What was a more ridiculous controversy involving Bryce Harper this week?
Was it the question of whether or not the 21-year-old should be sent to the minors when he was hitting .249 with an OPS under .700? Harper quickly scotched that question by hitting a walkoff home run in the Nationals’ 5-3 win over the Mets on Thursday.
Or was it the supposed indignity of Harper dragging his foot through the Braves’ “A” logo behind home plate before he came to bat during Saturday’s game in Atlanta? Apparently, this was a thing among Braves fans and even the team itself.
Could Harper have taken a higher road in responding to boos from Turner Field fans? Probably. But couldn’t this also be seen as a cheeky, relatively harmless reply? Braves TV broadcasters even referred to what Harper did as a “desecration,” which is overstating things just a bit.
In what’s been a season full of ludicrous retaliations and statements made in response to perceived slights and broken unwritten rules, it would be phenomenally silly for the Braves to throw at Harper for this when the Nationals and Braves face each other on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
