Happy Saturday everybody! We’ve got SUPER WILD-CARD WEEKEND ahead of us! A two-game slate today followed by three more games tomorrow! It’s win-or-go-home, do-or-die! On top of that, we’ve got some history for some MVPs in Denver, Ohio State heading to the National Championship, and a Winnie the Pooh quote to get you going! Let’s do this thing!

The Rundown:

🏈 Ohio State Moves on to National Championship

🏈 Wild Card Weekend PREVIEW

🍯 Winnie the Pooh Quote for you! Does it get any better than that?

🏀 Russell Westbrook and Nikola Jokic make History!

Today’s Poll🧠

Results to the post will be revealed tomorrow!

On This Day…

🥊 On this day in 1960, LaMar Clark set the pro boxing record of 44 consecutive knockouts

Clark knocked out Kenneth Hayden, surpassing the previous record held by Billy Fox. He failed to knock out Bartolo Soni in April of the same year. Soni was never knocked out in his career.

Today’s Stump Story…

🏀 Double Trouble Triple Doubles!

We’ve got special stuff coming out of the Denver Nuggets camp with Russell Westbrook and Nikola Jokic making history!

Sometimes you forget greatness even when it’s right in front of you. Russell Westbrook is no longer the MVP he once was, but he absolutely still has some of that DAWG in him that he once had! This year with the Denver Nuggets has revitalized his NBA career!

After a stint with the Lakers where he was blamed for all of their problems (in classic Lakers fashion), and then some time with the Clippers where nothing could ever get figured out, he seems to have found a great landing spot. Last night Nikola Jokic and Russell Westbrook each had a 25-point triple-double! This is the second time this has ever happened for two teammates in NBA history! The first time was Jokic and Jamal Murray in the NBA Finals just two years ago!

Russ has found his role as the SPARK PLUG for this Denver Nuggets team. He had 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists last night with a steal and a block for good measure. Watching him and Nikola Jokic play basketball together is just incredible. It reminds of the San Antonio Spurs days with Parker, Duncan, and Ginobili. The passing is incredible and you see a lot of open shots.

The Nuggets are in a spot where they are getting overlooked, and this may be just what they need. They have been the hunted the last two years, now they can go back to being the hunters. And a team with Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook, Jamal Murray, and Co., they are hunters!

Congrats to Denver on some history!

Quick Hitters

🏈 CFP Semifinal! The Cotton Bowl! Well, the stage is set! Last night, the (6) Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the (3) Texas Longhorns, 28-14! This was a close game until the very end. With 3 minutes to go, Texas was down seven and on the one-yard line. After a loss of 7 on third down, a fourth down SCOOP AND SCORE by captain Jack Sawyer ended the game! An insane ending where Jack Sawyer stripped the ball from his former Ohio State roommate Quinn Ewers! Story book! We’re set for Ohio State vs Notre Dame on the 20th for the National Championship!

🏀 The Sacramento Kings went to Boston and handed the Celtics their 11th loss of the season! The Celtics are looking like a top-2 team in the league, but not last night. Domantas Sabonis had 23 points and a career-high 28 rebounds! TWENTY EIGHT! Demar DeRozan added 24 points and 9 assists of his own as well!

🏈 WILD CARD SATURDAY PREVIEW! We’ve got a 4:30 PM and an 8:00 PM today! We’re kicking off the 2024 Postseason with Chargers @ Texans! The Texans are coming in hobbling and the Chargers are looking to make a statement. Not a lot of people are giving either of these two teams a chance to make any noise but how bout we put on a show! I want POINTS! The nightcap is an AFC North showdown with Steelers @ Ravens! I’ll tell you what, the Steelers have been an absolute abomination to watch this last month. If they can get their heads out of their backside, we might be in for a good one. But if not, this could be all Ravens early!

Other News:

• 🏈 Ben Johnson to Chicago?!?! Or just a prank?

• ⛳️ Sony Open LEADERBOARD

• 🏀 More games postponed due to devastating fires!

Top Performers:

• 🏈 Jack Sawyer (Ohio State): Game-Sealing SCOOP ‘N SCORE!

• 🏀 Russell Westbrook (DEN): 25 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists

• 🏀 SGA (OKC): 39 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals

• 🏈 Giannis (MIL): 41 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists

Stump Favorites

🏀 Insane stuff out of the Nuggets Camp!! Russ and Joker!

🏈 Will go down in the OSU History Books for sure!

🏀 Zach Lavine has been ON ONE!

💯 Full Scoreboards: MLB, Soccer, PGA, NFL, WNBA, NCAAF, NHL

Today’s Slate

*All times are ET*

🏈 NFL: AFC WILD Card: Chargers @ Texans (4:30 PM on CBS), Steelers @ Ravens (8:00 PM on Prime)

🏀 NBA: Grizzlies @ T’Wolves (8:00 PM), Spurs @ Lakers (10:30 PM), full schedule

🏀 NCAAW: (7) UConn @ Georgetown (4:00 PM), full schedule

🏀 NCAAM: (3) Iowa State vs Texas Tech (2:00 PM on ESPN), (9) UConn @ Georgetown (2:00 PM on FOX), (8) Florida @ Arkansas (4:00 PM on ESPN), (1) Tennessee @ Texas (6:00 PM on ESPN), (17) Oklahoma @ UGA (6:00 PM on ESPN2), (5) Alabama @ (10) Texas A&M (8:00 PM on ESPN), (6) Kentucky vs (14) Mississippi State (8:30 PM on SECN), full schedule

🏒 NHL: Bruins @ Panthers (1:00 PM on ABC), Avs @ Jets (7:00 PM on NHL Network), full schedule

⚽️ Soccer: English FA Cup: Absolutely massive day with 17 different games all on ESPN+ ; LALIGA: Sevilla vs Valencia (3:00 PM on ESPN+) ; Bundesliga: Monchengladbach vs Bayern Munich (12:30 PM on ESPN+), full schedule

Can’t thank you enough for sticking to the end of this thing we call The Daily Stump. If you know anybody who might want this bit of daily sports news in their life, send them this link, it would go a long way. Appreciate the hell out of you all…

Trees get chopped. Stumps hold strong 💪