Paul Sullivan: All joking aside, Tony La Russa's return to the Chicago White Sox appears to be a real possibility if Jerry Reinsdorf gets what he wants. And why wouldn't he?

And so it begins.

The next step in the vaunted Chicago White Sox rebuild might be a return to the past.

Not just the recent past but the pre-Twitter, pre-analytics, pre-internet past, when VCRs were still in use, the Sox were playing at old Comiskey Park and Andy the Clown was roaming the stands.

I’ve already begun to envision the video conferences with Sox writers next year:

“Thanks for joining us this afternoon for our Zoom call with White Sox manager Tony La Russa. Remember to raise your hand to ask a question. Please set your computer on mute if you are not asking a question to help reduce background noise. We’ll begin our questioning with ‘Merk.’ Merk, you’re on.”

“Thanks, Billy. Tony, do you know your rotation plans yet for the Cubs series?”

(Crickets)

“Uh, Tony, you’re still on mute. Tony … Tony … Tony … Can someone please wake up Tony?”

“Um, yes. Sorry. I’m awake now. Could you repeat the question?”

“Yes, have you finalized your rotation plans for the Cubs series?”

“We’re not ready to reveal that yet. We’re still waiting on the injury report on Hoyt.”

“Hoyt?”

“No, not Hoyt. I mean the kid … whatsisname.”

“Whatsisname?”

“You know who I mean. We’re done here. This Zoom is over.”

(Click)

News that the 76-year-old La Russa is the White Sox’s top choice to replace Rick Renteria was greeted with guffaws Monday after USA Today reported it, even though no one in the business is as plugged in with the Sox hierarchy as the reporter, Bob Nightengale.

It made no sense the Sox would hand over the keys to the Mercedes to someone who retired from managing in 2011 and was fired by the team in the throwback era of 1986.

Surely it was a joke, or mere click bait, or a way to make the eventual hiring of A.J. Hinch more palatable to fans who might not want a cheater in charge.

But the Sox reportedly have received permission from the Los Angeles Angels to talk to La Russa, who figures to be most interested in taking over a team on the verge of big things while reuniting with his close friend and “brother,” Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.

The joke, Sox fans, may be on you.

Reinsdorf has often said letting Ken “Hawk” Harrelson fire La Russa was his biggest regret in baseball. Now he has a chance to make amends for that mistake 34 years later, and unless his board of directors holds an intervention, he’ll probably get what he wants.

Ownership has its privileges.

Could La Russa manage the Sox to a championship in the next two years?

Certainly. He’s a Hall of Famer who knows how to manage a game, and the roster is set up to compete for a title for at least the next few years. The next Sox manager doesn’t have to be a genius to write out the lineup or know which reliever to call on in crucial situations. He just has to be awake.

Would Reinsdorf care if most Sox fans and media disapproved of the Chicago-style hiring of his old pal?

Certainly not. When you’re 84 and a billionaire, you don’t really care what anyone thinks.

This is a man, after all, who stuck us with Terry Bevington as Sox manager and Jim Boylen as Chicago Bulls coach, not to mention Harrelson as Sox general manager for one forgettable season.

The Sox sold that move with a marketing campaign in which Harrelson wore his cowboy hat and emulated Uncle Sam with the slogan “The Hawk Wants You.” Imagine the possibilities for Sox marketing chief Brooks Boyer, who would have the unenviable task of marketing La Russa in the TikTok age.

“Let the Old Man Manage.”

“Tony’s Boys Don’t Nap.”

“Win or Die Trying.”

Oh, wait. The Sox already used that one.

The hiring of La Russa surely would bring the Sox national attention, even at the risk of ruining the front office’s credibility.

For those too young to remember, the La Russa-Harrelson saga played out in the newspapers every day at the start of the 1986 season, a South Side soap opera rivaled only by the near-daily bickering between GM Ken Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen in 2011.

At one point Harrelson was ready to replace La Russa with Billy Martin. The two battled in the press for months before La Russa was fired on June 20, 1986. Reinsdorf reportedly told the A’s the move was in the works and made sure La Russa had a soft landing spot in Oakland, where he was hired two weeks later along with his fired pitching coach, Dave Duncan.

With the 75-year-old Duncan now back in the Sox baseball operations department as a pitching consultant, perhaps he could persuade La Russa to make him his pitching coach, completing the cycle.

Will it happen? Who really knows?

What we do know is that if La Russa gets the job, GM Rick Hahn and Williams, now executive vice president, had no real say in the biggest decision in more than a decade. They’ll have to pretend they’re all-in on the decision, even though Reinsdorf’s voice obviously would be the only one that matters.

Good luck with that.

As for Sox fans, they have no voice at all. If the ballpark is open to fans next year and the Sox are as good as we all think they’ll be, are they going to stop attending games because La Russa is in charge?

Absolutely not.

So get ready to button up that shirt, Eloy, and stop having so much fun, T.A. The old man may be watching you.

You can, however, stay on the lawn.

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