Bryce Harper gives it to Canadian reporter

[tennOsfan]

Personally, I would have just laughed off the question. But I'll say this for Harper: When I saw the Nats in Miami early this month, I watched as he and only he signed autographs down from the dugout and patiently let Nats fans get their pictures taken with him. When he'd try to break away and get to work, someone would ask for their own pic with him, and he'd run back and indulge them with a nice posed shot. I've seen a lot of ballplayers give autographs, but I've not seen many stars do what he was doing. This was all going on within 15 minutes of the game starting.

Bottom line, he's a kid. A very talented one, but he, like all of us, is liable to act in some kind of way that he'll later look back on and regret. The clown question comment will probably be one of those.

[jcarm]

I am LDS as well. I think that Harper could have handled the situation better. I really cannot blame him for how he reacted though. I also will not judge his decision to not serve a mission at this time. I am not sure what my decision would have been if I were in his shoes. I might have decided to serve a mission-but I might not have. The more I live-I think the more I am learning to not judge people because I do not know all that is going on in their lives.

[CalvertCo.OsFan]

I think the sky is the limit with this kid. What he is dealing with at the age of 19 is just absurd. I cant imagine (would have been Freshmen year in college) being in Harpers shoes. Its just nuts. I think for him and the whole clown question bro gig...would he have answered differently could he go back in time? Probably. Was it a bad answer? No. The reporter obviously was trying to be cute and didnt realize Bryce is a pretty strict mormon. Out of respect for him, it was a clown question and the fact other MLB'ers came to Harpers defense (notably Pedroia) shows that the kid wasnt too far out of line with his response.

As Moose said....I really wished we had sucked a little more and landed Harper (or even Strasburg). Im not saying the Nats tried to lose intentionally to land the top pick but they certainly trotted out a joke of a team each year with no hopes of winning. Its amazing how sucking in the right year can land you such a stud (and 2 yrs in a row for them). They are setup nicely for years to come and it sucks to have to see that from only a few miles away. Harper is the type of player/kid who will bring a lot of fanfare to the Nats for a long time. I wonder how much support the Nats and Harper will be getting this weekend in Bmore. If Harper hits a bomb or something i fear the reception he will get.

[Spoonless]

As the resident Mormon on the board I'll chime in. It's pretty obvious it was a smart alec set-up question from the reporter. Could Harper have handled in more maturely? Probably. However, he probably has fielded several questions like that from guys who think they're being funny. From my own personal experience, I try to be light hearted about it....but it does get old after about the 5000th time. The two-year LDS mission has received a lot of attention over the past few months over those who have gone (Elizabeth Smart, David Archuleta), those who have not gone (Bryce Harper) and those who might go (Jabari Parker aka "The Next LeBron"). Practicing Mormon males between the age of 19-26 are encouraged to go by the Church to serve a full-time two-year mission but not required. Missionaries do not choose where they go, rather they are assigned to one of the 300+ domestic or international missions and pays 10-15K for the privilege. I chose to forego my Master's program at Towson in 2000 to serve a two-year mission. Naturally, the day your two-year mission call comes in the mail is one of the most anticipated, celebrated and defining days of a young Mormon's life. Harper has stated on multiple occassions that he wants to serve his mission for the LDS Church "on the field" (by example). When one has millions of dollars staring them in the face, the decision to serve a church mission is much more challenging and hence, less judged.

I don't think Steve Young served one (and he's a direct descendant of Brigham Young), nor did Danny Ainge. I wasn't of age to be aware of any of that when those guys were of age to go on mission, so I don't know if there was any hoopla about it (likely not, since there didn't really exist the sheer pervasiveness of the media as today), and I don't really know how they are regarded by the Mormon community, but it isn't exactly unheard of to forgo the mission.

[waroriole]

Personally, I would have just laughed off the question. But I'll say this for Harper: When I saw the Nats in Miami early this month, I watched as he and only he signed autographs down from the dugout and patiently let Nats fans get their pictures taken with him. When he'd try to break away and get to work, someone would ask for their own pic with him, and he'd run back and indulge them with a nice posed shot. I've seen a lot of ballplayers give autographs, but I've not seen many stars do what he was doing. This was all going on within 15 minutes of the game starting.

Bottom line, he's a kid. A very talented one, but he, like all of his, is liable to act in some kind of way that he'll later look back on and regret. The clown question comment will probably be one of those.

Good post, I agree. It's easy to forget he's just 19.