Nobody's Favorite

That's how Shank describes the 2012 Red Sox and their chances of winning anything this year, weaving this thought into an interview with Kevin Youlkilis.

FORT MYERS, Fla. - After years of being overrated, the Red Sox might be going the other way this season. One year after a spring peppered with talk of 100 wins and BEST TEAM EVER, (which Shank helped to hype - ed.) the Sox are nobody’s favorite to win the 2012 World Series. Sports Illustrated (where he used to write additional columns before he apparently got shitcanned and his name recently removed from the dropdown list of available CNN / SI writers - ed.) picks the Sox to finish third in the American League East. Some of us might even go lower.

Shank tries to get personal with Youk:

I had one more question for Youkilis. Has it occurred to him that someday soon he will be the brother-in-law of Gisele Bundchen - just as Sox center fielder Dominic DiMaggio was once the brother-in-law of Marilyn Monroe?

“Where are you going with this?’’ asked Youk. “Can’t we go back to talking about Tito and baseball?’’

OK. Opening Day is Thursday in Detroit. Look for Kevin Youkilis at third base, batting cleanup.

Look for Shank's next column at www.sportsillustrated.com. Not!