Bryce Harper hit a birthday homer, Kyle Schwarber went deep too…and Grant Paulsen watched, begrudgingly, two ex-Nats propel the Phillies to a Game 1 win in the NLCS.
“You know how awful it is, as a Nats fan, to watch Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper go back to back for the Phillies to start a league championship series game?” Grant asked. “I texted a buddy last night and was like, ‘Nats up 1-0 in the NLCS! Let’s go!”
So, just like the Junkies discussed Tuesday morning – can you root for Harper still even if he’s in Philly?
“Do you find yourself happy for him? Five years after he left, if he goes and gets his ring this year – and it’s really hard to separate him from the Phillies, and it goes without saying nobody wants Philadelphia to win the World Series here – but are you able to have that conversation?” Grant posited on a sans-Danny show.
No judgment from Grant, and he doesn’t want the Phillies to win the World Series…but he does allow himself to be happy for Harper as an individual.
“Maybe you’re not able to have that conversation because him succeeding means the Phillies are doing well, and that’s a full stop for you,” Grant said. “That’s fine if it’s that simple, even if you’d be fine with it if he was playing for the Rangers in the ALCS or another team right now. But for me, I am happy for him, and rooting for his playoff success. I don’t want the Phillies to win, but each time he does something big in a big spot, I find a part of myself that I don't really control happy for the kid.”
Grant compared Harper to LeBron James, whom he has similar feelings for as a great athlete he respects no matter what, one who ‘made good on what he was told he had to be.’
Harper is that for Grant in baseball, and even if he was never in DC, GP would be proud so see Harper succeeding after his path to MLB…but he understands if your relationship with Bryce isn’t the same, because there are parts he has trouble with, too.
“I find his pandering Mr. Philly act to be a complete turn off, borderline sickening – it is awful and exasperating pandering,” GP said. “And when he gets emotional talking about playing there, it’s a kick in the shin. I can do without that. But, he was here for seven years, and most of my memories from those years are from him. The 2015 season will always be, to me, one of the three greatest individual seasons I’ll ever see – and I say three just to give myself some cushion. And now, all these years later, on the biggest stages, he keeps stepping up and doing bigger and better things.”
And the main thing that gives GP that peace?
“I’m really happy, because we won a World Series, and I had a guy I liked more than him after him in Juan Soto,” Grant said. “If the Nats, as soon as he walked, became what they are now, I probably would feel differently, but that didn’t happen. It kind of sapped a lot of my anger and animosity; I don't hate the idea that he signed in the division just because I view sports as a business, and maybe that is where I come at this a little bit differently, but again, sports make us feel emotions.”