Ron Kantowski

You can relax, Stephen Strasburg. Bryce Harper wants to be your pal after all.

While lounging in the bowels of Petco Park on a leather easy chair — the home of the San Diego Padres is so well-appointed that even its bowels feature fine accoutrements — I noticed an old pal exchange a pleasant greeting with a baseball legend near the elevator to the press box.

I received a photo, taken by a reader, that shows LeBron James sitting in the stands at the championship game of the Fab 48 AAU boys basketball tournament July 24 at Bishop Gorman High School. He was not surrounded by go-go dancers spelling out K-I-N-G on giant placards. He was not being served champagne by a waiter suspended from the ceiling by guy-wires, like Peter Pan or George Reeves.

Is there a more meaningless penalty in sports than “vacating” a bowl game victory or Final Four appearance?