As I’m sure many of you know by now, Matt Harvey attended Derek Jeter‘s last game in Yankee Stadium on Thursday night. As you also probably know, that’s elicited plenty of reactions from fans, and beat writers alike, and of course all the talking heads on SNY where Harvey was shredded apart.
Here’s my take: I don’t see the big deal whatsoever.
In an age where athletes are being arrested on a seemingly daily basis, whether it be for drugs, DWI, or domestic violence, we’re constantly reminded that many athletes are not the upstanding citizens we think they are. There’s a lot of bad apple out there, but Matt Harvey isn’t one of them. Yet somehow, this talented and exciting young ballplayer is always being vilified. His crime? Having a personal life.
Matt Harvey is 25-years old. He’s living and playing in arguably the greatest city on the planet, where the nightlife can get pretty wild, and where there’s a million and one things that can trip up a young man’s life. Just ask some of the 1986 Mets, they’ll tell you. But now we have all these pompous sportscasters with their false outrage, trying to get fans riled up and ticked off at Harvey for spending his Thursday night attending a baseball game at Yankee Stadium? Really? Lets look at their arguments…
Because the Yankees are our rivals!
Well, random italicized voice, what if I told you that they aren’t our rivals? They play in a different league. Our place in the standings means nothing to the Yankees, and vice versa. Our rivals are the Nationals, Braves, Marlins and Phillies. We need to finish with a better record than those teams. The Mets/Yankees rivalry only exists in our minds because they both wear shirts that say New York on the front. Sure, it’s great to talk smack to your buddies when the Mets beat the Yanks, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. And Thursday night wasn’t about the Yankees, it was about Derek Jeter. You don’t have to be a Yankee fan to appreciate what transpired in the Bronx. It was a historic night and a memorable baseball moment, and Matt Harvey wanted to be there to experience it like so many others. And he did on his own free time.
Because the Mets pay his salary!
Well, sure they do, but that doesn’t give them the right to tell him what to do with in his spare time. His offseason started when the Mets shut him down last week and told him not to pick up a baseball until next spring. Who are they to tell him how he chooses to entertain himself? Harvey wasn’t breaking any laws, or even breaking any sort of moral code. He went to a baseball game to root for the player he idolized growing up.
He probably ticked off the teammates!
Perhaps there’s a few Mets who would have preferred Harvey didn’t attend the game, but I’d bet it’s mostly so they wouldn’t have to answer questions about it. Is that enough to say he shouldn’t have gone out of respect for his teammates? Maybe. But Matt Harvey has about 10 years, if he’s lucky, to capitalize on the fame and exposure he’s receiving now. Why should he forgo doing what makes him happy just to appease a few teammates who probably aren’t bothered on a personal level? He clearly wasn’t doing it just to ham it up for the cameras. He’s a huge sports fan who constantly attends sporting events ever since joining the Mets and long before they drafted him.
What about Mets management?
What about them? What exactly does Matt Harvey owe them? They’ve questioned almost every decision he’s made personally over the last year when they’ve all been trivial matters similar to this “incident”– if you want to call it that. Like I’ve said previously, he’s not breaking any laws or doing anything detrimental to the Mets brand. Ha ha ha. Sorry, I’m laughing at the idea of someone being capable of further damaging the Mets brand than the Mets themselves have done already. Especially by doing something as harmless as going to a baseball game. Bottom line, if the Mets hadn’t drafted Harvey and he had gone to the Phillies or Marlins, we’d all be bemoaning the fact that he wasn’t on our team. I guess Mets management could always punish Harvey if they wanted to, by sticking his locker by the shower stalls this spring. Just kidding, the Mets would never stoop that low.
In closing, Matt Harvey isn’t doing anything none of us wouldn’t do in his position. A young guy making lots of money and spending it by getting great seats at the Garden or on Broadway or at Yankee Stadium. Actually, he’s handling his celebrity much better than most.
Harvey was an All Star in his first full season, emerging as one of the best and brightest players in the game. That didn’t happen by chance. Coming out of college he was projected to be a mid-rotation starter, but he worked his butt off to become one of the game’s most dominating pitchers. Then unfortunately he got hurt, but what has he done since then? He worked his tail off again to get back so quickly that he had to be restrained by the organization because they felt he was pushing too hard. He’s competitive. He lives for competition. I wish we had more players like him. I’m not going to attack the guys character because he spent the night going to a ballgame… Even if it’s a Yankees game.
