Harrison Barnes was The Cat in the Hat for small Iowan children

If you're anything like me, you were just minding your own business on Tuesday morning, reading the "Friends and Neighbors" column of the Aug. 28, 2012, edition of the Ames, Iowa, Tribune — y'know, as you do — when you caught the following germane-to-your-interest notice:

Harrison Barnes, an Ames High graduate who is now a professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors, will present storytimes at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, in the auditorium at Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Ave. Join us for Dr. Seuss' "Cat in the Hat" with this local legend.

... and you thought, "Oh, neat. It's cool that before he enters his first NBA season, Barnes is going to do a little hometown visit and give some young Ames-ers ... Ame-ians ... kids a little thrill. That is very nice!"

And then Thursday rolled around, and Barnes informed his Twitter followers that he "had to get in character for this reading," and welp:

Well, that's certainly something.

Many players would've just showed up and read the book. Some would've decided to don the hat, in a respectful nod to the practice of peacocking made famous by terrifying "pickup artist" Mystery. But to actually go full facepaint? Clearly, like Trick Daddy, Harrison Barnes loves the kids. (Of Ames, Iowa.)

Hit the jump for a full-length shot of Barnes' getup, which wouldn't seem at all out of place in the midst of rookie hazing during a midseason Warriors road trip.

While he was clearly enthusiastic enough about following in Mike Myers' footsteps to let someone put paint all over his face, Barnes doesn't seem all that thrilled here. Maybe he remembered that, in the famed Dr. Seuss story, what the Cat in the Hat does is mostly cause a lot of trouble for two little kids (and a fish) by trying to show all the different kinds of tricks he can do, when really he should've been respecting the fact that there was an established order in place and that he should not have been mucking about too much when Mom wasn't around.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: Just try to spend your rookie season letting Stephen Curry handle the ball and hitting open jumpers when it's passed to you, Harrison. Even if Mark Jackson isn't in the gym at the moment.

Hat-tip to I Am A GM. Second image via Travis Hines by way of Trey Kerby at The Basketball Jones.