Thoughts on the Bryce Harper ejection debacle
In case you missed it, the above video is the incident which very well may have ended Bryce Harper's collegiate career.
Harper, 17, is expected to go first overall in this months MLB draft to the Washington Nationals, but he may have done his team a disservice by getting ejected following the above incident. The College of Southern Nevada lost the game following Harpers ejection, and their season came to an end during his one game suspension, which was assigned as a result of the above incident.
So what's it all mean? Was the ejection/suspension just? Is this a bad indicator for his character and is he not a "team player?
The bottom line is that Bryce Harper got rung up on a really, really, bad call. He was upset and let the umpire know about it, and through his actions he was justly ejected. It may have been a hot-headed move, but it's one that you'll see even in high school, when an ump makes that terrible of a call, sometimes you just have to let him know about it.
The real question lies in what was Harpers motivation for the gesture. There have been questions raised about his character, accusations of arrogance, and claims that he may be a ticking time bomb.
Did Harper draw the line in the sand to say, "How dare you make that terrible call, that was a foot outside (which it was)." Or was it to say, "How dare you make that call. Don't you know who I am? I'm Bryce Harper.
The truth is we'll never know. However his gesture, while deserving of an ejection, was nothing over the top. High schoolers, college players, major leaguers, and coaches, get ejected. Sometimes it's just part of the game.
