Good Morning, Stumpers!

If you looked at the MLB schedule yesterday, you might have seen a Red Sox game slated for 11:00 AM. That might have seemed random, we’re here to tell you that it was not! It was all part of Patriots Day yesterday! We’ll go over that, some playoff action, and then a QB swapperooni in college football! If that wasn’t enough, we’re talking Continental Breakfast in the closing remarks of this Stump. Yeah, we went there.

Today’s Rundown

What’s in today’s edition?

• 🏃 Taking a look at Patriots Day in Boston!

• 🏀 A look at the Playoffs!

• 🏈 A Classic QB swap in this era of college football!

• 🥞 Yeah, we’re talking Continental Breakfast!

On This Day

On This Day…

The Beginning of Major League Baseball

Before there was the American League and the National League under the umbrella of Major League Baseball, there were actually two different leagues. The National League was it’s own separate entity, and Major League was the other. They eventually combined, but not until much after the inception of the National League.

On this day in 1876, the Boston Red Stockings defeated the Philadelphia Athletics at Philly’s Jefferson Street Grounds in the first game in National League history. This is considered by historians to be the very beginning of the Major League Baseball we see today.

Today’s Trivia

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: C. Washington Wizards! With only 18 wins this year and 64 losses, the Wizards check in with the WORST record in the NBA for the 2024-25 season.

Before We Dive In…

👀 Yesterday’s Must See’s

• 🤣 Mavs GM Nico Harrison with another INSANE quote about Luka

• 🏀 WE’VE GOT A BROUHAHA IN DENVER!

• ⚾️ Francisco Lindor has been absolutely ON ONE!

• 🔴 Pistons snap 15 game playoff losing streak!

🔍️ Stump Spotlight

History, Baseball, and a Marathon

💨 Patriots Day in Mass

In 1894, Massachusetts Governor, Frederic T. Greenhalge, proclaimed the third Monday in April as Patriots Day. The holiday is meant to celebrate and honor the colonial patriots who fought in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the site of the first bloodshed of the American Revolutionary War in 1775. Now, the day is celebrated and honored with Patriotism, Marathons, and Boston Red Sox.

To this day, the Boston Marathon is one of the most celebrated marathons in the entire world and only one of six World Marathon Majors. Ran by nearly 30,000 runners each year, the race was first run on April 19, 1897 to mark the-then recently established holiday and link the Athenian and American struggles for liberty. It is now the world’s oldest annual marathon and runs from Hopkinton to Copley Square in Boston. The race attracts nearly 500,000 spectators along the route.

In accordance with the race timing, the Boston Red Sox traditionally play in the morning on Patriots Day. Almost every year since 1959, first pitch has been before 11:00 AM to allow fans to exit the stadium and head to the marathon route to cheer on runners as they push to finish the 26.2 mile course.

The Marathon has a host of different races and start times, including women and men’s professional races, para-athletes, and amateur races to account for the large masses of humans attempting the run. In yesterday’s race, the men and women’s champion both come from the great nation of Kenya, which has always boasted some of the best long distance runners in the world.

On the men’s side, John Korir was the first to break the tape with a time of 2:12:40, the second fastest finishing time of all time. His brother, Wesley, also won the marathon in 2012. John became the first brother of a former champion to win the event. In the women’s event, Sharon Lokedi used a late push to fend off the two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri, her fellow Kenyan. She broke the tape with a time of 2:17:22, almost two minutes faster than the previous course record in the professional women’s race.

Switzerland’s Marcel Hug, known as “The Silver Bullet”, crushed the competition in the men’s wheelchair even to take home the victory. Susannah Scaroni of Washington state took home the women’s wheelchair title a year after she was forced to withdraw due to injury.

It was a 11:10 first pitch for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park, with the White Sox jumping out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Red Sox responded in the 3rd and put up 3 runs thanks to a two RBI knock for rookie Kristian Campbell. Walker Buehler had his best start in a Sox uniform, going 7 strong innings with 9 strikeouts and only allowing one run to score. Red Sox 4, White Sox 2.

Yesterday was a remarkable day of history, sport, celebration, and remembrance in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, one that will surely be celebrated once again next year.

The Hot Stove

🏀 NBA Playoffs

All tied up in New York! Pistons def. Knicks, 100-94, tie series 1-1!

Anybody who thought this one was going to be easy was dead wrong! The Pistons again showed why they have been tough all year. The questions after last game were if they were ready for the moment, after they let up a 21-0 run to New York. Last night, they once again had a 12 point lead in the fourth. And once again, that lead EVAPORATED! It was a tie ball game with 3 to go, and then the Pistons showed poise! They got the win behind a big night from Cade, and a big contribution from Dennis Schroeder off the bench. We’re all knotted up at 1.

Another nail-biter in Denver! Clippers def. Nuggets, 105-102!

This series is living up to the hype. Game 1 was the Russell Westbrook game. Last night, we had the vintage Kawhi Leonard game. He was robot Leonard! He went for 39 points on an insane 15/19 from the field! This series is going to be good! Again, we’re all knotted up at 1!

🏈 UCLA and Tennessee Swap QBs

In a move that is essentially a modern day college football trade, Tennessee and UCLA have swapped QBs. A day after former UT QB Nico Iamaleava finalized his transfer to UCLA, UCLA QB Joey Aguilar decided he would leave LA and head to Tennessee. UT showed immediate interest in Aguilar following his entrance into the portal, and obvious Aguilar was interested enough to go there. He never actually played a down for UCLA, as he transferred from Appalachian State in the Winter transfer portal window but was the obvious starter coming out of spring practice. Aguilar only has one year of eligibility, compared to Iamaleava’s three, but Aguilar is a proven veteran QB who put up some silly numbers in his career at App State.

💸 NCAA Floats Direct Payment Idea

It’s no secret that the NCAA is on the way to having schools directly pay their student-athletes, but yesterday, the NCAA finally went out and said it. The Division 1 Board of Directors proposed deleting 153 longstanding rules from it’s handbook, which was an expected step towards a new era of amateurism in college athletics. NCAA board members emerged from meetings with proposed legislative changes that will pave the way for direct financial payments to players, sport-specific roster limits, player disclosure of their NIL agreements, and cap limits. All of these announcements were relatively expected, but any time the NCAA comes out with something these days, it’s hard to know where it’s going to go. This is a crazy world we live in. All of this depends on the approval of the House settlement, which was expected at the beginning of April but has been since delayed for further discourse.

⬇️ Quick Links

• 🤕 Padres’ Arraez dealing with concussion after scary collision

• 🏒 Kraken fire coach after one season at the helm

• 🤝 Ex-Duke commit following former assistant coach to Miami

• 🥂 Leeds United, Burnley secure promotion to Premier League

What To Watch

🏀 NBA Playoffs - Round One

• NBAtv: Bucks @ Pacers (7:00 PM)

• TNT: Grizzlies @ Thunder (7:30 PM), Timberwolves @ Lakers (10:00 PM)

⚾️ Major League Baseball

• TBS: Phillies @ Mets (7:10 PM)

• More To Watch: Yankees @ Guardians (6:10 PM), Padres @ Tigers (6:40 PM), Mariners @ Red Sox (6:45 PM), Dodgers @ Cubs (7:40 PM), full schedule

🏒 NHL Playoffs

• ESPN: Devils @ Hurricanes (6:00 PM), Senators @ Maple Leafs (7:30 PM), Panthers @ Lightning (8:30 PM), Wild @ Golden Knights (11:00 PM)

⚽️ Soccer

• EPL: Man City vs Aston Villa (3:00 PM on USA Net)

• LALIGA: Barcelona vs Mallorca (3:30 PM)

• NWSL: Portland @ Gotham (10:30 PM on CBSSN)

• Ligue 1: Nantes @ PSG (2:45 PM)

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

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