The New Year Quote by Dave Barry

Barry’s joke works because it flatters two targets at once, then undercuts them with a breezy little blade. He opens by granting sharks a kind of blue-collar heroism: toughness, grit, the ability to endure hostile environments without complaint. Then he yokes that toughness to one of America’s most recognizable mascots of performative endurance: the shirtless Chicago football fan in January, a figure equal parts tribal warrior and human meme. The image is specific enough to feel documentary, not abstract, which is Barry’s favorite setup: you laugh because you’ve seen the guy, or you’ve seen the clip.

The sting is in the pivot: “only more intelligent.” It’s an insult delivered with a grin, aimed less at individual fans than at a culture that confuses discomfort with virtue. Taking your shirt off in subzero weather is a public audition for belonging. It’s masculinity as spectacle, fandom as self-harm as proof-of-loyalty. Barry lets the reader enjoy the recognition, then asks, lightly but pointedly: what exactly is the IQ of this ritual?

The shark comparison adds another layer. Sharks are routinely cast as mindless killing machines; Barry flips the stereotype by implying they’re not just resilient but smart. That reversal lets him mock human behavior without sounding moralistic: the animal gets upgraded, the human gets gently downgraded.

Context-wise, it’s classic Dave Barry: observational comedy that treats American habits as if they’re wildlife behavior, reported by a bemused naturalist. The punchline isn’t cruelty; it’s social diagnosis disguised as a throwaway laugh.