Update: After this story was published, Madden emailed me the following: "The post you've got up, while it does quote me accurately, does Dave a bit of a disservice by only having that one line from me. I also told you he felt, after 26 years at City Paper, like it was just time for a change, which I think has much more to do with his decision than the way the work here has changed. We'll all miss him, and it's a big loss for the paper not to have his column every week."

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Original: Dave McKenna, the Washington City Paper sports columnist sued by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, is leaving the alt-weekly after 26 years because, in the words of managing editor Mike Madden, "It was going to be difficult to continue to just do his column.”

"We’re all doing a lot more than people used to," Madden continued. "Everyone's got to be blogging and tweeting and writing more.”

The Washington Post's Erik Wemple, a former editor-in-chief of City Paper (and TBD), broke the news on Twitter after this cryptic tweet by Alan Suderman, City Paper's Loose Lips columnist:

Exceedingly sad day for @wcp. That is all.

— AlanSuderman (@AlanSuderman) December 28, 2011

Madden has since published a post on the City Desk blog revealing that tomorrow's Cheap Seats column will be McKenna's last. "In our 25 years and 51 weeks together, City Paper and I have gotten everything out of each other we’re going to get," McKenna writes in the forthcoming column. "I’m grateful for all the people who told me their stories, and anybody who ever read my attempts to retell those tales in this space, and, well, anybody who says they didn’t read but sued me anyway. Be well..."

Madden says McKenna will write occasionally for the paper as a freelancer. I've contacted McKenna for comment, and will update this post if I hear back.