☒1. Wouldn't ya wanna draft Victor Wembanyama? Scoot Henderson and Victor Wembanyama go at it in the most electric hoops exhibition game since... last week. 2. American soccer teams might get a shot at playing some of Europes best teams3. Generational excellence - Albert Pujols chasing 700 career home-runs, would make him only the 4th player in history to do so.4. The MLS plans aggressive expansion5. John Wall. That's all.6. Things are getting spicy in the world of chessThose are our favorite sports stories from the past two weeks - subscribe for the most interesting links from the world of sports, curated for your inbox.

Welp, it happened everyone. My beloved Wake Forest Demon Deacons dropped their first game of the College Baseball World Series last night in a heartbreaker, where they stranded something like 8 RISP ( a number that I won't look up because it would hurt me physically to do so.) They are currently 7-1 since the CBWS has started - the rules are genuinely confusing on first read but the cliff notes version of CBWS is that you can't lose 2 in a row in the early / middle-rounds and stay in. The silver lining is that as a result of this loss the same two teams will play again tonight at 7pm EST. We'll get to watch two of the best pitchers in the country - and projected top 10 picks in the next MLB draft - go toe-to-toe. LSU flamethrower Paul Skenes, a Paul Bunyan-esque figure and Air Force transfer who threw a college baseball record 46 pitches over 100mph in his last start and Rhett "Hair Don't Care" Lowder, one of two pitchers ever to take home ACC pitcher of the year in back to back seasons and accomplished artist (or so commentators have told me many times, we don't yet have a "stats guy" on staff.)Both teams also sport many of the best hitters in the country. Dylan Crews, will go top 2 in the MLB draft and has reached base safely in every game this year. That's a real statistic. That's some insane Dimaggio stuff. Brock Williken, Nicky Nukes Kurtz and Justin Johnson comprise the top OPS in the 3-4-5 lineup spots in the country. These are the only two teams that have been ranked number one all year. This is a clash of college baseball titans.If you love sports, if you love competition, if you love excellence, if you're just looking for something to do with your Thursday night, if you just hit the wrong thing when setting up your "Stumble Upon" preferences - what a Google Chrome extension that is - no matter which of those buckets you find yourself in, get ready for an unforgettable matchup between two wonderful teams on College Baseball's biggest stage on ESPN this evening.While I wish my Deacs had won last night and avoided the potential cardiac event that every pitch may induce tonight, I also feel lucky to have been around for the CBWS ride.

Welcome to the first issue of Campfire - where every week the Firewood team will be sharing curated links to the most interesting stories from all over the world of sports. We love sports, human growth + development and competition at Firewood - it's a big part of why we do what we do.We're excited to share slices of the joy that sport brings us, with you.1. The US Women National team signed a landmark CBA contract2. Francis Tiafoe set the tennis world on fire at the US Open3. Jerry Seinfeld is not a fan of - Timmy Trumpet - the most electric bullpen walkout in MLB since Mariano Rivera4. Goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma ran across pitch to help save fan's life during Barcelona's match with Cadiz5. Chad Powers ☒"Think fast, run fast."

Messi has done what superstars are wan to do and has decided to take his talents to South Beach. Inter Miami is signing 5-7 more players to accompany him depending on who you talk to. Inter Miami has subsequently sold out almost all of their home and away games post-Messi deal announcement - immediately putting money into the pockets of MLS owners. MLS franchise valuations were already climbing like crazy... now they've added the world's most dynamic player - and seem headed to the stratosphere. The Messi deal is fascinating for a number of reasons: 1) For one, unlike the PGA (LIV and let live) and Cristiano Reynaldo, he spurned an estimated $500m from Saudi Arabia (he will keep that $25m for a few insta posts though, thank you very much.)2) the rumor is that he has a profit sharing % of Apple and the MLS's 2.5B deal and a path to MLS ownership3) he just recorded 20 goals and 20 assists and in tournament play is still a top 5 player in the world... and he has just tied himself to American soccer for the long haul. Who knows who will follow.Messi debut tickets are going for more than the Taylor Swift eras tour.July 21 can't come soon enough.

The MLB rumor mill is abuzz with the idea that real-life tall tale and all around baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani may be moved to closer - in an effort for his future club to preserve his arm while still getting value out of his prodigious pitching ability.The downside tied to this rumor is - it means that this 2nd UCL tear potentially means the end of Shohei as starting pitcher. The upside is - should Shohei relocate to a good team or should the Angels finally put the pieces together around him, we would have the opportunity to see something truly unprecedented. Imagine if Mariano Rivera closed out a division race, while clubbing 50 bombs down the stretch. Or if Juan Soto hit a go-ahead home run and then came out and shut the door in the 9th inning of a playoff game. Those scenarios are realistically all very much real and in play for Shohei. A while back, Shohei Ohtani ceased doing a Babe Ruth impression and started doing something entirely his own - a baseball singularity too ridiculous to fathom. While we can mourn losing Shohei as a SP - the silver lining is that every Ohtani involved MLB playoff game could have the electricity of the last AB of the World Baseball Classic.We should be so lucky.☒