Is BankersBall Extinct?

Is the all-about-investment-bankers website BankersBall the latest victim of the credit crisis?  If so, isn’t it the most deserving victim left?

Hardcopy relics of the Age of Free Money have ceased publication this year and the world hasn’t quite stopped spinning on its axis.

Trader Monthly, one of the douchiest rags ever printed, ran out of money sometime in early February of this year.  This is astounding, because the writing and subject matter was so groundbreaking and insightful.  Where else could you find information on the martini preferences of 24-year-old ‘wunderkinds’ and a guide to which private jet leasing companies will let you vomit en route to Vegas, baby?

Conde Nast‘s uncharacteristically haughty magazine Portfolio bit the dust this past spring, leaving hedge fund managers and the toadies who worship them without a clue as to where they could find badmitton raquet reviews or The Top Resorts to Drop 6 Figures On for a One Week Stay.

It seems that now we’re going to treat money and compensation as though they actually have value and should be tied to some kind of progress and creation.  Bad news for a media company or website that relies on an environment that is completely incongruous with the newfound virtues of rationality and austerity.

BankersBall was never that offensive to me, even if the site’s navigation menu itself makes my stomach turn.  To wit: 

Yes, you’re reading that correctly, there are two sections for Excel (lol) and a whole page dedicated to Blackberries right in the main menu.  Gross.

Now that the banker lifestyle has lost a great deal of its former sex appeal and swagger, it appears as though the siterunners of BankersBall have lost interest in putting up posts about the best place to shop for thoroughbreds in Dubai.  

The last post on the site is dated May 24th 2009.

One of the last avenues pursued by BankersBall before its radio silence was the introduction of the personal/ classified ad section, which is almost always a mistake for a blog.  I give you Exhibit A – Seeking Athletic, Former Frat Boy Type:

About him (please pay attention!): On the tall side, 5′11 or taller, prefer darker hair but can be open, athletic build, nice smile, likes a mix of dive bar/nice “scene”, charming and funny without being too “Jerry McGuire” (love ya!), genuine, smart, successful, well-dressed, professional. I like athletic, former frat boy types – sorry, perhaps it’s a fault but it is what it is. Bonus if he is “buttoned-up” during the day and in a ball cap and jeans on the weekend.

I thought that this had to be a joke the first time I read it…and then I thought back to my single days in Manhattan earlier this millenium and I remembered that yes, these girls are truly out there.  It’s just amazing that they could still be thinking this way on this side of 2008.

Maybe it’s not over and the bloggers have just taken off for the summer.  Or maybe they’re waiting for the Age of Free Money 2:  The Legend of Curly’s Gold to begin.  Or maybe they’ve matured to the point where they’ve realized how hideously gauche the fetishization of banker salaries truly is. 

The writing style itself on BB is actually pretty good, even if the topics discussed are merely digital fist-bumps, suitable for only the most bourgeois piggish amongst us.  Hopefully these guys will do a revamp or pick something more meaningful to talk about if and when posting resumes.  Real-life Wall Street bankers, as opposed to the neo-cartoon versions you’ve seen running around the Meatpacking District, have much more depth and intelligence to them than this site’s current incarnation would indicate.

I guess we’ll see if anyone is home or if BankersBall is in foreclosure.

Sources:

BankersBall Homepage