Bryce Harper is going to Make Baseball Fun Again™ whether anyone likes it or not. Part of his agenda is, apparently, is to incorporate liberal use of the F word when he feels smited by an umpire.
During Monday night’s Washington Nationals game against Detroit, Harper was ejected. It was a close game and he was ejected for arguing balls and strikes from the bench, which isn’t a good look, but whatever, this stuff happens.
Not long after, Clint Robinson hit a walk off homer to give the Nats a 5-4 win. Harper, as baseball players are wont to do, ran out onto the field to celebrate with his teammates. As he did this, he turned to one of the game’s umpires, pointed at him, and screamed “f*ck you.”
Harper is always going to be one of those guys whose actions get analyzed, and then overanalyzed, and then endlessly debated because he wants to question the status quo and spit in the face of “playing the game the right way” or whatever. So while this wasn’t his smartest move ever, it’s an extremely authentic moment out of the brash new face of baseball. Please don’t punish him for this, Rob Manfred. Ok maybe yell at him at worst, but please, no suspensions.
