I shudder at the prospect of the media overkill if Bryce Harper ever dates a Kardashian. Or is discovered to be related to Tim Tebow. Or plays for the Red Sox or Yankees. Or, heaven forbid, gets his batting average up to .280 with three home runs.

No criticism intended toward my colleagues throughout the country who simply feed the insatiable media beast the same as I do. But is anyone else tired of hearing endless hype about a rookie who is hitting .264? I realize we're living in a Linsane era of social media where trending is the equivalent of actual accomplishment, where analysis is considered in-depth as soon as it uses all 140 characters of a Tweet and where the shelf life for "What's Popular Now" is shorter than the attention span of an 8-year-old (or an entertainment "news" show producer).

I also recognize that "What's Hot Now" is not nearly as urgent as "What Will Be Hot Tomorrow." And that tomorrow is already yesterday's news, so we must spend today looking ahead to next year (or next decade) to seem fresh.

But can we all just take a step back and wait for young players to, you know, develop before we focus the media's entire wattage on them? Before we enshrine them in Cooperstown, can we follow those profoundly wise words of the Astrodome crowd in "The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" and just let them play?

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