Good Morning, Stumpers!

In a world without the tush push, do the Eagles still win the Super Bowl? Okay, I’m kidding. But seriously, think about it… all those 4th down conversions, all those touchdowns… food for thought. Either way, we may see an NFL without the Eagles patented play based on some owner’s request. We’ll cover that as well as a Cleveland legend passing away, Joel Embiid’s lingering knee problem and what it means for Philly in today’s edition of The Daily Stump!

Today’s Rundown

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

• 🤔 Bye-bye tush push?

• 🏀 The Joel Embiid left knee catastrophe

• 🙏 Cleveland legend passes away

• 🏆️ Ali on top for the first time On This Day…

On This Day

On This Day…

🥊 Ali is a Champion for First Time

You know Muhammad Ali as one of the best fighters of all time but before this day in 1964, he hadn’t won anything yet At that point in time, he was still known as Cassius Clay.

On this day in 1964, Muhammad Ali officially etched his name into the history books of professional heavyweight boxing when he defeated Sonny Liston to secure his first title. The fight took place at the Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, and Ali won Liston was unable to come out of his corner to start the 7th round

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: (C) Chicago White Sox. For those of you who didn’t watch any Chi Town Sox ball last year, you only missed a pretty abysmal crap shoot of a season. The White Sox finished with 41 wins on the season, by far the worst of any team in the MLB.

Before We Dive In…

👀 Here’s Yesterday’s MUST-See’s

• 🧊 SAHITH. THEEGALA. VEINS ARE ICEY

• 💪 Toddler dominates the Baby Crawl Race in New Orleans

• 🔥 The Detroit Pistons are RED HOT

• 📈 Ausar Thompsons athleticism is OFF THE CHARTS

The Hot Stove

NFL

🏈 To Ban or Not to Ban: Tush Push

What to know: For years now the Philadelphia Eagles’ “tush push” play has gone unstoppable and unable to replicate. Other teams try to stop it, try to put it in their playbook, but fail to execute the play at the level of the Eagles. Now, it seems that a “unnamed NFL franchise” has proposed a vote to potentially ban the play. If you can’t beat it, ban it?

Turns out the Packers proposed the vote, but I’m not going to call them out because I’m sure they aren’t alone. There are two schools of thought here, I suppose. The one being in favor of banning: teams saying it’s dangerous, hard to practice for player safety reasons, and unfair in the game because players are trying not to get hurt. That side I get of it. If player safety is really at top of mind, then I suppose it may be the right move to ban it.

The other school of thought is stop whining because you can’t figure out how to do it like the Eagles or stop it. Which seems to be the more popular one among NFL lifers and former players.

Here’s where I stand: stop hiding behind the "player safety” card. If this proposal was TRULY about player safety, it would’ve been brought up after the Eagles first implemented it. Now, multiple years later, after EVERY team in the NFL unsuccessfully tried to replicate it, all of a sudden it’s a player safety issues.

What a joke. I agree there’s a bit of a player safety issue here, but nobody would be complaining if they knew how to do it so well, too. Player safety is no joke, but if you really cared about it, you wouldn’t have asked your players to do it too.

Do I think it should be banned? Maybe. Show me data that it’s more dangerous that any other play and I’m in. But don’t try to convince me NFL owners care so much about player safety that they need to ban this ONE specific play. Figure out how to do it or stop it.

This is me, stepping off of my soapbox.

MLB

⚾️ Guardians Owner, Lawrence Dolan, Passes at 94

What to know: Lawrence J. Dolan, owner of Cleveland’s major league baseball team since 2000, has passed at the age of 94.

Dolan was not only the owner of the Cleveland franchise since 2000, but also a native of Cleveland, he purchased the team from Richard Jacobs for $320 million. The Dolan family has a 75% stake in the club and is the longest tenured owner in Cleveland franchise history.

His son Paul Dolan has been the team’s primary control person since 2013. His nephew, James Dolan, owns the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, and Madison Square Garden.

Lawrence made his wealth as an attorney following time in the US Military as a First Lieutenant, but always was a sports fan at heart. Dolan tried to purchase the Cincinnati Reds AND Cleveland Browns in the 1970s, as his dream job was always to be owner of a professional sports franchise. It wasn’t until his purchase of the Cleveland Indians that it came true.

Dolan was known as being extremely involved with his players and coaching staff, standing on the field during spring training and watching practice, taking his staff out for dinner, and rooting on his hometown team from the owners box. He never meddled, but always supported. He was truly a great owner and man.

In 2019, he and the rest of his family were recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Greater Cleveland Sports Award for their dedication to advancing sports in the Cleveland community.

NBA

🏀 The Joel Embiid Knee Problem

What to know: In a world where Joel Embiid doesn’t have knee injuries, he may be one of the greatest basketball players to ever step on the court. Unfortunately for him and basketball fans everywhere, his knee problems haven’t improved.

Injuries like this are not uncommon for men of his size and stature, think Greg Oden, but Joel is giving it his all to get back on the court in a full capacity. He has been openly frustrated with the process, as he continues to search for options that may improve him longevity and get back to playing at the level we know he’s capable of.

The team announced yesterday that Embiid and the franchise are seeking options and opinions on what the next steps may be. He went through testing throughout the day yesterday and missed last nights home blowout. 76ers head coach Nick Nurse was adamant that this is not the end of Embiid season, but things don’t look good.

Embiid missed time to start the season, then played off and on for a couple months, before missing multiple weeks with a foot injury and to nurse his sore left knee. Now, his timetable to return to action is unknown.

As the 76ers, what do you do? It’s obvious he is an absolute star when he’s on the court, but that’s not very often. He’s only played in 19 of 57 contests, and the trio of Embiid, Maxey, and Paul George have only played in 15 games together. Woof. Embiid is under contract until the 2028-2029 season, but there’s no guarantee that he can play that long.

I can’t give any predictions about what will happen because there’s so many unknowns, but it’s obvious the 76ers need Embiid to play to be successful.

Quick Hitters

• 👎️ Top defensive prospect won’t work out at NFL Combine

• 😴 Brutally low score in Michigan vs Nebraska

• 🔥 Texas women bball top AP Poll for 1st time in 21 years

• 👀 “Full Swing” gives behind the scenes look at Scottie’s arrest

What We’re Watching

🏀 We’ve got an 7-game slate with a TNT double header!

• TNT Double-Header: Cavs @ Magic (7:30 PM), Mavs @ Lakers (10:00 PM)

• More to Watch: Bucks @ Rockets (8:00 PM), Suns @ Grizzlies (8:00 PM)

🏒 Massive NHL night to tame your hockey needs:

• Maple Leafs @ Bruins (7:00 PM), Flames @ Capitals (7:00 PM), Stars @ Blue Jackets, Oilers @ Lightning (7:30 PM), Red Wings @ Wild (8:00 PM)

⚾️ SPRING BASEBALL! Yup. It’s here.

• Red Sox @ Braves (1:05 PM on MLB.com), Mets @ Astros (1:05 PM), Yanks @ Twins (1:05 PM), full schedule

🏀 College Basketball ranked action:

• Men’s: (2) Florida @ Georgia (7:00 PM on SECN), (3) Duke @ Miami (7:00 PM on ESPN), Providence @ (16) Marquette (7:00 PM on FS1), (21) Mississippi State @ (4) Alabama (9:00 PM on ESPN), (6) Tennessee @ LSU (9:00 PM on SECN)

• Women’s: No ranked teams in action!

⚽️ International Futbol!

• Spanish Copa del Ray: Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid (3:30 PM on ESPN+)

• English Premier League: Brighton vs Bournemouth (2:30 PM), Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa (2:30 PM on USA), Chelsea vs Southampton (3:15 PM)

• Concacaf Champions League: Inter Miami vs Sporting KC (8:00 PM), LAFC vs Colorado (10:00 PM)

• Coppa Italia: Inter vs Lazio (3:00 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 🌴