How Much Pressure is Too Much?

The debut of the century (or at least it feels that way) will happen tonight when Stephen Strasburg makes his Major League debut for the Nats against Pittsburgh.  Since his days in college and maybe even earlier than that Strasburg has been made out to be the next great pitcher.  But is all the hype fair to him?  For months 'experts' have said that he is can't miss and Curt Schilling even said when he does make his debut he will be the best pitcher in the big leagues.  In this I want it now society if he doesn't come out there and throw 7 or 8 scoreless with 10 strikeouts some people would see it as a failure.  To add even more pressure to Strasburg the Nationals have averaged roughly 20,000 people a game, tonight's game is sold out.  And let's be honest this is not the first time he have seen someone hyped to this level.  We don't have to look very far to see all the hype that surrounded Matt Wieters.  The Oriole fans were so excited about Wieters a website was created http://www.mattwietersfacts.com/, kind of crazy right.  Maybe the strangest thing about that website is that it was created before he got into the majors.  Now granted the jokes are funny but for the fans to put all this pressure on 1 player is extreme.  Wieters has also graced the cover of Sports Illustrated with the title 'The Perfect Catch'.  Now get ready for the next big thing as Bryce Harper was drafted the other night for the Washington Nationals.  Harper has already had several ESPN interviews including a piece on E 60, and Harper was also on Sports Illustrated only the title on the cover was 'Baseball's Chosen One'.  The one main thing im trying to get at here is that it is ok to get excited for new draft picks and new players.  However to put the weight of the world on these players is not fair to them or the pressure on the team that drafts them.  Think about it if Strasburg or Wieters or Harper turn out to be flops not only will the fans turn on someone they thought would be great, they also might turn on the GM that drafted him wondering why they didn't see this player wasnt what they thought he was.  Putting all this pressure is a lose-lose situation.  Even if these players have long careers in some peoples minds they can never live up to the potential and if they flop it will always be what could've been.