Good Morning, Stumpers!

Ah man, today’s Glue Guy of the Day really hits home. Hulk Hogan, a generational celebrity and athlete, passed away yesterday. Check out our section on him, along with what’s going on in the weird world of the NFL, and even some Labor Law (and beer?). I’m really excited about today’s edition, so LET’S GET STUMPIN!

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The Rundown

🙏 The GOAT of Pro Wrestling

🏈 The NFL is back… and yesterday was weird

🍻 No vendors in Fenway Park?

🎵 We’ve got a KONVICT for today’s song of the day

On This Day

💨 Rounding Bases into Record Book

You ever heard of Roberto Clemente? If you haven’t, that’s okay. Not only is he one of the best players in the history of baseball, and the greatest Pittsburgh Pirate of all time, he also holds this pretty neat record.

On this day in 1956, Pittsburgh Pirate legend Roberto Clemente hit the first and only walk-off inside-the-park grand slam for a 9-8 win over the Chicago Cubs. An absolutely epic way to end a ball game, I think the MLB world would go bananas if this happened today.

Today’s Trivia

Glue Guy of the Day

💪 The GOAT of Pro Wrestling

It’s with a heavy heart I write this little article about Hulk Hogan. The legendary pro wrestler and celebrity personality passed away at the age of 71 yesterday. When you talk about pro wrestling, the first name to come out of your mouth has to be the Hulkster.

Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, Hulk Hogan. All of these names are synonymous with the best to ever do it in their respective sport. Hogan, who rose to fame in the early 1980’s, brought pro wrestling into the mainstream. Hulkamania brought WWF (now WWE) into the the global conversation.

Hogan was the star of the first WrestleMania in 1985, drawing over 1 million viewers on closed-circuit television. He was in the main event of seven of the first eight WrestleMania’s. But what was really interesting about Hulk Hogan was his off the mat personality.

Hogan was the first big time athlete to take his fame to the next level with promotions and celebrity appearances. He brought forth a new age of athletes becoming celebrities and in general pop culture, appearing in television shows, in commercials, movies, action figures, Hulkamania gear, whatever people could get their hands on. He changed the future of not just wrestling, but sports in general.

He was extremely popular at his peak, and even took that fame into the final days of his life. Hulk has been sick in recent years, and dealt with bad back injuries from his time as a wrestler. Thanks to Hulk Hogan, the WWE is still quite popular these days. RIP to a legend of the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and more.

The BIG Moments

🏈 Weird Day in the NFL

The Stump Short Story: I gotta go bullet points here, I just have to. Too much to cover.

• Raiders Release DT Wilkins: The Las Vegas Raiders informed defensive tackle Christian Wilkins that he has been released. The team voided the remaining $35.2M of guaranteed money left on his contract after Wilkins treated rehab poorly of his injured foot. Wilkins, one of the best at his position when healthy, is now a free agent, but his status for an on-field return is in question.

• Welcome to the Rodgers Rollercoaster: News broke that new Pittsburgh Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers threw an interception on his first live pass of training camp. Rodgers joked that it was good to get it out of the way, but this just feels like a bad omen.

• Russ Named QB1 for Big Blue: Let’s get Dangeruss! The Giants named everyone’s favorite QB Russel Wilson their starter. On the flip of that, rookie QB Jaxson Dart threw a pick six in his first live pass of camp. So there’s that. Let’s go… Giants?

• Fields Avoids Major Injury: The alarm bells were ringing for the other New York team when Justin Fields was carted off the field in his first real practice with the Jets. Luckily for him and all of that section of New York, it looks like he’s just day-to-day with a dislocated toe. Phew.

Why it Matters: Because football is crazy, duh. Wilkins gone? Yeesh. Rodgers with the pick? Classic. Fields carted off? Almost brutal. DangeRUSS? Fire me up!

Read More: ESPN’s NFL Page, Lot’s to Dive Into

❌ It’s a Strike!

The Stump Short Story: This may be one of the more unique stories in all of sports. The Boston Red Sox may be without food and drink vendors this upcoming homestand, as the company that represents the workers are threatening a worker strike. Aramark, the company negotiating with the Red Sox on behalf of the workers, said that if they don’t get a new labor deal done by this afternoon then there won’t be any vendors for this weekends games against the Dodgers. The company is fighting for higher wages and automation replacing jobs of their workers.

Why it Matters: No vendors? No beers and food. The workers are asking fans to support them by not buying food and beverage in Fenway Park this weekend. That is, if the deal doesn’t get done in time. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like this in sports. We’ve officially crossed into the world of labor law on this newsletter. We’ll track this story and see if Fenway fans are going beerless this weekend.

Read More: Fenway Park workers union says strike is imminent, asks Boston Red Sox Fans not to buy food or drinks (CBS News)

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🔗 Quick Links

❤️ Bill Self hospitalized and has heart procedure, healing just fine

😆 ESPN ranked the best college football mascots, now this is the content I like to see

💸 Trump issues executive order seeking to clarify NCAA athletes’ employment status (more labor law, yay!)

What To Watch

⚾️ A big weekend in the world of the MLB… there’s some huge matchups all over baseball, let’s highlight them:

• Dodgers @ Red Sox

• Phillies @ Yankees

• Blue Jays @ Tigers

• Mets @ Giants

🏌️ Day Two of the 3M Open gets going outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota today at the Twin Cities Country Club. Here’s the leaderboard

⚽️ After this weeks MLS All-Star events, the league is back in a big way today and tomorrow. We have 15 games over the next 48 hours, here’s the full schedule

Of! The! Day’s!

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