Another "Media Is Dying, Here's How We're Coping" piece from the Times, another day. This time: the storied tradition that is Media Softball.

There's not much here you're going to learn that you couldn't probably guess, or that hasn't been covered elsewhere: a bunch of people from magazines and websites (and their nostalgic alumni, or at least the ones who can hit) go to Central Park to covertly hit the open-container sauce and play a game none of them are particularly good at. Except for the stoners, of course. Watch the New York Times delicately round the base that is recreational drug use and media schadenfreude!

"A curiosity of media softball is the on-the-field prowess of High Times, given that the publication is dedicated to the appreciation of marijuana....while many teams yearn to beat The New Yorker simply because it is The New Yorker, many also cower at what Steve Bloom, the former editor of High Times, refers to as "the legend of the Bong-hitters."

"We had a 29-game undefeated streak in the early 2000s," said Mr. Bloom, who now runs a Web site called CelebStoner.com. "High Times was once a pretty wacky team. When we played The New Yorker for our very first game, our mascot, Dready Duck, took the first pitch from Roger Angell. He threw a very high pitch, and Dready Duck spun around three times and missed.""

Hee! Grass humor, no? Look at those stoners go, spinning in circles and the like. There're a few other choice anecdotes: one about Graydon Carter playing second base and another about George Plimpton pitching wearing shorts and getting shitfaced after (again: nothing you couldn't guess). But this year, what makes this story so interesting? Ah, the kicker: players angling for a new gig after the one they have inevitably folds on itself.

Some potential players may also have their eye on another ball of sorts. "You'd expect there to be a lot of networking in our games," said Matthew Pressman, an editorial associate of Vanity Fair, who started coaching his magazine's team last season. "There's not been a lot. But I wouldn't be surprised, with the Damocles of layoffs now hanging over us, I'm sure there'll be some trying to win favor of prospective new employers."

Or they could be, you know, working on a Thursday afternoon, because these days, anything that remotely resembles a move to network in media comes across as transparent as it is totally futile. But if only worked like that: a meritocracy where the ability to put a line drive into far right field could land you a media gig that'll last more than a few months before said company starts going into layoffs. At least you'd have a decent gene pool to swim in at the office? Insert bad strikeout joke, pause.


The Editors of Summer [NYT]