I know this might seem like a trollbait opinion, but do you think there's something about Washington sports fans "bandwagon-ness" that enables a lot of this? Like, I've always thought Ovechkin would be a lot better in most other franchises. He can skate half-assed (at best) on defense and absolutely no coach can say crap because the coach would get fired. RG3 checks himself in and out of games and again, basically can fire a coach. Harper can give lineup suggestions and fans are basically going to let him skate.
These things wouldn't happen in most other cities. If OV was on the Wings or Hawks, they'd sit his ass down and if he didn't respond, he'd be traded. He definitely wouldn't have a letter on his sweater. Harper could never do this on the Yankees or even St Louis. This just wouldn't be allowed, but in DC, if you're a star, the fans are always going to ultimately give them a pass, to an extent far greater than in the average sports town.
Ovechkin is a 3 time league MVP and has led the league in scoring. He'd maybe have his minutes cut down, like Hunter did, and Hunter wasn't chased out or fired because of Ovechkin. If anything he just didn't like the team, or coaching it, and he chose to be with his family in Canada with his own hockey program. Even in that season Ovechkin became more defensive minded, diving in front of pucks, being more responsible on his defensive side.
RG3 may have more of a say, but Shannahan was nothing short of disappointing in his 4 seasons here and apparently a nazi in the locker room. BUT those are all rumors and we'll never know. I don't think any single player has more power in their organization over what the GM or owner decides. I don't think Harper, RG3, Ovechkin, John Wall/Bradley Beal can walk into the GMs office and say "Fire this shmo" and have it be done.
I do think the DC bangwagon is annoying, but what can we do. From all the locker room reports, no one in the clubhouse seems to care what Harper said and are just excited to have him and the full opening day line-up back on the field. The sports media, especially in this town, is such a fucking joke.
