So much for the “action” part of this post. The only professional sporting involving a team from the area last night was an exhibition basketball game; the Wizards won — Gilbert Arenas had 24 and Antawn Jamison had 15 and 11 — but c’mon, who really cares about an exhibition NBA game? Yes, although October may be one of the best months on the national sporting calendar, we in Washington are in a bit of a lull. The Redskins are pathetically struggling to make it through the easiest schedule stretch in NFL history at .500. The Capitals are on their first slump of the year, though it’s still early. Our local college football teams, for the most part, are nothing to call home about, and hoops doesn’t really kick in for another month or so. D.C. United is winding down a disappointing campaign, the Wizards are still in first gear, and the Nationals are stuck wondering how they can get their city to watch them on TV.

It leaves one feeling like the cabinet’s bare. Not so, my friends! Just because there aren’t any games of interest doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything worthy to absorb from the world of sports. Observe:

• Something to think about while you’re watching the Redskins next weekend: Malcolm Gladwell gets a lot of grief for his tendency to stretch analogies a bit too far in his sports writing for the New Yorker, but this piece on football, dogfighting, and the willful destruction involved in both is an absolute must-read.
• More and more, Jim Zorn sounds like the kid who gets put in right field and prays to not have the ball hit to him: Zorn said he knew “most” of the fair catch rule, just not the part that mattered on Sunday.
• Federal Baseball notes the finalists for the semi-open Nationals managerial job: Current interim manager Jim Riggleman, Don Mattingly, Dave Duncan, Ned Yost, and Bobby Valentine. Mediocre candidates for a team striving for mediocrity, I suppose.
• You know, it’s funny, “think nasty” are exactly the words I think about when asked to evaluate Rob Dibble’s announcing prowess.
• To be fair, if it takes D.C. United as long to secure a new place to play around town as I imagine it will take a cash-strapped Baltimore to study, place, fund, build, and convince MLS to move the team, then this city probably don’t deserve a professional soccer team.
• Oh, right, and Agent Zero was in a commercial with Rainn Wilson. Yeah, I’m still waiting for the punchline too.