SoxFest Day 1

Busy day at the Palmer House Hilton, where SoxFest is officially up and running.
You can say what you want about last season, and the "rebuilding" job GM Kenny Williams did this winter.
I thought the crowd was better than expected, and Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski, new manager Robin Ventura and 2005 World Series hero Joe Crede received big applause from White Sox fans when they were introduced in the opening ceremony.
Williams?
He got some applause, mixed in with some boos.
KW has had a rough week - his son Kyle made 2 costly mistakes for the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC title game against the New York Giants last Sunday - and now he is facing some serious pressure with the Sox.
Williams said his son Kyle is doing just fine and has had plenty of support.
As for Kenny, he said his shoulders are broad and he can take the heat.
"That doesn't matter anymore," Williams said about hearing some boos. "And I'm behind my own schedule. I thought by now we'd have a couple of championships under our belt, so I'm not even living up to my own expectations. I don't know what the heat is because I don't pay attention to you guys (media)."
Williams said he offered to step down as Sox GM "several" times last season, but chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was having none of it.
We'll see what happens this season.
Williams has often said he'll walk away if he is hurting the organization, and he did seem a bit bedraggled Friday.
The fire is still there, but it’s starting to flicker as KW enters his 12th season at a demanding job.
We'll have much more on SoxFest coming later on-line and in the newspaper.
Here are some quick hits:
-Adam Dunn apparently had some travel difficulties and was not at SoxFest Friday.
He's expected to sign autographs at 11 a.m. Saturday and be a guest during a 2 p.m. seminar on hitting.
-The Q&A session with Williams, Ventura and host Steve Stone was pretty entertaining.
Ventura cracked jokes left and right, and Williams recounted how his knees were shaking so bad during his first big-league at-bat that he had to call timeout.
There was only one negative question aimed at Williams, and it was actually more of a rambling, incoherent statement about manager Ozzie Guillen's final day last season.
-At one point, Williams said the White Sox are tapped out and unable to afford any new talent.
But when asked about two free-agent outfielders that have defected from Cuba - Yoenis Cespedes and Jorge Soler – Williams said a lot by saying very little.
“Who are they?” Williams joked. “Are they any good? Should we be scouting them? I think I will choose not to answer that. There are some things you have to let play out.”
-Forget about Chris Sale moving back to the bullpen and closing games. He is in the starting rotation for good.
“That’s what we drafted him for,” Williams said. “You haven’t even seen his changeup yet. You’ve seen his fastball and slider – you should see his changeup. He’s going to be special.”