All-American Thriller in Flushing

It's CFB Saturday, Tiafoe is HIM, Fever are Hot, and Collin is Pushing Back!

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Stomping Ground Sports
August 31, 2024

Happy weekend! More specifically, happy COLLEGE FOOTBALL SATURDAY. If you find yourself in front of the TV for extended periods of time today, don’t be hard on yourself, it’s okay. You’ve EARNED this. Don’t worry, we got plenty of other sports for you to catch today too, if for whatever reason you need a break from college ball.

Stump Story of the Day…

In loving memory: Johnny Gaudreau

An absolutely shocking newsbreak came early yesterday morning when the world was told of the passing of Columbus Blue Jackets winger Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew. The two were struck by a vehicle while riding their bikes in New Jersey.

Johnny was an unbelievable talent, he played the game with joy and played it the right way. He even inherited the nickname “Johnny Hockey” during his time in Boston College, and carried it through his time in Calgary with the Flames and in Columbus with the Blue Jackets.

Fans laid hockey sticks and flowers outside of the rinks in Calgary and Columbus in his honor. He played eleven total seasons in the NHL, 9 with the Flames. He had signed a seven-year contract in Columbus in the 2022-23 offseason.

The hockey and sports world sends their love to the Gaudreau’s.

Today’s Trivia🧠

🏈 Which university won the inaugural Rose Bowl game, played in 1902 in Pasadena, California?

  • A. University of Southern California

  • B. University of Michigan

  • C. Stanford University

  • D. The Ohio State University

  • E. Fresno State University

(answer at the bottom of the Stump!)

On This Day…

In 1990, Seattle Mariners outfielders Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. became the first father-son duo to play on the same team.

The two batted first and second, both hitting singles to start the game. They would both score a couple at bats later. Poetic.

You HAVE to see this…

Caitlin Clark Masterclass

Talking Points

🎾THRILLERS in Flushing

The US Open is always an electric factory when it gets into the later rounds, but nothing will get the crowd more fired up than when two Americans are putting on an absolute SHOW!

Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton went five sets deep and the two battled the whole day long. It was Tiafoe who eventually came out on top. This was a rematch of a year ago in New York, when Tiafoe eliminated Shelton in four sets in the quarterfinals.

People get fired up for not just Americans though, they love some Djokovic. But it wasn’t the usual Djokovic masterclass the fans are used to. He was upset Alexei Popyrin, the 28th best player in the world, in 4 sets. Alexei got hot early and went up two sets REAL quick, Djoker managed to salvage the third, but Alexei shut the door in the fourth set to move on.

A WILD day from NY ahead of a weekend that should bring many more highlights.

🏈 The RED HOT Fever

Yeah yeah yeah, it’s THAT Fever. The Indiana Fever. The Caitlin Clark Fever. And DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, let them get hot. After a SHAKY start to the season, the Fever are finally starting to put together some wins.

The Fever started 0-5, then 1-8, then 3-10. But then… 7-10. All of a sudden, you blink and they’re .500. A clean sheet of 16-16. Since they bottomed out at 1-8, they are 15-8. I’m not great at math, but that’s pretty dang good.

They have won 7 of their last nine, and last night their young phenom Caitlin Clark dropped a new career-high with 31 points in a big win over the Chicago Sky. The combination of Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston has been lethal. They have a core that will be tough to beat for years to come.

⛳️Collin is Giving it His All

In the PGA Tour Championship format, it’s quite tough for anyone to come from behind when the best player in the world gets a head start. Scottie Scheffler, who has managed to put up a 6-under and a 5-under round in the first two days, is finally feeling a little bit of pressure.

Collin Morikawa, who has struggled at times this year, managed to put together the best round of the tournament so far with an 8-under 63. Collin finds himself four strokes back and is playing some absolutely inspired golf. After a tough first nine holes on Thursday, he put together 6-straight birdies to start the back nine.

Starting 6-down from the leader is no easy hill to climb, but Collin is giving it everything he has.

More: Leaderboard (ESPN)

Quick Hitters

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

What’s On TV Today

*All times are ET*

⚽️ EPL: Arsenal vs Brighton (7:30 AM), Everton vs Bournemouth (10:00 AM), West Ham vs Man City (12:30 PM) ; LALIGA: Barcelona vs Real Valladolid (11:00 AM) Athletic vs Atletico (1:00 PM) ; BUNDESLIGA: Dortmund vs Bremen (9:30 AM), Bayer Leverkusen vs RB Leipzig (12:30 PM) ; MLS: 13(!!!) Game slate! ; Serie A: Lazio vs Milan (2:45 PM), Napoli vs Parma (2:45 PM) ; Ligue 1: Marseille vs Toulouse (3:00 PM)
⚾️ Royals @ Astros (2:10 PM), Tigers @ Red Sox (1:40 PM), Cardinals @ Yanks (1:35 PM), Mets @ White Sox (2:10 PM), Dodgers @ Diamondbacks (4:10 PM), Braves @ Phillies (7:00 PM on ESPN), full schedule
⛳️ Day Three of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup Championship: Check out all the action on ESPN+ and Golf Channel!
🏈 College Football - Game of the Day: (14) Clemson vs (1) Georgia (12:00 PM on ABC) / (7) Notre Dame vs (20) Texas A&M (7:30 PM on ABC) ; Notable Matchups: (8) Penn State vs West Virginia (12:00 PM on Fox), (19) Miami U vs Florida (3:30 PM on ABC), Arizona State vs Wyoming (10:30 PM on FS1), full schedule 
🎾 US Open (W): (1) Iga Swiatek vs (25) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (TBD), (5) Jasmine Paolini vs (30) Yulia Putintseva (TBD), (15) Anna Kalinskaya vs (22) Beatriz Haddad Maia (TBD), (6) Jessica Pegula vs Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, full schedule
🎾 US Open (M): (5) Daniil Medvedev vs (31) Flavio Cobolli (TBD), (1) Jannik Sinner vs Christopher O’Connell (TBD), (10) Alex Di Minaur vs Daniel Evans, (14) Tommy Paul vs Gabriel Diallo (TBD)

🎙️Song OTD🎙️ 

UCLA

RL Grime

Talk about a time and place song, when I hear this jam I get sent back to 2019. It’s like a time portal.

🗣️ Quote OTD🗣️ 

“It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.”

Epicurus

Your friends will tell you everything you need to know about your life. Shoutout to our guys reading this!

❗️Glue Guy OTD❗️ 

2 Dollar Bill

Currency

Some say it’s good luck, some say it’s a waste of wallet space, I say it’s the GLUE of the American currency system. Talk about the joy you get finding a $2 bill, it’s relatively worthless but always puts a big smile on your face.

Trivia Answer:

B. University of Michigan! Played in 1902 and initially called the “Tournament East-West football game”, was played on new years day. Michigan faced off against Stanford and dominated, winning by a final score of 49-0. But wait there’s more, Stanford conceded the game in the THIRD quarter. Sheesh.

Let us know what you thought of today’s newsletter…