Good Morning, Stumpers!

Not often do you see a 23-0 team fall! Yesterday, we saw that courtesy of the USC Trojans! A great game worth watching the highlights! On top of that, we had some 4 Nations Hockey, Day 1 of the Genesis Invitational, and what looked to be the official break-up of Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets! What a stump we have today! Let’s go!

Today’s Rundown

Everything you’ll get from today’s edition, and more:

• 🏀 DOWN GOES (1) UCLA! The Juju Watkins Show!

• 🏒 USA dismantles Finland in 4 Nations!

• 🏂️ Shaun White On This Day…

• 🏈 Trouble in paradise, officially in NY! New chapter!

On This Day

On This Day…

🏂️ Shaun White Owns the Halfpipe

When you think of iconic snowboarders, where does your head go? I can say for myself, and probably most Americans, they go to Shaun White. On this day in 2018, White won an unprecedented 3rd Olympic halfpipe gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games.

His previous two came in 2006 and 2010, and made an epic comeback in 2018 to win after falling to fourth in 2014 in Sochi, Russia!

Trivia Time

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: (C) Roger Clemens! With 7 career Cy Young victories, Clemens has the most of all time! Randy Johnson, who holds the second most of all time, has 5 himself. Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Clayton Kershaw all hold 3 and have the most among active pitchers!

Before We Dive In…

👀 Here’s Yesterday’s MUST-See’s

• 🏀 73 points for this duo in LA! Wow! Not Luka and LeBron but Harden and Powell!

• 🏒 USA HOCKEY! On a tare!

• 🏀 SHAQ going off the rails on TV!!!

• 🏀 Naz Reid is an absolute animal!

The Hot Stove

Womens Hoops

🏀 (6) USC STUMPSETS UNBEATEN (1) UCLA!

What to know: It’s not new news at all the JUJU WATKINS is a star. She’s one of the best players in the sport and put the country on notice last year during her freshman campaign! Yesterday she added another big win!

You don’t want to be an unbeaten team going on the road against another great team, no matter what sport we’re talking about! But when get in the depths of college basketball and talk about how passionate some of these fanbases are, it can get spooky for any team! (1) UCLA was an UNBEATEN 23-0 heading into last night’s faceoff against (6) USC.

USC won the first quarter 24-15, but the next two frames went to UCLA. They locked down defensively, which they pride themselves on, and help the Trojans to a combined 19 points throughout the second and third quarter. Going into the fourth, the Lady Bruins were up 5! It was the the home team that went nuclear in the final 10 minutes, on both side of the ball! Not only did they win the quarter 24-8, but they held UCLA to 1/14 from the field! Absolutely insane!

USC got the STUMPEST, 71-60!

Juju Watkins was an absolute star, and maybe had one of her best games in her collegiate career. Listen to this statline…

38 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 8 blocks!

WOW!!!

Call me crazy but I think we’re going to heading towards either a Final Four or National Championship SHOWDOWN between Juju Watkins and Paige Bueckers! USC and UConn!

Only time will tell!

4 Nations Face-Off

🏒 USA dominates Finland to Kickoff 4 Nations

What to know: It was the kickoff match of the 2025 4 Nations and it was a matchup between USA and Finland! It was stars and stripes from start to finish!

This one was all about the Tkachuk brothers! Matthew and Brady Tkachuk scored 2 goals a piece en route to a 6-1 blowout victory over Finland. On top of his two goals, Matthew tallied an assist, eight total shots, and two hits which earn him first star honors in Montreal. The two were moved so they could be on a line together! That’s got to be as special as it gets, playing in an international showdown with your brother foing the sport you love.

Their teammates, as well as head coach Mike Sullivan were singing the praises of the brothers saying that it was great to be on their side instead of what they face off against in the League!]

We’ve got more action today as well so buckle up!

Premier League

💔 Jets and Rodgers Officially Break Up

What to know: On the day before Valentines Day, the Jets and their QB Aaron Rodgers officially broke up, and thinks didn’t end on pretty terms. But then again, their time together wasn’t all that pretty, either. The Jets didn’t give a reason for the decision, but that’s similar to most relationships, right?

Rogers only won six of the eighteen career starts he had in New York, and the Jets only managed to put together a 5-12 campaign this year. The Jets have been noncommittal to Rodgers since the beginning of the offseason, and news hires GM Darren Mougey and HC Aaron Glenn doubled down on that stance in their introductory conference.

But here’s where it gets interesting… the Jets probably won’t cut Rodgers until the new league year on March 12th with a June 1st designation. Why? Because it saves them a boat load of money in cap hit. It allowd them split the remaining cap charges over two years instead of one — $14 million in 2025 and $35 million in 2026. Rodgers will be free to sign elsewhere on March 13th.

The Jets are expected to sign a veteran, or trade for one. Kirk Cousins and Justin Fields are possible options to fill the gaping hole that Rodgers leaves.

Rodgers has not given a straight answer as to whether or not he’ll continue his career, so only time will tell if the veteran will partake in a 21st season or not. Either way, it won’t be with the mean green in New York.

Quick Hitters

• 🏀 Mavs Gafford is out for at least 6 weeks

• 🏈 Giants to sell limited portion of team!

• 🏀 Draymond labels Jimmy Butler as a franchise changer!

• 🏈 Last Chance U Drama

What We’re Watching

🏀 NBA All-Star Weekend gets going with the Rising Star Challenge at 9:00 PM tonight!

• How it works: 4 teams match up in two separate semi-final games, the winner is decided by the first team to reach 40 points! Each winner will play in the Championship game and the winner will be the first team to reach 25 points. Here are the rosters: link

⛳️ Day 2 of the Genesis Invitational! We’ve got all of the big names in Torrey Pines in California! Here’s a live look at the LEADERBOARD!

🏒 4 Nations Face-Off takes a day off, gets going again tomorrow!

🏀 College Basketball ranked action:

• Men’s: Nothing going today for the ranked teams, get strapped in for tomorrow!

• Women’s: Nada zippo zilch zero ranked teams going today!

⚽️ International Futbol!

• English Premier League: Brighton vs Chelsea (3:00 PM on USA)

• LALIGA: Girona vs Getafe (3:00 PM)

• Bundesliga: FC Augsburg vs RB Leipzig (2:30 PM)

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

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 juice in their life, send them this link, it would go a long way. Appreciate the hell out of you all!

Trees may get chopped. Stumps hold strong 🌴