To his credit, Bryce Harper has mostly resisted the temptation to bash Washington, D.C., as he settles into his new surroundings in Philly.

Sure, he's said some things about Philly that indicate what he thinks about his former home, the place where he started his career, and the fans who loved him unconditionally.

But he hasn't bashed the District.

Too bad you can't say the same for ESPN analyst and former performance-enhancing drug user Alex Rodriguez, who went out of his way to throw shade on Washington and its fans during the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast: This is a weird shot from A-Rod pic.twitter.com/gIAChgulgr — Chris Lingebach (@ChrisLingebach) — Chris Lingebach (@ChrisLingebach) April 1, 2019 "Look, D.C. is about 130 miles down the road," he said. "But let's make it clear: there is a world of difference between markets."

This is something that we can probably all agree on.

D.C. fans are known for being supportive of the home team and cordial to opposing fans. D.C. fans are known for standing by flawed players and flawed teams on principle alone. D.C. fans do not require a jail cell in the stadium, have never thrown ice balls at beloved holiday mascots, and have never turned batteries into weapons.

Go on, A-Rod.

"If you're over there, you're thinking about politics and what happens in the White House," he theorized. "If you're over here, this is a sports town and they love their Phillies."

This is a silly argument.

Caring about what happens in the White House is not unique to Washington or even the United States. It also does not preclude people from watching sports.

Rodriguez is right in that the dynamics of the two cities are quite different. Because Washington is the most powerful city in the free world, people with varying sports allegiances move in and out of the city all the time. It is not quite so homogenous of a sports town as Philly, because Washington is a desirable place to be.

If A-Rod is trying to reverse engineer a reason why Harper would want to move to Philly, he should leave D.C. out of it and focus on the money. The Nationals offered Harper $300 million with a large percentage of that deferred for decades. Harper chose record-breaking money (with a diluted average annual income) to move to Philly.

There's nothing wrong with that. But that's the real reason why he chose the Phillies, and it has nothing to do with the White House.