SU just read the excellent article about Saquon Barkley in Sports Illustrated.  The short story is that he is intent on becoming the poster child for the entire National Football League.  He is a marketing machine and has a 15-person team representing him.  Barkley is very image conscious and is determined to make all the right moves to not only be the face of the franchise for the Giants but the face of the NFL.

Now, the Giants already have someone like that who also wants to be in everyone’s face in Beckham Jr.  This is going to be an issue for the Giants to manage.  OBJ will welcome him – at least in the beginning – but it will be very interesting to see how they compete for media attention.  SU says this does not end well – for OBJ.

Btw, after reading this article, SU is even more positive that the Giants made the right pick.  This guy is solid and if he can stay healthy (always a big if in the NFL), is headed for greatness.

Did any of you catch the Yankee game last night and the bizarre sacrifice fly play that the umpires badly botched?  The Yankees had runners on 2nd and 3rd, one out and slugger Neal Walker up.  He tagged one that made it to the right field wall where the outfielder leaped over the wall to take away a home run.  Didi was on 3rd and tagged up but so did Stanton on 2nd base.  The replay showed he waited for the catch and then ran to 3rd base.  The Angels frantically waved to throw the ball back in to 2nd base where the infielder stepped on 2nd just before Didi crossed home plate.  The umpires just whiffed on this play and called Stanton out at 2nd and a doubleplay.  However, they ruled that Didi crossed home before the player stepped on 2nd (he did not and it was clear on replay).  They allowed the run to score.

Now, Aaron Boone already had his bench coach ejected complaining about balls and strikes earlier in the game.  Boone took too long to file an appeal for replay and thus could not challenge the play.  Apparently, in MLB you can’t challenge a sacrifice fly play at 2nd base but you can challenge a “border” play like a catch at the wall which would then allow the replay officials to review the entire play.  Are you following this?  If done correctly, Stanton should have been on 3rd with 2 outs.

SU says the umpires just screwed it up and Boone being a bit of a novice and not having his bench coach there also did not handle it well.  Replay is annoying in terms of delay time but the umpires make it a necessity due to their inability to get the close plays right or even this one which wasn’t close and was pretty obvious.  As Mad Dog would say, “bad job!”