14 minutes ago, Outlaw said:

Prince Harry.

You beat me to it. 

1 hour ago, DEagle7 said:

He's one "rival" I've never had it in me to dislike. Saquon is a good dude. 

Went to my high school and yeah, definitely a good dude. (mamma paco works for the school district.  I wish I was young enough to say he was there when I still was, instead I was a year or two ahead of Dan Koppen  )

 

This story made the local papers back when he was still there:

Quote

Selfless act by Whitehall sprinter Saquon Barkley had some in tears
By MICHAEL BLOUSE
PUBLISHED: May 13, 2015 at 12:23 a.m. | UPDATED: June 15, 2018 at 10:55 p.m.

Rachel Panek burst into tears and sought out a friend from another team to console her.

Panek, a sophomore hurdler for Saucon Valley High School, thought she’d look back on the Colonial League Track and Field Championships as one of the worst days of her athletic career after finishing last in a race she thought she had already won.

As it turns out, she’ll remember last Wednesday as one of her best sports experiences ever — thanks to the gesture of a thoughtful new friend she encountered by chance in Whitehall’s Saquon Barkley, the Lehigh Valley football star with a scholarship to play at Penn State.

"It’s not the fact that I didn’t get a medal or first place in the league that I’ll remember,” Panek said, "it’s that somebody noticed and that someone cared enough to make my day by giving me something that meant a lot to them.

What happened to Panek before she came across Barkley could certainly be characterized as unfair, and it would be hard to find anybody at the two-day meet — that was a combined championship with Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and Colonial League athletes competing for medals at Whitehall’s Zephyr Sports Complex — who felt particularly good about it.

The day’s first race, the girls 100-meter hurdles, was stopped by officials when the timing system malfunctioned.

Each of the eight competitors appeared to finish the event at full speed, but the fully automatic clock never started when the starting gun sounded. A trackside official, acting on the timing issue, fired three shots into the air as the lead runners — Panek and Northwestern’s Alexis Gawelko — crossed the seventh hurdle. Panek beat Gawelko to the line.

Because the timing system never started, there were no official times. (There was no backup timing system either, according to meet officials.)

Colonial League track and field chairman Bryan Geist called the coaches of all eight finalists into the infield for a brief meeting. The decision was made to re-run the race after approximately a 30-minute rest period.

Panek, though, was unable to rest. She was competing in the high jump and took two turns before she ran the second 100 hurdles race.

"Honestly, I didn’t hear the gun go off,” Panek said. "You’re so in the moment. I don’t think anyone slowed down. There was a lot of confusion after the race and once I found out we were re-running it, I kept telling myself that I wasn’t upset. I cleared 4-4 and 4-6 in the high jump, my legs were a little tired.”

"It’s really unfortunate,” Geist said at the time, "but we felt like [re-running the race] was the only thing we could do.”

The second, and official, race was a disaster for Panek, whose momentum was stunted significantly when she clipped a hurdle. She placed eighth.

Gawelko, a senior, won in 15.75 seconds and collected the gold medal that she’d absolutely earned.

"After I walked back to the high jump and kind of realized what happened,” Panek said, "I found my friend from Salisbury [Sydney Utesch] and gave her a big hug. I was sobbing.”

Ed Kolosky tried to console his promising young hurdler, but even Saucon Valley’s longtime running coach, known as a strong motivator, couldn’t find any fitting words.

"I saw Rachel’s dad in the stands,” Kolosky said, "and he yelled that it was a good time for him to pick up some souvenir clothes. We were trying to pick up her spirits. Because it was unfair, no one really knew what to say.”

No one knew what to say, but Barkley knew what to do.

Panek and Barkley had never met before Wednesday’s meet, and they only met there because Panek held the starting blocks for Barkley in the EPC boys 100-meter finals. (The re-running of the second Colonial League girls 100 hurdles race came immediately after the EPC boys 100.)

At the time, Barkley said, Panek was in a positive mental state.

"She wasn’t upset. She was jumping around and said she’d be the best block-holder. She was confident she’d win the hurdles race again,” he said.

Barkley won his gold medal, clocking 11.15 seconds to edge out his closest competitor. Since it’s his first year in track and field — "I love the sport,” he said, "but I’m doing it to keep in shape for football” — the gold medal was his first.

But what had happened to Panek didn’t seem fair to Barkley.

"It’s really hard to explain,” the all-state running back said, "but something inside of me told me it’d be the right thing to do to give her my medal. Honestly, I love winning races and receiving medals, but I felt she deserved it, too. Everyone saw that girl win her race.”

Barkley discussed his decision with Whitehall coach Jim Sebesta, who gave the go-ahead. The next issue for Barkley was finding Panek amid the sea of athletes all over the Zephyr Sports Complex.

"I didn’t know how to go up to her,” Barkley said.

"It was about two hours after my race,” Panek said, "and one of my friends came over and pulled me into the group of friends [Barkley] was with. He said to me, ‘You held my blocks. I saw your race and you should’ve won. You deserve this.’ He literally handed me his gold medal. I was kind of in shock. I hugged him, we took a couple pictures. I have the medal.”

"It felt really good,” Barkley said, "to do a good deed and put a smile on her face. I think I learned it from my mom [Tonya Johnson] and my family. It was the right thing to do.”

Panek genuinely appreciated the gesture.

"It was honestly one of the kindest things anyone’s ever done,” she said.

It’s something that left everyone — particularly the adults who see these athletes on a daily basis — in awe.

Whitehall athletic director Bob Hartman, the EPC track and field chairman, said Barkley is an emotional and passionate teenager who is learning to how to effectively harness his feelings.

"For me, that was the best part of the track meet, regardless of the performances,” Hartman said. "It says a lot about Saquon, his parents and his coaches. He wasn’t prompted … he came up with that himself. We’re proud of him for making that decision.”

When Panek relayed to her coach what had happened, Kolosky’s eyes welled up with tears. Panek, too, became emotional.

"That,” Kolosky said, "was a powerful thing that young man did.”

 

 

 

I could be mistaken but I think he bought his mom a house in the area a few years ago.

22 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

You joke, but those bid amounts look suspicious. First 5 bids are increments of $100, then it shoots from $1,350 to $10,050 and then to $20,000

Likely the players TBH.  That was my first thought when I heard it was 20,000

29 minutes ago, Casey @ Bat said:

Lamar Jackson also in the running. 

Yeah he is you are right! He’s been really impressive.

 

1 hour ago, DEagle7 said:

He's one "rival" I've never had it in me to dislike. Saquon is a good dude. 

I thought this was a spoof account at first and it was going to end with him going to speak to homeless people so he could feel better about his situation. 

@mattwill

Birds 69

Bye- 2

Prediction - No injuries 

21 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

You beat me to it. 

9 minutes ago, Utebird said:

@mattwill

Birds 69

Bye- 2

Prediction - No injuries 

If we give a up safety but Jake kicks 23 fg's, I am ok with that.

25 minutes ago, paco said:

Likely the players TBH.  That was my first thought when I heard it was 20,000

It's probably Micah Parsons

2 hours ago, jojodancer said:

The problem is we don't remove Kelce from the equation. He is a hall of famer and is that good. His security blanket when things break down. And is essentially a WR in addition to being a TE. Did you see what Mahomes looked like with no Kelce vs. Detroit or no offensive line in 2020 Superbowl? He was a mess. Sacked and picked off a bunch and playing hero ball. This Chiefs team is nothing like the Tyreek Hill years on offense. But with just Kelce & Co. they don't  need to be, with a solid defense and special teams, you are still going to be able to win games. With usually a speedy anonymous but decent complementary group of WRs, which is backed up behind an amazing play caller in Andy Reid. Feels similar to when Brady had only Gronk or Edelman at end of Patriots career, but still made it work with great defense, special teams and good offensive line. But  Brady became less invincible once losing certain playmakers or loss of a good lineman. These guys are in some ways put on too high of a pedestal. Still a team game here. After saying all of that, Mahomes is amazing, but not having a great or consistent year as of now. Plenty of turnovers and forcing the issue at times to make a play. Mahomes/Hurts may become like the Embiid/Jokic race every year and pretty divided. I do think if you had Hurts playing with the KC personelle on offense, backed up by Andy Reid play design, he would be just as good from a production standpoint, but just do it differently. He would make plenty of plays, as he is a straight up playmaker. 

Yup.

Reid isn't just one of the best offensive minds in the league he's also one of the best at scheming Guys and TEs open.

He's a coach who pulled chad Lewis off the scrap heap and turned into a pro bowl TE his first year with McNabb leading the team in receptions 

He made LJ Smith look competent and almost got Celek 1000 yards.

Give Reid a weapon like Kelce with a QB like mahommes and thats gonna be special and has been 

Kelce has talked about more than once how good Reid is at scheming him open and developing him from a rookie and letting him be him.

Don't think Siri and BJ are quite on that level.

 

 

1 hour ago, LeanMeanGM said:

It's probably Micah Parsons

If it's not a player, I think we all know who it is.

 

 

Spoiler

 

2 hours ago, DEagle7 said:

He's one "rival" I've never had it in me to dislike. Saquon is a good dude. 

 

 

Would like to land him in free agency. 

27 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

 

 

Would like to land him in free agency. 

Who wouldn't but he won't be cheap and some team will give him a big contract 

4 minutes ago, Utebird said:

Who wouldn't but he won't be cheap and some team will give him a big contract 

How many teams were lining up to give other RBs big contracts this past year?  I assume you mean 'big' relative to the RB position... but that number is dropping fast. 

1 hour ago, ManuManu said:

 

Interesting that Reddick and Sweaty J are pretty close to each other and TJ Watt and Alex high Smith teammates on Steelers close as well 

I think when a team has two good edge rushers like the eagles and Steelers they're double team rates look similar, according to the chart sweaty J and Reddick are out performing the Steelers Duo of watt and highsmith which I think many would have as the #1 edge rush duo in the league 

Not today Steelers not today 

Sweaty J and Reddick💪

14 minutes ago, Utebird said:

Who wouldn't but he won't be cheap and some team will give him a big contract 

 

8 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

How many teams were lining up to give other RBs big contracts this past year?  I assume you mean 'big' relative to the RB position... but that number is dropping fast. 

Miles Sanders is making sure of that.

The latest BGN podcast is pretty funny.  Fire alarm going off almost everytime BLG talks.

Just now, paco said:

 

Miles Sanders is making sure of that.

Yup not gald to be proven correct on that, I've always been critical of miles but wished him the best, glad Howie didn't re up him.

16 minutes ago, Utebird said:

Who wouldn't but he won't be cheap and some team will give him a big contract 

He might.  RBs donr get those big contracts anymore.  Injury history to go with it.  If the Miles Sanders contract is the going rate then sign me up for that eith Barkley.

10 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

How many teams were lining up to give other RBs big contracts this past year?  I assume you mean 'big' relative to the RB position... but that number is dropping fast. 

Yes relative to RB contracts, not sure what that is these days but Barkley won't be signing the chump change at RB, he's a top back in the league on a really bad team and I'm sure there will be plenty of teams willing to pay him way more than Howie would be willing to.

I mean I'd love him in the eagles, he can do it all, he's tough inside has burst to get around the edge, can make guys miss can break tackles great receiver great blocker and stand up up great teammate in the community guy, I mean which team wouldn't want that???

2 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

He might.  RBs donr get those big contracts anymore.  Injury history to go with it.  If the Miles Sanders contract is the going rate then sign me up for that eith Barkley.

He'll get more than miles.

Probably more than Johnathan Taylor got 

McCaffrey had a extensive injury history and niners took on that contract so ...

4 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

He might.  RBs donr get those big contracts anymore.  Injury history to go with it.  If the Miles Sanders contract is the going rate then sign me up for that eith Barkley.

Miles was 4 for 25, 9 signing bonus 

Taylor was 3 for 26, 10 signing bonus.

I imagine Barkley will fetch more than either of those but who knows anymore🤷‍♂️