We'll never forget where we were when Tim Carter got called for pass interference with four minutes left in the game. We will never forget.

Are the New York Post and the New York Daily News embarrassed about getting scooped by a blogger? Both tabloids splashed Katie Couric's Photoshopped photo across their pages this morning, 24 hours after TVNewser first posted a story about it...But neither paper bothered to mention that the photos first surfaced on this blog. Are they embarrassed to credit a blog?

From online rest stop Craigslist, one of the better postings we've seen in a long time:

Last night just may have marked the end of the affair. Episode 4 of Bravo's Daily News docu-series Tabloid Wars may have hit rock bottom in matters of both journalism and entertainment. Coverage of breaking news — two children scalded to death by their parents — is mostly shot in the newsroom, where reporter Kerry Burke's haircut is highlighted by the flourescent lights. Staff writer Tracy Connor plays water-gun assassin. Sports editor Leon Carter adds "color" to the episode with his "gruff black man" attitude. Sports intern is kind of pathetic. All in all, an incredibly uneventful episode — no excitement, not a lot of drama, and a complete lack of Hud Morgan. It was so uninspiring, we couldn't even bring ourselves to liveblog FishbowlNY editor Dylan Stableford's obsessive liveblogging.

Close watchers of our local tabloid gossips might notice that Daily News gossipista Lloyd Grove has once again gone missing. There's a note saying he's on vacation this week — which we believe — but this is his second vacation in three weeks (for math majors, that means he's only been punching in 1/3 of the time). Of course, Grove's contract is up at the end of the month, so it's smart to use up all that vacation time while he still can. But the real question is not where Lloyd's been traveling (or job-hunting), or whether or not he can burn through that offensively generous expense account before time runs out. We're wondering: how banal can his (remaining) columns get? Celebrity pet gossip, anyone?

Those compassionate soldiers at the Post feel for their rival army over at the News, today revealing that in addition to the "purge of employees hired by or associated with former Daily News President Les Goodstein," (including flack Donna Dees, canned yesterday), the organization has become a theater of terror where a pledge of fealty to EIC Martin Dunn is now a job requirement. "Adding to frayed nerves is word that management is monitoring all e-mail to see who's corresponding with News Corp. or The Post. Some News staffers also fear their phones are tapped."

And the extra dosage: Feel Hud's pain as he is ruthlessly mocked by Grove and EIC Michael Cooke for wearing flip-flops. Bonus mockery when Grove brings up Cooke's rumored foot fetish.

We've said it before, but we are simply ill-equipped to run with the stallions competing for coverage of Bravo's Daily News docu-series Tabloid Wars. Paralyzed by our love for deputy metro meatbaton Greg Gittrich and slow at the keyboard thanks to various, unrelated medications, there's just no way our treatment of this "story" would ever satisfy the show's 2,000 die-hard fans. So instead, we rededicate our energy not to liveblogging the show, but liveblogging FishbowlNY editor Dylan Stableford's conscientious liveblog coverage of the show. After the jump, we watch Dylan watch.

As expected, both tabs give prominent coverage to the rescue of gorgeous, young Rachel Bruno. (The Post actually used four writers.) It turns out the State Senate Majority Leader's granddaughter was found wandering about Times Sqaure, and, wait for it - may have been "'forced into some type of conduct' by a man who once pleaded guilty to bribing cops for information about prostitutes." That's right, we've got a pretty blonde girl with political connections who may have been pimped out. Better yet, the alleged (or "self-declared," as the News has it) pimp? He's black! This is like the perfect storm of sleaze newspaper stories.

Earlier: Gawker's Coverage of Tabloid Wars

We know our limitations, and on a sweaty Monday night viewing of Tabloid Wars, we're going to be rendered useless (more so than usual) by our love for Daily News deputy metro meatstud Greg Gittrich (more on him later). We're not capable of much, then, other than drooling at the screen and fantasizing about life as Gittrich's "hard" news fluffer. In general, our lustful paralysis means that we simply cannot keep up with FishbowlNY's vigilant live-blogging of the show as it unfolds. So instead we present you with our liveblog of Fishbowl editor Dylan Stableford's Tabloid Wars liveblog. After the jump, soak up the meta.

Earlier: Gawker's Coverage of Tabloid Wars

You might've noticed (but probably didn't) that a today's Daily News was missing a little something: gossip wench Lloyd Grove's Lowdown column. Grove takes time off here and there, so normally this would be a pleasant respite for us all, but today is July 31 — supposedly the last day of Grove's contract. As we understand it, his contract is not being renewed, and he has yet to answer any requests for comment. Why would he? If Grove's done, he's got nothing to lose, no reputation to uphold, and every reason to let us all fuck off. We're still looking for confimation but, well, you know. If today is, in fact, the day they cut the expense account/umbilical cord, props to Grove for laying so low that no one really noticed.

Stentorian English actor Ian McKellen — at left, with hobbit — is proudly gay as a heapin' bowl of Froot Loops, but that hasn't stopped him from being inducted into the Georgia state politico-military machine as an honorary "aide de camp" to the governor's staff. Various gay websites picked up this story from Rush & Molloy in the New York Daily News where McKellen recounts the honor bestowed upon him during press work for The Da Vinci Code (some sites misinterpreted this to mean that McKellen had been inducted into the Georgia National Guard). Trouble is, as the New York Blade reports, the Rush & Molloy item is itself a recycled McKellen quote actually given in 1997 during press for McKellen's movie Richard III.

New York Daily News TV critic David Hinckley inexplicably puts on his philosophical smoking jacket for this "Critic at Large" bit about the joys of telling lies. For example:

If there's one thing the past few days have shown us, it's that the best way to revive the increasingly troglodytic newspaper industry is by putting newspapers on television. And now that the hardcore reporters at the Daily News are on the small screen with Bravo's docu-series Tabloid Wars, all the lazy small screen reporters suddenly give a shit about newsprint. Thus the Today show has been scuttling around the News offices for the past couple of hours, with entertainment correspondent Jill Rappaport shoving her formidable chin into everybody's business. A flakey news show covering a reality show about a legitimate news operation? Our blood sugar is too low to handle this sort of meta.

In our quest to learn everything we can about the shining star of Tabloid Wars, the Daily News's deputy metro muffin Greg Gittrich, we've assembled the following unverified information (and are still looking for more details if you've got 'em):

Having already seen the first episode and read countless reviews of Bravo's Tabloid Wars, the docu-series focusing on the journalistic drama hive that is the Daily News, we were all excited to write some sort of live-blog or insightful review of last night's premiere. But alas, there's only so much one can say when every. freaking. media. outlet. has hyped the show beyond proportion (ourselves included), leaving room for no new conclusions or original insights — other than that the handsome visage of Deputy Metro editor Greg Gittrich shall forevermore grace our bedroom walls. Forget the show's other standout individuals, and let it now be declared: Gittrich is this town's official Working Class Hottie.

Tonight's the night you've been waiting for: at 9 PM, Bravo will unveil its riveting Daily News docu-series, Tabloid Wars. Much has been made of the appearance of gossipista Lloyd Grove's then-fluffer Hud Morgan (who has since fled to Men's Vogue), a lad whose wit and wisdom elevates the show to Emmy-worthy levels. Like manna from heaven, we've been blessed with a clip of Hud doing what he does best: covering a party, during which he asks a woman, "Can you get me a beer, because I'm such a man?" (Bet that goes over swimmingly at Conde.) As for actual gossip reporting, when Adrian Grenier tells Hud to do something that contributes to the greater good, our man gets philosophical and asks, "Why?" Indeed, dude. Indeed.

Considering that the Daily News' Bravo docu-series Tabloid Wars isn't exactly a serial effort (each episode being relatively self-contained and independent of those prior), we're not really sure running an episode guide counts as a "spoiler," but if you're one of those types who gets panties a-bunched over such things, you're thus warned. Bravo has released a guide to the six-episode series: it would seem that the plaintive cries and philosophical musings of gossip sloth Lloyd Grove's then-stringer Hud Morgan are mostly in the second episode (July 31), when he's "charged with hunting down the hottest stars at New York's nighttime hotspots." How glamorous!