Or so he wants us to think, given the lede to his column today:
It amuses me that the football world is talking about coin flips, deferrals, arrogance, hubris, amazing luck, insulting the opposition, and the Patriots’ chances to win Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara Feb. 7.
Welcome to my world. I’ve been writing about this stuff for years. Finally, everyone is paying attention.
Ahh, yes. The CHB knows football! He knows Cover 2 and the stack. He knows the nickel and the blind side and the short side. He knows the route tree and the "T." He even knows the Statue of Liberty (the play and the drink). He's brilliant, and we would do well to bask in his reflected glory.
Getting back to reality, the only thing Shank knows about football is that he can't play it. He certainly can't critique it. What he thinks passes for analysis is really just one part observation mixed with two parts whining.
For example, The CHB thinks he was the first (and only) fellow to notice that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick defers the ball when they win the coin flip (which they almost always do). To The CHB, this is arrogance (and perhaps, cheating). To the rest of us, this is common sense: when the hole parts and you can walk in for the score, you do so.
Next, confirming what we had guessed at before, Shank reports on what all the bloggers and tweeters have to say. We always assumed The CHB spent most of his day listening to talk radio and reading what others wrote, then lifting either the best lines, or, when he was feeling particularly lazy or hungover or both, the entire premise of the column.
He compounds his journalistic sins by alleging for the umpteenth time that the Patriots throw games in order to improve their playoff chances.
Finally, he closes with the most pathetic of puns: "Heads they win. Tails you lose." Stolen from Jim Rome? Or Ben Watanabe? Or Barstool Sports?
Arrogance is ripping off the same lame retread column and somehow thinking it makes you clever.
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