In the words of Eifel ’65: “I’m blue Da ba dee, da ba die x7.” Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount and New York Giants cornerback Xavier McKinney have formed a friendship in a classic example of football meets football, “blue if the colour” meets “big blue.”
The two young star athletes met via their membership in the same agency, and fondness for one specific video game. McKinney discussed with Sky Sports how the two young men connected on social media, and they’ve been DMing and quote tweeting each other ever since.
From the best with the hands ? to the best with the feet ?. Can’t talk sports in the UK without talking about my boys @BronzeBomber and @masonmount_10 ?? #Giants https://t.co/2LtFX0sns3
— Xavier McKinney (@mckinney15__) May 11, 2020
“He (Mount) reached out to me and DM’d me and was like ‘congratulations, welcome to the family’ stuff like that (when he signed with his current agent),” McKinney said in the interview (which also covered his recent dinner meeting with boxer Deontay Wilder).
“Ever since then we’ve been DM’ing each other. I’ve been on (Call of Duty) Warzone, he actually plays it a lot, I know the time zone is totally different but we’ve been trying to figure out a time when we could both play together.”
You know blue is the color.
You joining the @Giants nation? https://t.co/WXDkFFwUIw
— Xavier McKinney (@mckinney15__) May 11, 2020
“I’ve never been to a soccer game and never been to London, I’ve never really been that far out. Some of my (former Alabama) teammates like Josh Jacobs with the Raiders, they’ve played in London.”
“My mum has been and I think she’s been to a soccer game too so I want to be able to go to a game whenever I have time because I heard it’s pretty crazy.”
The Giants selected McKinney out of Alabama in the second round of the NFL Draft late last month.
https://twitter.com/masonmount_10/status/1259938137519935490
Right now, as we’re isolated by shelter-in-place/stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines, we’re forced to move more and more activities online. That includes making new friends and bonding with them.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.