In trying to decide whether NYT columnist Tom Friedman is a Top 100 Global Thinker or just a hack (as determined by Salon), Dan Drezner uses Boston Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy as a point of comparison. He excerpts a recent Shaughnessy column, which argues that the Red Sox should make a ridiculously high offer for Derek Jeter even though Jeter is the enemy and approaching the end of his career.

This, Drezner avers, is below the standards of even a bad Tom Friedman column:

I've just wasted untold minutes and several neurons of brainpower to explain why Shaughnessy's column might be the stupidest sports column I've read this year. It's not even stupid in an interesting way -- it's just a brainless rant. Arguing when and why Tom Friedman is wrong doesn't feel like the same waste of time to me.

But Dan. Friedman is writing about war, peace, trade, toil and the fate of nations. Shaughnessy is writing about... the Red Sox. Who cares?