And you have to understand, this is coming from someone who idolized Hawk as a kid first learning about the game of baseball.

I grew up with a career goal of basically doing exactly what Jason Benetti is doing now. Even as a 10 year old, I could rattle off every Hawk-ism, and when I’d play catch with my dad in the backyard, I’d yell out “can of corn” with every pop-up he threw or “chopper two hopper” when he’d throw a hard grounder my way. I wanted to be the White Sox announcer when I grew up and I wanted to be just like Hawk.

In 1997, my parents got me SoxFest tickets for Christmas for the first time. With the likes of Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, and the newly signed Albert Belle in attendance, this was a lot to take in for a 10 year old, but the highlight and what I was most excited about was getting to see Hawk. I remember standing in line to get his autograph and signs all around every table stating that there would be no posing for pictures. I didn’t think anything of it, but when it was my turn to get Hawk to sign my item, my dad stood back with his camera to snap a candid photo of me standing in front of Hawk. Hawk saw this, immediately grabbed me by the shoulder and posed for an impromptu photo, making this 10 year old’s day.

But the end of Hawk’s time in the booth makes sense. I say this, of course, as someone who resides in one small corner of baseball fandom. This new age of baseball analysis long ago began to creep itself into casual baseball conversation, slowly but surely changing the way we analyzed players and the game. Fans like myself devour new bits of information as they become more and more readily available, and a willingness to learn and discuss these more unique thoughts are what drives folks like me to a particular broadcaster, analyst, or writer. It’s what have made broadcasters like Len Kasper and Jason Benetti so popular.

But, again, I’m in a bubble. I surround myself with this stuff, whether it be by who I choose to converse with, what podcasts I listen to, or who I follow on Twitter. Broadcasters like Hawk, even as the new era of analytics seemingly enveloped the game and these discussions, have always served a purpose. There is no way for someone like me to properly put into perspective what it’s like to have been around the game of baseball for as long as someone like Hawk, and there are no doubt plenty of baseball fans who enjoy his perspective on a hitter’s mindset, or the latest story on Yaz. Those folks just don’t happen to find themselves near my bubble all that often.

Now 30 years old, I’ve never known a White Sox team that didn’t have Hawk’s voice in the background. He’s never been Vin Scully, Ernie Harwell, or Harry Kalas, but for all his faults, he’s been the one consistent voice behind an entire generation of White Sox fans’ memories — both good and bad. The partial schedule that started a season ago was enough of a hint that this announcement was in our near future, but it’s still going to be strange when 2019 rolls around and Hawk’s no longer around to tell us who has the liveliest bat since Carlos Delgado.

Lead Photo Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Since Quintana is the best player on the trade market, and the return for him would likely vault the White Sox to having the best farm system in the game, so normally this would make for five-alarm top billing news if we were not already a month into uninterrupted Quintana trade chatter, intense demand for his services wasn’t essentially guaranteed, and all momentum to move the more time-sensitive, less valuable veteran pieces on their roster had dissipated.

While Hahn cleaned up with two blockbuster deals at the Winter Meetings, Cee Angi argues that expectation for similar returns indicative of an extreme seller’s market might have stalled progress over the last month, as teams have waited out the slow-moving free agent crop and looked for other options rather than pay massive prices for the Sox talent.

A Quintana deal is all the Sox need to have a top system and make their teardown look like a successful venture, but wringing value out of David Robertson, Todd Frazier, Nate Jones, Jose Abreu and more could be the difference between a great system and a generational one, with a young core so strong and deep that a sizable contending window is nigh-inevitable, even with payroll constraints.

2. Even talking about the trade market feels like needlessly loading up on vegetables when the White Sox announced the far more grabbing news that they are giving away a Hawk Harrelson alarm clock on May 13 of next season.

⏰ pic.twitter.com/12xq5unXI9

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) January 17, 2017

Besides being ingenious on its own, the positive response to it reveals that Hawk’s character and exclamations are still innately charming and unique, it’s his declining energy for the less flashy yet necessary aspects of play-by-play work that have dragged at his work and public perception. The man himself cannot be reduced into an alarm clock, but a way to preserve Hawk the character, and de-emphasize Hawk the pre-game notes preparer, and Hawk the sabermetric analyst, could provide more enjoyment for everyone. There is also a 1917 uniform night on the promotional schedule, which should got smoothly provided the things are actually comfortable to wear this time. But so far, there is no mention of a Uncle Rick Queso Fundido giveaway, which makes this all seem like a big tease.

Rick Renteria is showing us how to make his famous queso fundido! Stay tuned for the full video

3. I’m not going to waste time being curmudgeonly about the Michael Kopech video…

First day of max velocity throws for @MichaelKopech5 …. Is 110mph good?

…by asking whether the pitch he threw was actually a strike, pointing out that his running crow hop max throw exercise does not translate directly to an actual in-game delivery, or belaboring the point that we already know that Kopech throws very hard, and that real enthusiasm should be reserved for progress with his changeup, improved command and falling walk totals.

But the rebuild will be long, dark and full of terrors. Exciting dispatches from the minor league will be very brief interruptions from the daily drudgery of a big league roster in transition, and Sox fans should indulge in stupid joy of raw tools while they can. What else is there to do?

4. Not at all thematically related to the concept of lost prospect promise, the White Sox agreed to a minor league deal with Cory Luebke. The 31-year-old left-hander and former supplemental round pick had an excellent rookie season in 2011, posting a 3.08 DRA in 139.2 innings between the bullpen and the rotation in San Diego. Since then, he’s had two Tommy John surgeries and countless complications around and in between them. Luebke dominated for the Pirates Triple-A affiliate in 2016, striking out 29 in 18.1 innings, and then was completely dominated in turn once he was called up, allowing a 9.35 ERA in 8.2 innings with a 123 cFIP.

The health record is abysmal and the stuff is obviously going to be diminished, but this a prototypical rebuild flier. It’s a worthy use of the Sox time.

5. Tim Raines’ last shot at the Hall of Fame gets announced this afternoon. Per the Hall of Fame tracker of the great Ryan Thibodaux, Raines is at 88.6 percent of the vote among public ballots, which puts him at good but far from certain levels, considering the expected drop that comes from anonymous voters.

Raines will likely go in as a Montreal Expo, as he spent his prime there, but he gave the White Sox five good years, and should be remembered among their successful investments in a past-their-prime veteran. He hit .283/.375/.407 and stole 143 bases on the South Side. His best year at the plate came during the Sox best season of the decade, as he hit .306/.401/.480 in 1993. Not bad for a speed player in his 30s.

Why are we continuing to play? Right, because there is a 162-game schedule to fulfill, win or lose.

Though most have kept their feelings pent up or only let them seep out in appropriate tones and settings, baseball people know that if there is one person who is the pinnacle of a the ‘no holds barred’ mentality, it’s now-part-time broadcast announcer Ken “Hawk” Harrelson.

Harrelson, who was a guest on 670 AM The Score with Mully and Hanley last Thursday, bluntly came out with the accusation that “the schedule makers stuck it up our behind this year” as the purported reason behind the White Sox epic collapse in May.

“The whole thing — and it’s not an excuse — was the way the schedule started off, with one off day in April,” Harrelson said.

Sure, having one day off in April will do a number on the bullpen, and the club as a whole. But by now, with the All-Star Break a decent three weeks behind them, teams have bounced back from some of the wear-and-tear. This isn’t the first, nor the only team, that’s been subjected to a brutal schedule.

The White Sox offense collapsed, with Jose Abreu, the former AL Rookie of the Year becoming a shell of himself that hit .229/.303/.354 in April. Sure, the chill of April in Chicago often suppresses the dominance of hitters such as Abreu early on in the season, but he also hit just .252/.306/.405 during May. The starting pitching, save for Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, was a disaster of epic proportions that even when the Sox attempted to rectify it, went into a worse tailspin. Chief among the problems was tragedy of James Shields, who had an ERA of 11.07 during his first month of starts on the South side. Losing Austin Jackson to injury, which moved Adam Eaton back to center field didn’t do wonders from a defensive standpoint, and no schedule nor excuse could veil the guest-who-wouldn’t-leave tale of Avisail Garcia’s stay in right field and at DH. This team’s true talent just showed through.

Did the schedule affect some of these things? Sure. Perhaps Jackson may have been saved if hadn’t played nearly two months-straight of baseball. But the disaster of Shields and the struggle for consistency seen from Carlos Rodon can’t be blamed on that. Pitchers don’t play everyday, and Shields came from an entirely different organization.

Hawk claimed that the Diamondbacks were the only other team in baseball that had one day off in April, but the Red Sox did as well, and they seem to be doing just fine. They may have had two rainouts in April, but those were not anticipated days off. (If we’re playing that game, the White Sox had a rainout on April 10 as well.)

There was also the quality of opponents issue on the schedule. Back in the end of May, when the downfall of the season was just a tiny twinge of apprehension in the minds of White Sox fans, I wrote this about the impending May schedule:

“The White Sox are currently on a stretch in which they face three series in a row against intra-division rivals; the Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians, and then the Royals yet again. After those three sets, they will face the defending NL pennant-winning New York Mets and then continue their intra-divisional play in Detroit with the Tigers. All of that with just a single day of rest in between. So, no, this is not an easy portion of the schedule by any means, and it looks even worse for a scuffling team. When looking into the fine details of this team’s recent struggles, the scheduling has certainly been a big red flag.”

When a team is suffering from the alleged fatigue of the first month schedule, and then goes into the second month of the season to face a relentless stretch of games against tough opponents, it’ll be sure to hurt any club. That’s a one-two punch that would put almost anyone down. That has to do with the strength of opponent more than anything, and the problem is the Sox just weren’t the stronger team.

So sure, Hawk. The schedule makers may have metaphorically stuck it up the Sox behind this season, but the reason that it hurt so much more than it should have was because this team wasn’t constructed to handle the pressure. The schedule simply served to expose the weakest parts of the organization, as well as it’s true talent level, and then continued to brutally exploit them. The White Sox turned into a pumpkin again, and the schedule was perhaps just the Fairy Godmother who set the spell to expire at midnight.

Lead photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports