Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jul 28, 2017

Sucking the life out of the wire services:

Move over, BILL GATES --because JEFF BEZOS was the world's richest person for one, brief shining momentyesterday.
Bezos --who owns about 17 percent of Amazon.com-- claimed the top spot after Amazon shares went up nearly two percent in trading and Microsoft shares dipped, making Bezos' net worth more than $90 billion, compared to Gates' $89 billion.
It's the first time that Gates has not been the world's richest man since 2013, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index.
Then, late yesterday, Amazon stock went down a bit, and Bezos was demoted to the number two slot.
PS: There'd be no competition at all if Bill Gates --who created the Giving Pledge with WARREN BUFFETT to encourage billionaires to give at least half of their wealth to charitable causes-- had not given away $31.1 billion dollarsover the course of his lifetime so far.

Chic Sh*t:

JOSH BROLIN is launching a new fitness line that he started with his wife KATHRYN BROLIN. Peoplesays the line is called Prevail Activewear and will feature men's, women's and children's tees, tanks, hoodies and hats. A full 50-percent of the sales proceeds will benefit the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation. You can get your hands on the collection when it launches this coming Tuesday, August 1st. (Bartha)

Bigfoot, Nessie, Chupacabra, etc:

Pet owners in Southern California say chupacabras are killing their animals.
CARY SHUKER of Riverside chased one of the mythical creatures away from his yard when it tried to eat his cat. Shuker says the chupacabra had the tail of a rat and was larger "than the biggest coyote you've ever seen." Several other locals say the creature has been stalking their pets, too. Chupacabra means "goat sucker." They supposedly hunt goats and other animals and drink their blood.
LOREN COLEMAN of the International Cryptozoology Museum says the "chupacabra" was probably a coyote with mange. ANDREW HUGHAN with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirms "Chupacabras are not a thing." (Still)

Why we hate umpires, dep't:

On Wednesday evening, Texas' ADRIAN BELTRE --a 20 year veteran that is a shoe-in for admittance to Cooperstown five years after he eventually retires-- was told by crew chief GERRY DAVIS that he was taking his warm-up swings in the wrong location. The umpire said he had to go where the on-deck circle was. So, Beltre picked up the mat, which signifies the circle, and moved it to where he had originally been standing. That was too much for Davis; Beltre was ejected and then, when Texas manager JEFF BANISTER came out to argue, he was tossed as well.
"...I told Gerry I have no problem but I don't want to get hit. I've been hit when I stand over there. Davis replied, 'Well I don't care. You need to be on top of the mat.' So I pulled the mat where I was at and he threw me out." Before his ejection, Beltre went 3-for-3 at the plate, bringing his career total to 2,996 hits. He will soon become the 31st MLB player in history to reach 3,000 hits. (Lane)