God bless Evan Turner.

He doesn’t seem like a particularly bright bulb, and his NBA career is a China-sized disappointment, but yesterday, he did something so ridiculously endearing that if it were anyone else, you would’ve thought they were joking when they posted a genuine defense of the Phillies bat boy on Instagram.

When big, dumb Jonathan Papelbon went on his big, dumb rant the other night about no one caring about winning in Philly, the team’s bat boy took some rhetorical shrapnel: “From the front office all the way down to the bat boy.” Papelbon was using an expression (probably) and likely didn’t mean to criticize the damn bat boy, but that didn’t stop Turner – the sort of guy who sleeps with a lantern next to his bed because his coach once told him he needed to “burn the midnight oil” – from leaping to the defense of Tucker Colton, who also serves as a Sixers ball boy:

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Sending a s/o to my boy @tuckcolt today, heard he’s getting a little criticism out there on broad street lol this kid was one of the best ball boys I been around in philly and his charisma and energy was always special to see. He even got the players Christmas cards!!! Much love to the mixtape king #TMGOD

Meep meep.

via Mass Live