Good Morning, Stumpers!

Welcome welcome to a Thursday edition of The Daily Stump. Today, we’ve got Champions League, the FBI using selfies to crack down on burglaries, and some Streetball schematics between the North and South. On top of that make sure you scroll to our Quote, Song, and Glue Guy of the day for some extra juice. Let’s Roll!

Today’s Rundown

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

• ⚽️ The Final 16 are set for the Champions League

• 🏀 We go over some basic streetball rules

• 👮 The FBI, Athletes, and Selfies!

• 🎼 Everybody stay calm but we’ve got a new Caamp Song!

On This Day

On This Day…

🥊 Pickpocket Ringside!

Ever worried about pickpockets? Well, Sot Chitalada should’ve been MORE worried about them.

On this day in 1985, WBC flyweight champion Sot Chitalada successfully defended his title in a bout and received his $104,000 check upon the conclusion of the fight. But not long after, a ringside pickpocket STOLE his check from him and went out of the building before anyone could notice.

The check was, of course, cancelled. But man, what a tough feeling Chitalada must’ve had for awhile there.

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: (B) 3 degrees! That’s right. Tuesday night in Denver was the COLDEST GAME in MLS history! The Colorado Rapids defeated LAFC 2-1, but there was icicles growing on the players beards. We loved seeing the fans all bundled up with cold ones in their hands, though!

Before We Dive In…

👀 Here’s Yesterday’s MUST-See’s

• 🏀 LBJ! OH MY GOODNESS!

• 🏈 $15! What do you got! Making airwaves all over right now!

• 🏀 Still can’t get over this duo dishing it to each other!

The Hot Stove

Champions League

⚽️ The Final 16 is Set

What to know: Who’s in, and who’s out? After the inaugural knockout round finished up yesterday, we have some big name clubs heading home early. To start, let’s talk about some of yesterday’s matches.

Paris Saint-Germain put an absolute BEATDOWN on fellow French club Brest, the final score was 7-0. Brest kept pace early, but in the 20th minute, Bradley Barcola broke through, and PSG never looked back. They send their Ligue One foe packing. Italian superpower Juventus, who entered the game up 2-1 in the aggregate, let up a late 74th-minute game that forced extra time. In the 98th minute, PSV Eindhoven put one in the back of the net to send the Italian squad home.

The most enticing of the matches came between two international super clubs, Real Madrid and Manchester City. Both squads have struggled at times this year, but the two entered this match with Real Madrid leading 3-2 in the aggregate. It was Madrid’s striker, Kylian Mbappe who stole the show on the biggest stage. He netted the first goal of the match in the fourth minute, then another in the 33rd, and another in the 61st. A hat trick on a huge stage. Ice from Mbappe.

Here are the 16 European clubs who had it into the round of 16:

— Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter, Atleti, Leverkusen, Lille, Aston Villa, B. Dortmund, Real Madrid, Bayern Munchen, PSV, PSG, Benfica, Feyenoord, Club Brugge

Here are some of the clubs who were knocked out thus far, highlighting how competitive this tourney really is:

— Monaco, Atalanta, Celtic, AC Milan, Manchester City, Juventus

The next rounds games are selected throw a drawing, which will take place Friday (tomorrow) evening. MADNESS!

FBI and Athletes’

🚔️ Selfies Help Cops Find Gang Targeting Athletes’ Homes

What to know: It feels like every couple days recently we’ve been hearing about another athlete’s house getting broken into. Well, the FBI has apparently cracked down and arrested seven members of the gang affiliated with the robberies. Here’s quick summary of everything I got from a LENGTHY ESPN article found here.

— The seven arrested are part of a Chilean gang that travels throughout the United States targeting professional athletes and celebrity personalities, tracking their schedules and finding the perfect time to strike. The FBI believes those arrested are just the tip of the iceberg.

— The burglars would bounce from city to city and rent cars with fake IDs. They’d ditch the cars and burner phones they used to communicate when needed. They track athletes schedules to know when they’re away, and then hide in the woods near homes to monitor the patterns of securing guards. To enter the home, they’d use tools to pry open sliding doors or break small windows to climb through.

— They would then go into the home and steal watches, designer bags, gold chains, basically anything they could move quickly via “fences”, or buyers, far from where their victims lived.

— BUT HERE’S WHERE THEY WENT WRONG: the idiots took selfies wearing all of the watches and jewelry they stole. They’d even take pictures of themselves laying on the bed with all of their loot next to a crowbar. Next, they’d upload the picture to a shared iCloud account so all of their buddies and buyers could see. The FBI used a search warrant to track the images and the men, eventually finding them.

So, basically, here’s what I got from all of this: stupid is as stupid does. You mess with the bull you get the horns. In all seriousness though, it’s a shame that athletes have to worry about these kinds of people coming and trying to steal the things these professional athletes have worked so hard for. Hopefully the FBI continues down this rabbit hole.

Streetball

🏀 Miami vs NYC Streetball

What to know: A little bit of an unconventional piece to round out the trifecta today, but it’s something I was thinking about today and thought if not in the stump, then where else.

Rules are rules, right? If we’re playing baseball, it doesn’t matter what city, state, or country we are in, there’s not much variation in the rules. If we’re playing soccer, a goal is a goal, offsides is offsides, it’s not rocket science.

For all my basketball fans out there, I’ll tell you what I haven’t sat down to think about it, but isn’t it so wild how many different variations of rules there are? Game to 11, or 15, or 21. 2s and 3s or 1s and 2s (always 1s and 2s). Take back everything or put up airballs (always take back everything). I mean the list goes on and on.

Something occurred today that absolutely baffled me, and I just had to get it off my chest. Made a trip down south and am in Miami, and it’s a different pick-up basketball culture down here. Everything was going fine until someone drove to the basket and called “and-one”! (Emphatically as you usually would do). He missed the shot and then everybody stopped. They then waited for the ball to be checked to them.

The guy didn’t call foul, he called and-one. Any sane person in a pick-up game knows that those are two different calls. If you call foul, great, no basket, and you get the ball back. If you call and-one it’s more of just a statement call saying ‘look you fouled me and I’m still gonna score.’ If you don’t score, nothing happens; the play keeps moving along.

When I tell you I was shocked to see that call…I was shocked.

But this got me thinking even more: how is it possible that there are so many different rules and variations the way I laid out in the beginning? There’s no other sport like it, I don’t think there’s anything like it. And then when you get the player refs who can’t make a call to save their life it gets even worse.

Anyway, just wanted to get that off my chest. Thank for being part of my Thursday Soap Box, let me know if I’m the crazy one or if that rule is crazy!

Quick Hitters

• 🏈 A change to playoff seeding may be coming!

• 🏒 Quinn Hughes will no longer join USA

• 🏀 Javonte Green on the move

• ⚽️ Messi helps lead Miami to victory

What We’re Watching

🏀 Welcome back to a FULL NBA slate!

• TNT Double Header: Celtics @ 76ers (7:00 PM), Suns @ Spurs (9:30 PM)

• More to Watch: Grizz @ Pacers (7:00 PM), Cavs @ Nets (7:30 PM), Clippers @ Bucks (8:00 PM)

🏒 4. NATIONS. FINALS. BORDER WAR!

• If you can’t tell, I’m excited. USA vs Canada. 8:00 PM. Live on ESPN.

🏀 College Basketball ranked action:

• Men’s: USC @ (20) Maryland (8:30 PM on FS1)

• Women’s: (18) Alabama @ (15) Tennessee (6:30 PM), (1) Notre Dame @ Miami (7:00 PM), (8) Ohio State @ Indiana (7:00 PM on Peacock), Louisville @ (11) Duke (7:00 PM on ESPN2), (20) GA Tech vs (13) NC State (7:00 PM), Vandy @ (16) Oklahoma (7:00 PM), (25) Illinois @ (3) UCLA (9:30 PM on BTN)

⚽️ International Futbol!

• Europa League: Roma vs Porto (12:45 PM)

• SheBelieves Cup: Japan vs Australia (5:00 PM), USA vs Colombia (8:00 PM on TBS)

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 🌴