Bryce Harper did Major League Baseball a huge favor this week when he addressed the elephant in the room: baseball isn’t entertaining enough. “It’s a tired sport because you can’t express yourself,” he told ESPN, before explaining the fundamental issue behind the sport’s decreasing popularity.
“Jose Fernandez will strike you out and stare you down into the dugout and pump his fist, and if you hit a homer and pimp it, he doesn’t care. Because you got him. That’s part of the game. It’s not the old feeling, ‘Hoorah! If you pimp a homer, I’m going to hit you right in the teeth.