NO BRYCE HARPER = WORLD SERIES WIN?

I am not a fan of Bryce Harper. Sure, he could be a good guy and all but for some reason, I just simply do not like him. It could be that he was the "guy" on the Nationals and then he goes and runs off for money. Just a bad and disappointing move on his part. I think he is just an easy guy to love or hate, whatever way you roll.

So you could imagine how happy I was that the Nationals won. My first thought was, "What is Bryce feeling right now?" He really brought the title back to D.C.

Source: Yahoo! Sports

This all ties into what is the "Ewing Theory" that suggests that teams can benefit from losing their top player.

The tenets of the Ewing Theory are twofold: (1) “A star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him. (2): “That same athlete leaves his team (either by injury, trade, graduation, free agency, or retirement)—and both the media and fans immediately write off the team for the following season.”

He left the Nationals for Philadelphia for $330 million until 2032. His new team actually did so poorly that they not only didn't make the playoffs, but their coach got fired after only two years. His old team won the World Series for the first time in franchise history less than a year after losing him. Yikes.

Source: USAToday

However, the professional Bryce is happy for his former team no matter how much we tease him. Earlier this month he said:

"You know, jealousy isn't good. For them to be able to put it together this year the way they have, it's an amazing thing"...

At the end of the day, Nationals fans and whoever was rooting for them should really thank Bryce. Something about him leaving lit a fire under the team's butt and helped them finish the fight.

--Missy O'Rourke
BYB Contributor
Twitter: @missy_orourke