Out of Place

Maybe you've heard Bill Belichick and the Patriots are not playing in the Super Bowl this weekend.

If so, would you please inform The CHB. Because I don't think he knows.

Else, why would he ask Broncos wide receiver Wes Welker, "Why does Bill hate you?"  (Appropriately, Welker replied by saying that's a question for his former coach.)

Then Shank rips on Randy Moss ("one of those wildly talented ballplayers who hated and disrespected the media during his playing career, then joined the media as soon as the paychecks stop coming"), all the while not fully realizing that the ex player was far more able to ask relevant questions (and extract relevant answers) from Welker.

Being shown up by Moss, no one's definition of Einstein, would be enough to send most self-respecting humans sportswriters back to their caves.

Not Shaughnessy. He tries once more to divine Welker's thoughts: "He’s also driven to win a Super Bowl. For himself. And to stick it in Bill’s face one more time."

Does anyone really think, on the even of the biggest game in American sports, Welker is giving his former coach a second thought?

Of course not. But even at the Super Bowl, The CHB has to try to stir up trouble.

Familiar With The Subject Matter

This is the second chapter from yesterday's column, the 2013-2014 New England Patriot's epitaph.

Bill Belichick obviously hates Wes Welker

DENVER — A day later, some clarity.

We know for sure now that Bill Belichick hates Wes Welker with the power of 1,000 suns. Belichick blames Welker for dropping a pass that cost him a Super Bowl ring two years ago.

Does anyone recall Bill Belichick actually saying anything explicit about this? I sure don't recall it, and a quick check of the archives don't mention anything specifically about that game and it's aftermath.

But then the game started, and it was obvious. Tom Brady had no one to throw the ball to. Amendola, the man who replaced Welker, was targeted only once and dropped the throw, a no-show performance that would put the Celtics’ Jeff Green to shame. Meanwhile, Welker — Peyton Manning’s fourth option in the Broncos’ pinball offense — caught four passes for 38 yards.

Welker also took Aqib Talib out of the game with a pick-play block.

And now Belichick hates him more than ever.

This, from a columnist that has criticized and run out of town more athletes than I have time to write about.

Belichick has been unusually contrite these last couple of days. Sunday he talked of “mistakes, especially by me,’’ and Monday he said, “Nobody makes more mistakes around here than I do.’’

Everyone forgives you, Bill. You took this team much further than it deserved to go. But some of the mistakes were made last spring and summer. And letting Welker go was one of those mistakes.

He’s going to the Super Bowl. And the Patriots are picking up pieces of their broken luck. Again.

You can almost picture Shank with a shit-eating grin when he's writing this column, can't you?

Waaah, Waaah, Welker

Don't let the loss of Wes Welker fool you, as that's not why Shaughnessy's crying today. He's moaning that once again Bill Belichick is getting away with something by not commenting on Welker's free-agency bolt to Denver, and that the Patriot players are lining up (and closing mouths) in support of their coach and their culture.

Culture is not something The CHB understands (unless you count drinking at The Fours until your hair turns all red and curly). Proof: He has spent three decades demeaning every African-American, Hispanic or other non-Caucasian who walked onto the field at Fenway as prima donnas and selfish and not team players. But in football, where putting the team ahead of yourself actually matters, he takes the opposite stance. Keep in mind that Welker violated Belichick's philosophy by whining about the play-calling last season and also by making fun of Jets coach Rex Ryan a few years back in an interview (although, unlike Shank, Welker is funny).

And as for comparing a slot receiver who was not the face of the franchise to a long-retired baseball catcher who personified his club ... well, only The CHB.