The D.C. Examiner's one-word editorials generally fall into one of two categories: either really stupid or really smart. There's not much in between. Yesterday, the Examiner offered a one-word verdict on itself: "Last" -- at least when it comes to softball.

"OK, OK: So we placed last in Washington's Media Softball League. Serve us a healthy slice of humble pie, please. But, like any true loser, we've got our fair share of excuses (er, 'explanations'). First, we never wanted to take attention away from the true hometown team, the Nationals. Second, we've been way too busy focusing on our reporting to make time for all of those practice sessions and group happy hours with which those 'other teams' whiled away the summer hours. Third, we like our sports like we like our journalism: hardball. We'll leave the softball stuff to the other news outlets," the paper wrote.

The parting shot there wasn't the only attitude in the paper yesterday. An item in the Grist, the paper's gossipy answer to the Post's "Names & Faces" column, reported something that the paper smugly said the "mainstream media" hasn't realized yet.

Makes one stand to wonder: Is the Examiner, the second-largest newspaper in the city, positioning itself as non-mainstream media?