This is so fantastic and funny it sounds like it came directly out of a Seinfeld episode. In today’s column Maureen Dowd has the backstory on how George Steinbrenner came to be a character on Seinfeld….and how George Costanza almost lost his name.

David Letterman’s public apology Monday night for bad behavior is merely the latest in a long list of famous public apologies. Letterman joins a group of mea culpa-ers that includes a whole lot of politicians — Clinton, McGreevey, Sanford, Spitzer — and one or two jackass entertainers. After the jump, Mediaite’s top ten list of public apologies.