Jim O'Donnell: If Reinsdorf's team is going, please leave a fresh AL franchise on the South Side

ALMOST ALL OF THE BEST PLOTS involving Jerry Reinsdorf only grow thicker and thicker.The man could have been a conceptual adviser to spy novelist John le Carre’.The White Sox mogul sniffing around Nashville is no exception.Reinsdorf has plausible deniability that he prompted the August item in Crain’s Chicago Business that hinted something was in the wind.That only leaves any of his legion of Pale Hose heads among the likely sources.His meeting this week with Freddie O’Connell — the first-term mayor of Nashville Metropolitan — was merely an introductory call, something that couldn’t have been done quietly away from the hungry glare of the 2023 Winter Meetings.REINSDORF WILL TURN 88 years old on Feb. 25. But his eternal quest for business leverage rolls on as if he is still the hungry young real estate/tax cap specialist of 1970.His staggering sweetheart lease on Guaranteed Rate Field — supported by public money since its inception more than three decades ago — expires in 2029.And it’s never too early to plan where your next few $100 million will be coming from.IN A PERFECT FAN’S WORLD:• Reinsdorf, heirs and partners will take their MLB franchise to Nashville;• The Chicago area — Cleveland Browns-style — will get a new American League team;• The fresh locals will retain the name “White Sox,” complete with colors, record books and more taxpayer-friendly funding of any renovation of Guaranteed Rot or a new ballpark.A FINAL NOTE ABOUT Chair Jer’ and Nashville:Since 2019, a group called “Music City Baseball,” headed by businessman John Loar, has been aggressively seeking a team for the nation’s 35th-largest metropolitan statistical area.A baseball adviser to the consortium?None other than Tony La Russa, the Baseball Hall of Famer who so pathetically brought a lengthy White Sox rebuild crashing down with his “Sleepy Senor” act in 2022.To that Reinsdorfian twist, even the spirit of John le Carre’ could only doff his most audacious insider quill.STREET-BEATIN’:Brutal week for Jim Phillips, the career politician trying to regain traction as commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference. His failure to have the juice to get unbeaten Florida State into the CFP is another harsh blow for the struggling ACC. Phillips never met a camera that he didn’t like while athletic director at Northern Illinois (2004-08) and Northwestern (2008-2021). …Notable late week action on the Bears (+3 ½) vs. visiting Detroit today (noon, Fox): The McGuffins are getting only 28% of the bets but 54% of the money. That means a putt-putt play could be in order to see if Justin Fields can close a victory and really gum up the organization’s future plans. …There are intriguing hints of dissonance in some key channels of the Bulls broadcast scheme. It’s not easy to retain credibility while fronting for an organization wracked with dysfunction and outright basketball ops stupidity. (The non pareil Jim Durham was once a master of that delicate art.) …Marlys Akin reports that no one was cheering louder than Michael Jordan when a statue of David Thompson was unveiled outside Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of North Carolina State this week. Jordan was 11 years old and inspirationally mesmerized when Thompson — the fabled “Luke Skywalker” — and the title-bound Wolfpack ended UCLA’s mythic seven-year run as national champions in a 1974 NCAA semifinal. …Taylor Swift as Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” and Deion Sanders as Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year”: In a land of perplexing distraction, perhaps Nicki Minaj should be running for President next year with James Harden as her No. 2. …