For the love of Bryce Harper

Aside the lazy and obligatory cheap shots at the image of Las Vegas, locals will want to see this gushing piece on hometown baseball player Bryce Harper. The WashPo headline is "For the love of Bryce Harper" and includes this graph:

 "How shall Washington, starved for a baseball champion for 87 years, love Harper? Let us count the ways. Scouts call him the best hitting prospect to come into baseball since (take your pick) Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Darryl Strawberry or Mickey Mantle. Bryce Harper has laid waste to every league he has ever seen, despite almost always being several years younger than his opponents and teammates. Tales of his prowess - 500-foot home runs, the cover of Sports Illustrated (with the headline, 'Baseball's Chosen One') at age 16 - are legendary. Though he grew up playing catcher, he can handle almost any position on the diamond; the Nationals settled upon making him a right fielder."

Read the rest. It's worth it. And here's hoping Harper tears it up and shows the world once again that Nevada can send some mighty mean ballplayers to the big leagues.