Sox Fest, the annual White Sox love in is set to go off on Friday, so the newspapers are rife with Sox news.  The big news of course is that Kenny Williams seems eerily satisfied with the makeup of his team for 2008.

Never mind the Tigers have what amounts to an all-star team or the Indians are one of the most impressive young teams in baseball or the Twins, no matter how many players they lose still continue to win.  To Kenny, this year's key word is "balanced."  Kenny likes the balance of this year's team. And, if you continue to read his comments, you would find that while he does mention Detroit might be a force offensively, the 2008 Sox have the kind of makeup that will allow them to compete with anyone over the course of the 2008 season.  That is, in my opinion, is the Kansas City Royals.

Although it is intimated that Williams might pull the trigger on another deal,  the  pieces in place right now are not enough to scare or even mildly concern anyone.   An aging Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye will be asked to relive the glory of 2005; an aging Jim Thome will hope his back can hold out for another season while playing beyond his 500 homer chase; Joe Crede will be displayed before potential buyers like a like a prized animal at a livestock auction; while Orlando Cabrera may clean up the defense at short, but when he pivots for a double play who will take the ball? Danny Richard? Juan Uribe? Pablo Ozuna? Alexi Ramirez?  Are any of these four guys any good to begin with? 

In the outfield, you have huge question marks.  You have to play Nick Swisher, but he is not a centerfielder.  He can play center but how many fly balls will drop in front of him or fall behind him?  You could play Jerry Owens if you want a regular who will hit .230 for you.  In left field, you might see Josh Fields, a third baseman by trade, trying to learn a new position in real time.  Or Owens.  Or Ozuna.  Or Carlos Quentin, who is coming off of shoulder surgery and probably won't be ready when the Sox break camp.

You starting pitching is about as shaky as the ground under Rosie O'Donnell.  You have one legitimate starter in Mark Buehrle.  He's followed by the Jeckyl and Hyde act known as Javier Vasquez.  He's followed by the aging Jose Contreras, who's followed by young John Danks and possibly Gavin Floyd or Lance Broadway.  Or Jack Egbert.  Or Nick Masset. 

And your bullpen.  Wow.  The bridge to Bobby Jenks is about as stable as the bridge ove the river Kwai AFTER Bill Holden blew it up.  A 34 year-old with an allegedly healthy bad arm.  Scott Linebrink, a man who after being traded by San Diego, showed Milwaukee fans why the Pods were so eager to dump him (for next to nothing.) The rest of the relief corps are holdovers from last year's disaster, including Mike MacUseless who, with Dotel and Linebrink in the fold probably will appear as either a mop up guy or the guy that comes in when the team is ten runs up.  I'm okay with Matt Thornton and Ehren Wasserman (P.I.), the jury is still out on Boone Logan, Dewon Day was pretty effective before he got hurt and Charlie Hager is awful.  This collection of mugs, thugs and pugs is far below the quality of other bullpens and besides that, if you can't get a lead or can't play defense, Mariano Rivera in his prime can't help you.

If you go to Soxfest, enjoy the speeches, enjoy the rhetoric, enjoy the players and Ozzie and the fans.  But please make sure that you stay far away from the concession booth serving the kool-aid.

Lightning Round

• Unfortunately for our friend Rickhouse at Tremendous Upside Potential, he's had his drink already.
• ESPN makes a GREAT programming move, putting Dale Jarrett in the booth and putting Rusty Wallace in the trailer with Suzy Kolber.  I swear, if I heard Rusty say "dirty air" one more time, I would have swapped paint with him.  Now if they would just move Dr. Jerry Punch to the pits and replace him with Bob Jenkins, all would be perfect.  Don't get me wrong, Fox would still kick their ass, but not nearly as much.
• The story of the Tampa Bay Lightning's fall from NHL grace is a sad one.
• Dana Jacobson gets a week off for getting drunk and stupid.  Would she still have a job if she had male genitalia?
• The Walrus signs on for a farewell tour.
• One of the sure signs that spring training is just around the corner: Tony The Useless is mad at somebody.
• How stupid is Roger Clemens?  Or how arrogant?  Here's a guy under investigation by congress and baseball for alleged steroid use and he's actually thinking of taking the Astros up on their invitation to sign with them.  The best thing Roger can do right now is  stay out of the spotlight.
• Chuck Knoblach has been subpoenaed by congress after not responding to a request that he voluntarily attend a house witch hunt and election year pub generating committee meeting.  If I am to understand, if you don't volunteer, they volunteer you?  For crying out loud, Henry Waxman must think he's Joe Stalin. Or, Joe McCarthy.  Meanwhile Mr. Waxman, with all due respect, why don't you work on keeping people in their homes and the bottom from dropping out on the stock market before worrying about footnotes like Chuck Knoblach.
• Apparently, certain members of the catholic Clergy forget that as private citizens, Americans are entitled to their opinion.
  
• Excellent work by D.K. Wilson in the Chicago Sports review.
• Humor?  Or we have humor.  Kissing Suzy Kolber lampoons the Elderly Hillbilly, not once but twice while Serious Sports network also joins the fray.  In the meantime, EDSBS shares the contents of Bobby Bowden's bucket list.
• So much for the notion of President Arthur Branch.  This should help John McCain.
• Hillary's worst nightmare.