Modesty or ego?

Check this post Food for thought from Paul Krugman:

According to a new site called Mediaite, Mark Bittman of the Times is the 8th most influential columnist in America, ahead of Arianna Huffington. It's also noteworthy that Glenn Greenwald of Salon is #10. On the other hand, Christopher Hitchens is #5. Why would God allow that? And the less said about #1, the better ... (from: Food for thought)

Is he being modest by not titling his post, "I am #1" or is this a clever way of leading all of us to go look at the list and seeing that he's "#1" without needing to say it?