Ad Disclosure
Delusional Stephen A Smith Thinks Bryce Harper Should be Suspended for the Way He Spoke to Rob Manfred
Published:
If you missed it earlier in the week, and going to back to last week actually, there was reporting from Jeff Passan, Hannah Keyser, and Zach Crizer about the Phillies team meeting with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. Passan mentioned that Bryce Harper told Manfred he could “get the fuck out of our clubhouse” in regard to the salary cap and similar topics, which resulted in this Stephen A Smith take:
“That was out of line, you have no business doing something like that, and to be quite honest with you, that warrants a suspension. I’m not gonna lie to you. You can’t confront the commissioner like that, and talk to him like that. We all gotta remember that there’s so much more that goes into the world of business negotiations and things of that nature. It’s not just one individual or what have you. To have an authoritative figure like that be talked to like that and disrespected like that, I’m sorry…”
First of all, it’s pretty funny that Stephen A is preaching about decorum when his most famous moment is calling Kwame Brown a “bona fide scrub” on national television and then saying “no disrespect whatsoever.” His entire brand was built on not holding back, on being loud and opinionated and saying things that he felt like people needed to hear. So you draw the line… where? The fact that Manfred is a commissioner? Because Bryce used the F word? Is it more disrespectful to confront someone face-to-face or rip them on the set of a hot take TV show?
Second, men forget about arguments in two seconds. You yell at each other and then it’s all good the next day. Men don’t hold grudges. Normal men, that is. Maybe Manfred is some haughty “I’m so important” type who feels personally offended, but the vast majority of men cool off in two seconds and hard feelings never manifest in the first place. This isn’t the Real Housewives of the Phillies Clubhouse, this is two guys doing a bit of yelling at each other.
Plus, Passan reported this:
“Manfred, sources said, responded that he was “not going to get the f— out of here,” saying it was important to talk about threats to MLB’s business and ways to grow the game.“
So Bryce said his bit, Manfred responded with some fire of his own, and life goes on. There is absolutely nothing to see here. This is a normal interaction. What’s with Stephen A and this random obsequiousness?
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com