Ladies and gentlemen, it's my worst nightmare.  Steve Stone is now a Sox broadcaster.  And what's worse is he's paired with the worst radio play by play guy in baseball history.

I know people have the warm and fuzzies for Stone because he was the last guy to work with Harry Caray, but if that's the case, let's dredge up Jimmy Piersall.  At least he's interesting.

The chemistry between Ed Farmer and Steve Stone will make Harry Caray and Milo Hamilton seem like best buddies.  Two huge egos, two pitchers, two microphones.  And, in something nobody seems to want to address (because they are too busy gushing over Stone) THIS IS RADIO.  RADIO IS NOT TV, BROOKS BOYER.  Radio requires word pictures painted by an artist like John Rooney, not a wanna be like Farmer or a career TV guy like Stone.  Trying to follow along on your car radio this year will be nothing short of annoying.  Not that I know the first thing about radio, of course.

What should have happened is that Darrin Jackson should have been moved to radio and Stone should have shared the TV booth with Hawk Harrelson.  This makes all the sense in the world.  Stone is a TV guy, he actually did okay with Hawk last year and super station and Comcast viewers know him.  But putting Stone in situation with a guy who has no clue how to do play by play or run a booth is like asking Paul Konerko to lead the AL in steals.  Just not real smart.

Once again, the Sox show how little they care about the quality of their broadcasts and make what seems to be a hasty decision.  Just like when they hired Jackson.  Or Singleton.  Don't get me wrong, Stone is much better than they are, but putting him with Farmer is unfair to Stone and doesn't seem the smartest thing to do.

Final prediction: This deal lasts a year and Stone either leaves or moves to TV with Jackson moving to radio or some other ex-Sox (Jeff Torborg?  Frank Thomas?) jumping in to give broadcasting a shot.  God forbid broadcasting should take some skill and experience.

For the Sox, this is purely a publicity stunt to garner some attention (and perhaps some time spent listening) to something that has been unlistenable since the Sox decided not to re-sign John Rooney.  Be careful what you wish for boys, because it could (and most likely will) blow up in your face.)