Bryce Harper is ... colorful. He has ... a lot to say. And until he does or says something really, really stupid, he'll force writers ... to put ellipses in place of what they're really thinking. But Deron Snyder of the Washington Times wants everyone to leave the kid alone for a while:
Can we let Bryce Harper be Bryce Harper for now, when he’s 19 and still learning the ways of the world? Can we appreciate his personality, letting him grow and mature, without asking him to be a plastic player filled with false humility? Can we encourage him to be as honest and open as possible, letting him experiment with the boundaries, instead of turning him into a colorless cliche machine who never says anything remotely interesting or stimulating?
Harper's two latest sins: preferring the Cowboys over the Redskins, and saying he admired Joe Namath. Wait, wait. Settle down a bit before you overreact and do something you regret. While liking the Cowboys does cause syphilis and cold sores, it shouldn't be a big deal if a player does a little good-natured trolling of his Twitter followers.
Alas, Harper already deleted his Twitter account and started in with the clichés.
Harper made that clear upon arriving in Viera when he was asked what he most needed to do this spring: "I'm going to come in here, work as hard as I can, keep my mouth shut and play."
If Harper turned into another 110-percenter before he even got a chance to really annoy us, that'd be baseball's loss.