IT IS A WORLD OF EXPERTISE THAT I BRING TO THIS POST

However, while I believe it silly to fork over hundreds of dollars to see baseball players not play baseball, and believe panels of players and executives speaking to fans are inherently designed to be removed of scoops, I can still run through a press release full of scheduled appearances and make comments.

So then…

JANUARY 25-27, PALMER HOUSE HILTON HOTEL, 17 EAST MONROE ST…CHICAGO, OBVIOUSLY

Current White Sox players scheduled to attend are Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez, Chris Sale, Adam Dunn, Addison Reed and Gavin Floyd (!!!!!). SoxFest is serious business, and I’m sure that Floyd’s presence on the schedule means his presence on the 2013 White Sox is written in stone, and that trading him requires a lot more than the Sox simply calling their publisher, and telling them to remove his name from the event programs before they go out to print.

In seriousness, Floyd–should he be there–would probably come the closest to occupying the role Adam Dunn had last year, as the underperforming veteran who needs to explain why things are going to be different. Instead, Dunn returns for the most part as a conquering hero along with Sale.

Alexei Ramirez was already discussing plans to work harder at the end of last season, but between his decent batting average and high RBI total, I have my doubts about how much people noticed how bad he was in 2012.

Paul Konerko will be the target of retirement questions and will probably give a surprisingly honest answer.

Last year, the theme for former players attending was 2005 heroes, with Joe Crede, Chris Widger, Pablo Ozuna, and Cliff Politte joining franchise mainstay Frank Thomas, and that’s carrying over to a lesser degree this year. I suspect that the 2005 team will be getting acknowledged in some way at SoxFest every year for the forseeable future, since so many of these guys are ending their playing careers and getting jobs with the organization. (Reminder: 2005 was a while ago).

Aaron Rowand–released by the Marlins out of Spring Training, and free enough to do some broadcast work for 670 AM last year–will be on hand, in addition to Jermaine Dye, and Joe Crede, who is about as officially retired as Dye at this point. Crede’s only 34, and it’s sad to think how long he’s been done, and how much fun it was to watch him play 3rd base. But that sorrow can be offset by Frank Thomas being around, and remembering how unlikely it was that he would be a smiling, glad-handing representative for the team this time seven years ago.

Outside of the never-ending 2005 nostalgia tour, Black Jack McDowell, former hulking 80′s slugger Greg Luzinski, and 70′s OF/1B Carlos May are expected to attend, in addition to Ron Kittle, who attended last year and is turning into a bit of a regular.

Go-to topics of conversation for McDowell have to be Dr. James Andrews ruining his career and costing him millions, and getting knocked unconscious in a bar fight that involved Eddie Vedder. Or the ’93 team. You could always ask him about the ’93 team.

Given the difference in size of the crop of players from last year to this, I would expect some more appearance announcements before the event. A.J. Pierzynski may be gone, Philip Humber and Brent Morel may be irrelevent, John Danks might be busy rehabbing, and Alex Rios would probably rather die than leave Puerto Rico to go to Chicago in January, but it seems odd that Matt Thornton, Tyler Flowers and Jesse Crain would all be out of the picture after attending in 2012.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

Beyond the Boxscore has wrapped up their “Put Them in the Hall of Fame” series, finishing off with Dick Allen. Ridiculously skilled hitter with a bad reputation for someone who couldn’t play by any rules other than his own. A case is made for, you guessed it, his enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. I’ve written about Allen here before. I’m a fan and in awe of his skills, but afraid I’d stop short of the HOF.

Double Jake Peavy news! He tossed 5 no-hit innings on Saturday against the Mariners. I mean, the Mariners are an actual team so it’s still impressive. He also made mention that if he doesn’t continue to feel as good as he has recently, health-wise, that he’d be open to taking on a bullpen role. He’s talked about it before, offering to become the closer when the team was considering rolling with a 6 man rotation last season. Let’s just hope he stays healthy, pitches his innings and all this is just good old fashioned spring training babble.

Call to the Pen offers up their 2012 season preview of the Chicago White Sox. I’d say that the majority of what we’ve talked about in the last month or two here at Southside Showdown would be a 2012 season preview so I’ll let you see what Lew Freedman has to say about us.

High Heat Stats has gone to the trouble of bWAR by infield position over 5 year stretches to find who the top contributors were from 1961-2011. Upon clicking the link I was mostly excited to look at The Big Hurt’s name in lights but was also pleasantly surprised to find a certain rookie manager appear in the 3B spot. It’s a fun list and I recommend you poke around and enjoy.

Chicago White Sox television announcer Ken Harrelson. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

According to a FanGraphs rating, the White Sox broadcast team rates dead last among the major leagues. It was a crowd sourcing project so the results come from those who chose to respond with evaluations of announcing teams that they are familiar with. There are 31 results in all, as Vin Scully (who would have to be #1 or the whole thing is a sham) does not travel outside of California, I believe, and the east travelling Dodger broadcast team is considered separate. Unfortunately in these ratings, I think that Steve Stone is an afterthought. The man most to blame for the #31 finish is Ken “Hawk Harrelson”.

Judging mostly by Twitter reaction, Sox fans seem to be having a hard time with this verdict, but it can’t be surprising. Non White Sox fans have been complaining of Hawk Harrelson for a long time, as long as I can remember. “He’s such a homer.” “What the f*@k is a duck snort?” Worse yet for Sox fans, the media market is shared, and that’s a whole extra contingent of fans that have regular access to Hawk’s dementia and thus more and more motivation to sound off. But ask yourself as a Sox fan: How do I feel about Hawk Harrelson?

Personally, I’m conflicted. I grew up with Hawk. Terms he’s coined are now a natural part of the Sox fan lexicon. They fall into my speech automatically. He’s spun some of the greatest nicknames in the game. Where would we be in life if Frank Thomas wasn’t known as The Big Hurt? Would Big Hurt Beer by any other name taste as sweet? The One Dog? The Deacon? Some nicknames of serious gold, there. When an opposing player strikes out, “He gone!” is in fact the appropriate response. And is there anything better than sitting on your couch and hearing, “You can put it on the booooard, yes!” You know what that means when you hear it and it’s a good thing. We’ve been conditioned to respond to that positively. He’s made his mark.

On the other hand, Hawk annoys me like few have the ability to. For a hard core fan that watches pretty close to, if not all of the games, it’s hard these days to listen to him ramble on about the same subjects game in and game out. Yes, it’s the battle of the bullpen now. Yes, Carl Yastrzemski was an incredible ballplayer. Hawk terms that we know and love, they get abused. When he’s yelling “stretch!” at a ball that ends up in short right field, that’s frustrating. He’s developed this odd knack for referencing one’s “stones” and even “sphincter” for old and young alike to hear. And for some reason he’s felt the need in the last couple of years to add new phrases. Most notably and also most regrettably, “Don’t stop now, boys.” I want it to stop. I need it to stop. I regularly request with varying levels of politeness through my television that it stop. Of course, it doesn’t.

One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m much more patient with misused and overused Hawkisms when we’re winning. When the Sox have one in the bag and he’s going on about how much these maple bats cost when they break I don’t really mind. When we’re down and the words “In my fifty some odd years in baseball” preface any statement it makes me want to leave the room. So our announcer is like our drunken uncle, fun at times and embarrassing at others. So what? He may not be the best guy out there, and he certainly isn’t the worst. He’s just the one that elicits the most emotion and gets people talking the most. I do believe that’s a large part of his job.