Friday Junior! A GREAT edition of the newsletter today, we’ll touch on the Champions League, some MLB Baseball, and even the most BADASS Australian Football player you’ve ever heard of in your life. Let’s get after today!

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Today’s Trivia🧠

⚽️Which city hosted the first-ever UEFA Champions League final?

• A. Stuttgart

• B. Madrid

• C. Paris

• D. Milan

• E. London

(answer at the bottom of the Stump!)

On This Day…

🏃‍♀️Inaugural women’s race at the New York City Marathon is won by Beth Bonner with a time of 2:55:22. Beth was only 19 years old when she won the race, still the youngest woman to ever win the New York City Marathon.

Today, just under half of all NYC Marathon participants are women every year. Crazy to think that just over 50 years ago a woman couldn't compete in the race.

What’s Worth Your Time

⚽️Champions League Day Two

Another day, another BIG slate of Champions League action. We had some really good soccer out there, some close matchups, some blowouts, and more!

The Blowouts: Sparta Prague took care of RB Salzburg, 3-0, live from Czechia! Prague put one in the bin at the minute mark and never looked back. Celtic hammered Bratislava in a 5-1 match in Scotland. All five were scored by different dudes, that’s pretty sick. The last blowout came in the form of Dortmund taking care of Brugge in Belgium, 3-0. Two goals scored by Jamie Gittens.

The Draws: Bologna and Shakhtar Donetsk drew in a scoreless slate after a pretty lackluster game in Italy. In a huge match between Manchester City and Inter, we were left with no goals in a scoreless draw from Manchester, England. Some really talented teams left scoreless.

The Winner: PSG scored a HUGE late winner at home over Girona when PSG was able to score on an own goal by Girona. Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzangia let a Nuno Mendes cross slip through his legs and creep into the net, the rest is history, PSG winner!

💣️The FINAL Woj Bomb

Whether you knew Woj as a reporter or didn’t know him at all, the WOJ Bomb was an all-time classic in the sports world.

For those of you who are unaware, Adrian “Woj" Wojnarowski was an ESPN senior NBA insider and was known for his ‘Woj Bomb'. He would drop the BIGGEST and CRAZIEST NBA news. Whether it’s trades, free agent signings, coaching changes, WHATEVER. This dude was the Schefter of the NBA.

Fortunately for the basketball community, Woj won’t be going too far. Woj accepted the General Manager role for his alma mater, St. Bonaventure. Woj went from reporting on general managers to becoming a general manager, so let’s see what the man can do! Go Bonnies!

⚾️ The Brewers, Just Winners

All this team does is win NL Central titles recently. They’ve taken the title three out of the last four years and become the first major league team to clinch a divisional title this season.

With one out to go in the ninth inning in Chicago, and about two hours before the Brewers first pitch, the Brewers squad left the field and headed into their locker room. When the A’s defeated the Cubs, 5-3, the party was on for the Brewers.

The Brewers won the division in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 42 years. This marks the Brewers’ sixth postseason berth in the past seven years. From 1983 to 2017, the franchise only made the playoffs twice. Sheesh.

This team was different than most, they were gritty. They lost their manager and NL Cy Young winning pitcher in the offseason. Their all-star starter Brandon Woodruff didn’t pitch all year and two-time NL reliever of the year Devin Williams missed half the year. All-star outfielder Christian Yelich, pitchers Wade Miley and Robert Gasser, all suffered season-ending injuries.

But who cares? Not the Brewers. They just find ways to win.

🏈16 Players Become Eligible for Hall of Fame

It’s NFL Hall of Fame nominee time, 167 modern-era candidates were announced for the class including 16 first-time nominees. Let’s break down the guys who are new and who are still hoping to get in!

Here are the 16 new guys: Eli Manning, Luke Kuechly, Terrell Suggs, Adam Vinatieri, Marshal Yanda, Travis Frederick, Ryan Kalil, Joe Staley, Marshawn Lynch, Darren Sproles, Demaryius Thomas, Vernon Davis, Delanie Walker, Antoine Bethea, Aqib Talib, Earl Thomas.

Here’s the 10 players that were finalist a year ago and are back under consideration: Antonio Gates, Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne, Willie Anderson, Jahri Evans, Darren Woodson, Eric Allen, Rodney Harrison, Jaren Allen, and Fred Taylor.

You gotta think it’ll be some combination of the new 16 and the previous year finalists. My take is Kuechly, Vinatieri, Gates, Holt, Wayne, Anderson, and Woodson. Those are my guys and I’m sticking to it!

🏉50 Staples in Head, Practice Next Week

Whether you’re familiar with Australian Football or not, it doesn’t take a sports expert to know that 50 staples in your head is a pretty gruesome injury. So gruesome… but the guy returned to practice the next week!

When it comes to Gary Rohan, the guy doesn’t have a very low pain tolerance. Rohan fractured his skull while playing in a game the previous week, and when he returned to practice the next week, you could see the staples in his head.

His head had been shaved from ear to ear and there was obvious scars going the whole way. There were dozens of staples tracking across his head, it was pretty gross. But damn this dude is DIFFERENT. This dude could probably do whatever he wants and he wouldn’t feel pain.

BAD. ASS.

Yesterday, but the Good Stuff❗️❗️ 

⚾️First MLB HOMER!

⛳️This albatross celly is hilarious! Tony Bellew FIRED up!

⚾️Guardians score three late and WALK. IT. OFF.

⚽️The OWN GOAL that cost Girona vs PSG

⛳️Rory had no idea who Tom Holland was

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

Today’s Slate

*All times are ET*

🏈 Thursday Night Football: Patriots @ Jets (8:15 PM on PRIME)

⚾️ Giants @ Orioles (1:05 PM), Red Sox @ Rays (6:50 PM ET), Phillies @ Mets (7:15 PM on FOX), Yankees @ Mariners (4:10 PM ET), full schedule

⚽️ Champions League: Rotterdam vs Leverkusen (12:45 PM), Belgrade vs Benfica (12:45 PM), Monaco vs Barcelona (3:00 PM), Atalanta vs Arsenal (3:00 PM), Atletico vs Leipzig (3:00 PM), Brest vs Sturm Graz (3:00 PM)

Trivia Answer:

C. Paris! The first final featured Real Madrid and Stade de Reims-Champagne. The stadium was Parc des Princes and Real Madrid took home the title.

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