The Flyers on Wednesday night played their first home game since Bryce Harper signed with the Phillies.
The team across the street from Citizens Bank Park wanted to give Harper a little congratulatory message in front of the fans.
Seems reasonable.
After all, the guy just turned the city upside down, committing the next 13 years of his life to Philadelphia by signing the richest deal in American sports history.
The least the Flyers could do is say hey, nice going, Bryce … welcome to Philly.
Flyers and Gritty welcoming Bryce Harper to Philly
Washington may be up 1-0 but Philly got Bryce so that's a W#Flyers#Phillies⚾️ pic.twitter.com/bJEncgeOjV— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) March 7, 2019
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The friendly message didn't exactly fly with John Walton, calling the game for 106.7 The Fan, a radio station in D.C.
Oh, we forgot to mention the Flyers were playing the Washington Capitals.
Yeah … sorry about that.
Walton's reaction:
Well, that was pretty unnecessary on a video board, wasn't it?
Caps in town, you'd think he was in the building, pretty sure he's in Clearwater.
The 'Welcome Bryce Harper' sign up on the video board. … We'll see how welcoming they are when he's hitting .230 on Memorial Day.
.@WaltonCaps is an assassin 💀 pic.twitter.com/Abungl1sOc— 106.7 The Fan (@1067theFan) March 7, 2019
Walton sounded like he was talking in good fun.
There is a bit of sweet irony that the Flyers happened to be playing the Capitals. If the Flyers weren't playing Washington, it's extremely likely they still would have saluted Harper. They've always supported the other Philly teams during games, like playing the Eagles' fight song in the NFL playoffs to amp up fans.
Let's be honest, the Flyers could have done a whole lot more if they truly wanted to troll D.C. fans on Harper's decision. Instead, they simply posted a message welcoming Harper. Gritty was even on his best behavior during the quick tribute.
And if Harper is hitting .230 in late May, Phillies fans will be just fine. They have 13 years to watch Harper and should see their team advance past the divisional series at least once.
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