Two grown men got into it over one of them not running out a pop-up. Then lots of grown men and women took to the internet to voice what they would’ve done if they were in the same situation.
It’s the world of sports and sports media, and it’s a pretty comical one at times. The Washington Nationals have disappointed this season, and Sunday scuffle only brought on more media attention to an already headline-easy team. But honestly, let’s cut it out. It’s not a huge deal.
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Jonathan Papelbon is a notorious hothead, and Bryce Harper is known to have a bit of a temper at times as well. Simply put, both can be total idiots sometimes.
On Sunday, one idiot perceived another one to be doing something he thought was idiotic, so he responded by acting idiotic, which got lots of idiots on the internet to act idiotic. Yeah, this whole thing is complete idiocy.
And if you’d like to take a deep breath and digest the whole thing rationally, there’s plenty of air available to help you do so. No one else really has yet.
Harper is being held out of the lineup for his role in the incident, in what is probably Matt Williams‘ final parental discipline on his young star before he is shown the door at the end of the season. Papelbon is being suspended for the remainder of the season by the Nationals for instigating the fight, though that suspension won’t start until his current three-game suspension from Major League Baseball is completed.
He was previously disciplined for hitting Manny Machado last week, which, by the way, is probably a helpful reminder to some out there that Papelbon doesn’t exactly have the track record to be lecturing anybody on “playing the right way.” He’s a pretty bush league guy himself, and let’s not forget: Sunday was hardly the first controversy surrounding Papelbon since he joined the Nationals (even if it was probably the most newsworthy).
At the end of the day, two hotheads who clearly had a beef already hit their breaking points. The fact that Papelbon reached out to choke Harper made the headlines that much more plentiful, but taking everything into account, the incident really shouldn’t come as such a shock.
Fans are calling for Papelbon to be gone, and clearly his presence has caused more bad than good in D.C. since his arrival in August. A team store at Nationals Park has reportedly started removing Papelbon’s jersey on Monday, and the chances that he wears a Washington uniform are getting slimmer but the second. But if he’s done as a National, it won’t be because of Sunday. That was just the final straw.
So please, let’s just drop this.
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