Saquon will bring class to whichever team he chooses

WHATEVER happens to Saquon Barkley and wherever he goes, some will remain grateful for his end zone dismissal of Odell Beckham Jr. after Barkley ran for a touchdown at the Texans in his third game as a pro, in 2018.

After crossing into the end zone on a determined run, he appeared to try to modestly hand the ball to the nearest official when

Beckham, eager scenestealer, rushed up to Barkley, swatted the ball from his hand then invited Barkley to join him in a gyrating dance.

Barkley shook his head, “No,” retrieved the ball and tossed it to an official, leaving Beckham to dance by himself.

The game was on Fox, and Barkley’s can’t-miss-it act of in-game modesty and civility was ignored. There was no replay of his selfless celebration as it didn’t — and still doesn’t — fit TV’s requisite for extra special, and even slo-mo attention.

Thanks, Saquon, some of us needed that.

➤ Another golden opportunity lost. As reader Vin McCardle sagely asserts, that Manasquan-Camden high school N.J. playoff game that saw the winning shot waved off by referee error — there clearly was time left on the clock — could have provided a lasting and virtuous life lesson for all involved, but especially the kids on both teams and within both schools.

All that was needed was for the “winning team” to declare that it would refuse the W, so it could be granted to the team that actually won.

Imagine the needed national feel-good that would have created. Both teams would have gone on a network TV tour. Even ESPN might’ve awakened to such virtue.

But doing the honorable thing — making a conspicuous good from a conspicuous bad — has become a diminished ideal.