The Witching Hour

First NFL Sunday, US Open Final, Mets Continue to Roll, and more on the Jordan Love Injury

Author

Stomping Ground Sports
September 08, 2024

The WITCHING HOUR! We’ve finally made it to the first Sunday of the NFL Season, check your fantasy lineups, get your streaming sites ready, and enjoy! Big day today as not only do we have a jam-packed NFL slate, but we also have the US Open Final between Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz. The American Fritz is a heavy underdog but anything can happen in a Grand Slam Final!

Stump Story of the Day

🏈 A Historic Day in South Bend

A Historic Day in South Bend

Why would I be bothered to talk about what Notre Dame didn’t do when I could talk about what NIU did do! I think the latter is much more interesting than the former.

As long as Northern Illinois University exists, yesterday will be celebrated. A 28-point underdog, the Huskies took the trip to South Bend with already a pretty sweet deal. The Irish paid NIU over a million dollars to come play them!

There wasn’t much offense going around in this ball game, but mustering 16 points was all NIU needed to go out on top.

A very emotional Thomas Hammock, the head coach of NIU, was arguably the biggest winner of the day. Not only did he secure his university its day in college football history, but he also helped fund the next year in athletics, and the former start NIU running back turned head ball coach plants himself as an everlasting legend in Dekalb, Illinois.

A city of only about 40,000 humans, less than half of the capacity of Notre Dame Stadium, will get to welcome home their heroes and really soak in this win. The Huskies have an extremely convenient bye week upcoming before they take on Buffalo.

Moments like these make you remember how beautiful college sports are. In a college football era where it seems like the gap between the top of division one and the bottom is getting bigger and bigger due to NIL, games like these can still happen.

A team with a massive NIL fund and with a good portion of their players probably making more than NIUs head ball coach can still lose to the little guys. It’s almost even more romantic now than it was before. Now, it truly is David vs Goliath.

Passion, fight, grit, and desire. They all still matter in this game. It isn’t just about how deep your pockets are, it’s about how big your heart is.

Today’s Trivia🧠

🏈 Which NFL team has the most Week 1 victories in league history?

  • A. Green Bay Packers

  • B. Washington

  • C. Pittsburgh Steelers

  • D. Detroit Lions

  • E. Chicago Bears

(answer at the bottom of the Stump!)

On This Day…

In 1968, American Tennis legend Arthur Ashe won the first Open-era US title when he defeated the Dutchman, Tom Okker.

Today, American Taylor Fritz tries to keep the title in the US in the stadium named after the legend himself, Arthur Ashe. Full circle moment.

You HAVE to see this…

🏈🔉 Nothing Like A Local Radio Station! Worth 33 seconds of your time!

Talking Points

🏈 TVs, Laptops, Phones, and iPads! Get them all!

“7 Hours of Commercial Free Football…Start Now!”

I mean that’s one of the greatest football quotes there is. RedZone is being offered for free for Week 1 of the NFL Season so make sure to take advantage of that today. Get RedZone going on one device, maybe your local TV game on another.

Smack dab in the middle of the 1:00 PM slate we’ve got the US Open Final between Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz! I mean we gotta see if an American can bring it home right?! Need a device for that.

Wait the Yankees, Red Sox, and RED HOT METS all play between 1 and 2:30? And the Indiana Fever play at 4:00??? Oh boy.

Get your screens ready and good luck. It’s going to be a war today!

🏀 Angel Reese out for the remainder of season

Angel Reese took to social media to announce that a wrist injury will sideline her for the remainder of the WNBA season. The rookie had a great year, that was filled with rebounds, records, and an all-star game.

She shattered the rookie record for rebounds and put the league on notice. The Chicago Sky are currently battling for the eighth and final playoff spot.

🏈 Jordan Love avoids Season-Ending Injury!

Friday night’s showdown between the Eagles and Packers ended on a sour note. A great, high-scoring affair ended with Jordan Love down on the turf and needing to be helped off the field. The 25-year-old franchise QB suffered an MCL sprain and looks like he will be missing 3-4 weeks. This comes now in the first season of his record-breaking $220 million contract

Of course, this is not ideal for Green Bay, but for a team that has very high aspirations this season, this is good news. From the way he went down, it looked like it could be very serious.

The Packers will now turn to Malik Willis for the first month of the season.

Quick Hitters

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

What’s On TV Today

*All times are ET*

🏈NFL: Week 1 SUNDAY is HERE!! Here’s the full slate: Cardinals @ Bills (1:00 PM ET), Steelers @ Falcons (1:00 PM ET), Vikings @ Giants (1:00 PM ET), Jaguars @ Dolphins (1:00 PM ET), Pats @ Bengals (1:00 PM ET), Texans @ Colts (1:00 PM ET), Titans @ Bears (1:00 PM ET), Panthers @ Saints (1:00 PM ET), Raiders @ Chargers (4:05 PM ET), Broncos @ Seahawks (4:05 PM ET), Commanders @ Bucs (4:25 PM ET), Cowboys @ Browns (4:25 PM ET), Rams @ Lions (8:20 PM ET)
🏀 WNBA: Lynx @ Mystics (3:00 PM ET), Dream @ Fever (4:00 PM ET), Aces @ Liberty (4:00 PM ET)
⚾️ MLB: Nationals @ Pirates (1:35 PM ET), Yankees @ Cubs (2:20 PM ET), Reds @ Mets (1:40 PM ET), White Sox @ Red Sox (1:35 PM ET), Blue Jays @ Braves (1:35 PM ET), Guardians @ Dodgers (4:10 PM) full schedule
🎾 US Open Final (M): (1) Jannik Sinner vs (12) Taylor Fritz, 2:00 PM on ABC
 ⚽️ Soccer Friendlies: Bhutan vs Bangladesh (8:00 AM ET) just in case you need some early morning action!

🎙️Song OTD🎙️ 

Sweet Victory

Bob Kulick and Spongebob Squarepants

Every time I see a major upset in sports I think of this song for some reason. An absolute BANGER from the mouth of the one and only Spongebob.

🗣️ Quote OTD🗣️ 

“All these guys have been with our program, lived through the ups and downs, and have continued to fight. It’s like they’re my kids, I just couldn’t be more proud”

Thomas Hammock

NIU Head Ball Coach with an EPIC quote about his program and what HIS guys mean to him.

❗️Glue Guy OTD❗️ 

MAC

NCAA Conference

In a world where all we can talk about is these big ticket conferences who pay the big bucks, let’s not forget about a guy like the MAC. These guys just win ball games. Epic spoilers.

Trivia Answer:

A. Green Bay Packers! The Packers have won 51 total opening week games, for a total record of 51-29-2! The second most is the Steelers and Lions tied with 46 each!

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