Bryce Harper... here we go again

This guy is on pace to be the most egotistical, arrogant, conceited athlete since one Lebron James. He's been told he's the greatest thing since two pieces of sliced bread with meat, cheese and condiment in between, since he was like 10.

Harper was on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was 16. In that SI article they talked about how his bat speed was already faster than Mark McGwire's in his prime. And then of course there were the preposterous claims that he could hit a 570 foot home run. They make this kid sound like a super hero. How he's SO fast that he scored on wild pitches from second base 6 times that season. So yes, he is pretty good. Great swing. Great speed. Great arm strength (he can throw runners out from his knees).

But the issue is how arrogant this kid already is. During the interview Harper was told that a sports announcer had called Stephen Strasburg "the Lebron of baseball."

"What? They stole that from me!" was the response he gave.

Was he always this arrogant? Or is this something that was built up over time? At 16 years of age he was already being advised by Scott Boras and was being told by scouts that if he was able to enter the draft right now he would have a shot at going number 1 overall.

During the same interview Harper announced that he plans on playing in the Majors by 18 or 19.

When asked about his goals as a ballplayer, he replied, "Be in the Hall of Fame, definitely. Play in Yankee Stadium. Play in the pinstripes. Be considered the greatest baseball player of all time. I can't wait."

I remember exactly where I was when I read that quote. I was sitting in the Orlando airport waiting to fly back home during February vacation. I stopped reading right then and there.

ESPN write an entire article about Bryce Harper's first SPRING TRAINING hit. His every move is going to be followed so closely. I hope that ESPN doesn't dedicate an entire section of their site but that's absolutely something they'll look into. Tiger Watch, Heat Check, could a Harpin' on Harper section be next? Probably.