Bryce Harper Wants to Be Like Joe Namath

If there was any question as to just what type of off-field player Bryce Harper is going to be, he cleared it up in this interview with MLB.com.

And us bloggers can’t wait.

"I'm going to be my own person. There are a lot of professional athletes back in the old days that did what they wanted to do. That's how I'm going to be," Harper said. "I'm going to prove myself on the field, so I can be that kind of guy off the field. I'm not a clown off the field. I just say things ... I speak my mind and I think that's good. If I speak my mind and people know the real me, then they are going to like me more. I'm not a liar. I say things I want to say. That's how it is, I guess.

 "A football player I can name is Joe Namath. ... He had that city life and everything like that, but he was one of the best quarterbacks to play the game. I can't say I'm like Joe Namath. ... He went out, he played, but he had fun. He had a night life, he had his own place, I think it was called Bachelors III. He had his own thing that he wanted to do. ... He was in the style, he did all those commercials, things like that. He loved it. I think that's huge. That's one side of me that I like. I'm not your typical, 'Hey, I'm going to be Johnny Good.' You are a baseball player. ... I'm going to have fun off the field, too."

He may as well have said “Hey guys, fair warning. I’m going to be a total distraction.”

Harper, in his youthful naivety, is forgetting some very important things.

Namath did not have the Internet to contend with. For every questionable thing he did that we know about, there were probably five others that never saw the light of day.

Namath’s bar, Bachelors III, very nearly cost him early retirement.

Also, aside from his passing yardage, Namath’s stats are largely average. If Harper has average stats, there’s no way he’s getting a pass if he tries to kiss Erin Andrews.

Questions, comments or tips? Email Sarah at sarahskogod@gmail.com. You can also follow her on Twitter (@sarahschorno).

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