Did Bryce Harper Really Think His Dugout Fight with Jonathan Papelbon Would be a Non-Story?

Jonathan Papelbon choked Bryce Harper in the Nationals dugout as the last embers of a disappointing 2015 season faded. The altercation took place in full view of television cameras, allowing it to be replayed over and over again. The acerbic closer had a four-game suspension tacked onto a looming three-game penalty and didn’t return to the diamond. Lame-duck manager Matt Williams was fired.

Harper won the National League MVP. He and Papelbon reportedly mended fences in the offseason. Despite rampant speculation, the closer remains on the roster, meaning amateur psychologists will be able to give daily updates on the status of their relationship.

While addressing media on Monday, Harper suggested the entire incident was overblown.

"“It was something that just happens. This is the first and last time I’ll talk about it with you guys. It’s just something that happens, something that got blown up out of proportion with the media and what not. I was squashed that day and that’s what it’s going to be like for the rest of the year. We’ve got things that happen during the year, and it’s part of baseball and part of sports and life, and you try to build from that and do everything you can to not let it happen again. Hopefully we’ll go about it the right way this year and do everything we can to come together as a team, as family. "

Letting bygones be bygones and looking to the future is a noble approach. The comments reflect a transcendent talent who, whether fair or not, has been forced to answer questions about his maturity.

So it’s understandable why he’s sticking to the cliché-filled script.

On the other hand, why did he choose to make his stand against the sensational media environment we live in by using the white whale of sports stories? How did he reach in and latch onto the one topic covered in accordance with its relative importance and intrigue to hold up an example of narrative clickbait?

Arguably the best player in baseball, who is also the face of the sport for the next generation — was confronted and attacked by a fiery veteran. The issue at hand was the proper code of conduct. Compelling combatants? Check. Controversial conflict genesis? Check. Generational elements in play? Check.

If this had happened in the NBA or NFL the resulting media circus would make the Harper-Papelbon coverage look like a high school’s morning announcements. Imagine Andrew Bogut choking Steph Curry for not getting back on defense. Imagine Richard Sherman putting his hands around Russell Wilson’s neck for not hustling after a fumble.

Cam Newton and Josh Norman’s preseason scuffle escaped blowout coverage because it happened on the relative seclusion of the practice field. Had it occurred on the sidelines of a Week 15 game, things would have gone from zero to bananas at breakneck speed.

Remember the firestorm after Dez Bryant and Hardy had a difference of opinion on the Dallas Cowboys bench? Their conflict hardly qualifies as a fight when compared to a man wrapping his hands around another man’s throat in malice.

Perhaps Harper and Papelbon moved on immediately. It’s unrealistic to think they just forgave and forgot in a matter of hours, but that’s what we’re being told.

Consider, though, that we are now almost two-weeks deep into a stretch of a 20-year-old Peyton Manning story dominating the news cycle. That’s come on the heels of one week of Newton’s negative body language which followed up two weeks of breaking down the nebulous court of public opinion.

Mainstream outlets and blogs alike don’t need substantial material to create controversy and blow things out of proportion. Two teammates having a legitimate fight in public to serve as a microcosm of a failed season is more something than it is nothing.

Baseball beat writers are the hungriest scribes walking the planet. At the end of seven or eight-straight months of daily reporting, any scrap of red meat will be pounced upon.For Harper to think that a scene like this wouldn’t be qualify as tasty fodder is naive.

Mountains have been made out of molehills. Asking that a pre-constructed mountain be ignored isn’t going to work. Papelbon is the one who “blew things out of proportion” Everyone else just noticed.

Why?

We couldn’t help it.