl reporter Adam Tuss recently lost a bet over which team would have the better record, Tuss's Hometown Eagles or the Skins.

He lost and had to wear the helmet all day.

From Roll Call:

(earlier)

>UPDATE: Although this cartoon was done by Roll Call's cartoonist, it appeared in the St. Louis Dispatch.

From Washingtonian:

What was it like on the set with him?

Tony would script his entire opening. I don't like to rehearse. I'm like--let's sit down and go. Tony's role was to be cute, to come up with unique statements and observations. Mine was to do football. That's the way it was explained, and that's the way it played out for us last year. When we had a guest in the booth, Tony would ask the questions. The problem is Jamie Foxx is a friend of mine. Charles Barkley is a friend of mine. So I would wind up getting into the conversation; they'd bring me in.

Kornheiser describes himself as a bit neurotic.

Tony is the most neurotic person I've ever known in my life. I mean, God bless Amy Shapiro, his assistant. She's a saint. She makes sure he has his pretzel. She makes sure he has his face cloth. She makes sure he gets someplace on time. She handles all his scheduling. She's marvelous at taking care of him. He doesn't pay her enough. You can put that in big print--"Tony, you don't pay Amy enough to put up with you."

Proving that the pen truly must be mightier than the sword (or just muscles, generally), the Post's Ivan Carter and Michael Lee (not strong) take on the Wizard's Etan Thomas (very strong...and tall).

That said, I do have a job to do and I'll stand by my reporting and everything I wrote in those stories. In the future Etan, when you do an interview like that or sit down to write something, I would offer this advice: get your facts straight before you question the integrity of another "human being." In other words, please allow little nuisances like facts to get in the way of a good interview.

(earlier)