Per the Tribune, Steve Stone will be filling in for DJ during the Sox’ TV broadcasts early next month, pairing up with Hawk for the August 7 – 12 Sox homestand against Cleveland and Seattle.

In theory, this should be great news. I know very few people who are happy with the Hawk & DJ combo these days, and even the most militant Cub-hating Sox fan (read: me) has to admit that where TV tandems are concerned, Stone and Harry Caray were pretty much the gold standard. Stone’s straight-man style perfectly complemented Harry’s fan-first style, and even when the two disagreed they at least managed to avoid the passive-aggressive cattiness the Sox’ current radio team lives and breathes by.

The problem I see in all this is that Hawk and Harry, despite their blatant homerism, were/are two very different types of company man. Harry knew the Cubs were awful under his watch, but it was never his style to make excuses or apologize. Harry was there for the good time, for the fun at the old ballpark and if the team was worth watching, well, that was swell too.

Harry worked to appeal to the fans, be they the angry ones during his time on the South Side or the sun-soaked ones he played to on the North Side; Hawk’s only goal these days seems to be to convince us not only of the genius of Jerry Reinsdorf but also that the Sox are hitting a collective .245 because of bad umpiring. When the same Steve Stone who the Cubs ran out of town for calling out their weaknesses on air jumps in the booth with the guy who still claims the White Sox are losing to “talented young ballclubs” like the Royals and Devil Rays, what’s going to happen? Is this going to be pretty?

But like all things Sox-related this year, could it really get any worse? Who knows, maybe it’ll finally drive Hawkeroo to finally give Jay Mariotti the savage beating he’s been threatening for so many years.