Bryce Harper had Nats fans buzzing on Thursday over a few tweets in support of his childhood favorite Yankees. Buzz turned to anger when he retweeted LeBron’s Yankees tweet.
Then, anger turned to conspiracy when those tweets were deleted and replaced with a very PR-like explanation.
But is it really such a big deal? Athletes rarely end up playing for the same team they rooted for growing up. Why can’t they support that team while playing for another?
They can and do. But they don’t usually do it publicly, and there’s a good reason for that.
Fans can't handle seeing their favorite players rooting for another team, regardless of league or division. And those players don’t ever want to have their own loyalty called into question, which is something that Harper will now have to face.
The Yankees will pay a visit to Nats Park this June, which puts Harper in an interesting situation. You can be sure that when that matchup draws near, those tweets -- deleted but living in perpetuity on the Internet -- will be dusted off and brought to Harper for comment.
The result? Another player has to keep his true fandom in the closet to appease the fans of the team he plays for.
The internet ruins everything.
