Ann Allen

[Hazel Stewart @HazelStewart09]

Last night, the whole of Scotland was Norwegian.

When our own World Cup journey ended as it always does so early , we looked for a team to carry our hopes a little further. It didn’t take long to find one. A proud country of just over 6 million people, fiercely loyal to its identity, passionate about football and stubbornly determined never to give up. Sound familiar?

Norway and Scotland are cut from the same cloth. North Sea neighbours with similar populations, similar DNA, the same passion, the same heart and the same unwavering belief that representing your country means far more than what happens during 90 minutes.

Although, let’s be completely honest; your players are much, much more gifted than ours! 😂

You have extraordinary footballers capable of producing moments that most of us Scots can only dream about. Yet alongside all that talent, we saw something deeply familiar; the fight, togetherness, resilience and refusal to stop believing until the final whistle.

That’s why so many Scots adopted Norway. We recognised ourselves in your spirit, even if the quality on the pitch was several levels above what we’re accustomed to!

We also recognised ourselves in your magnificent supporters.

The Norwegian fans were one of the great sights and sounds of this World Cup. Everywhere you travelled, you brought Norway alive. The flags, colour, singing, noise and unmistakable pride followed your team across America. You didn’t simply attend the tournament — you became part of its story.

Like the Tartan Army, you showed that a nation doesn’t need to be the biggest to leave an unforgettable impression. Your players carried Norway onto the pitch, but your supporters carried Norway through the streets, cities and stadiums. Together, you made people notice, listen and fall a little bit in love with your country.

We were all glued to our televisions last night, willing every tackle, every run and every attack. We know how much this hurts because we’ve lived that heartbreak ourselves more times than we care to remember. The dream was so close you could almost reach out and touch it.

You faced one of the tournament favourites and threw absolutely everything at them in relentless heat. We know just how brutal those conditions were because Scotland played in that very stadium only a few weeks ago. Nobody could ever question your courage, effort, ability or spirit.

The result won’t ease the pain today, and probably not for quite some time. But eventually, we hope the heartbreak gives way to enormous pride.

You reached a World Cup quarter-final. You beat Brazil. You captured the imagination of football supporters far beyond Norway. Your immensely talented players were wonderful ambassadors, while your incredible fans brought Norway alive throughout the tournament.

So, from your friends across the North Sea: thank you.

The whole of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 was behind you. We hurt with you today, but we celebrate you too.

Hold your heads high, Norway. Your players and supporters made your country proud and you made a great many Scots proud as well.

🇳🇴❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 🚣🚣🚣🚣
#HeiaNorge #Norge #FIFAWorldCup
@Norge @herrelandslag

[Ann Allen @aallen9814]

♥️🇳🇴♥️

[Kellie-Jay Keen @ThePosieParker]

Norway is a reminder that nations are not something to be embarrassed by.

A people with a strong sense of history, a shared identity, and the confidence to celebrate their country without apology. Rather than weakening them, it gives them cohesion. We’ve been told that national pride is something be ashamed of. Yet the countries most admired around the world are often those most comfortable with who they are.

Nations aren’t the problem. They’re one of the greatest achievements of civilisation.

Norway is a lesson to us all.

[Jerry Thornton @jerrythornton]

Never forget that this is how Norway chose to begin their World Cup quest. And thus far have lived up to it.

[Texas Exes @TexasExes]

Happy Fourth of July, Longhorns! 🤘🎆

[Ann Allen @aallen9814]

💙🇺🇸♥️

[Brivael Le Pogam @brivael]

Je suis Français.

Ma boîte est américaine.

Et aujourd'hui, 4 juillet, jour où l'Amérique fête ses 250 ans, je veux dire les choses simplement : j'aime les États-Unis.

Pas par posture. Par lucidité.

Parce que vous avez gardé ce que l'Occident a produit de meilleur, et que trop d'Européens ont oublié.
Vous respectez la création de valeur. Chez vous, réussir n'est pas un péché à expier mais une preuve qu'on a rendu service au monde. Votre rapport à l'argent est sain : ce n'est pas une honte, c'est de l'énergie qu'on remet en mouvement.

Vous êtes des joueurs, pas des victimes. Quand quelque chose casse, vous demandez « comment on répare » pas « qui est le coupable ». L'Europe, elle, a fait de la plainte un sport national et de la victimisation une identité. C'est notre vraie maladie.

Vous incarnez encore les valeurs de l'Occident. Le dépassement de soi. La liberté individuelle. Et qu'on l'oublie jamais le fun. Un peuple qui ne sait plus jouer, rêver grand et rire de lui-même est un peuple qui a déjà commencé à mourir.

Vous avez bâti les meilleures technologies des 40 dernières années. Internet, le mobile, le cloud, le spatial, l'IA. Pendant que d'autres écrivaient des rapports sur l'innovation, vous la livriez.
Maintenant, deux conseils. De quelqu'un qui vous aime.

Méfiez-vous du poison communiste qui s'infiltre chez vous. Il ne porte plus l'uniforme rouge. Il a muté. Décroissance, wokisme, globalisme : mille visages, une seule logique culpabiliser le fort, punir le créateur, dissoudre l'individu dans la masse. Ne le laissez pas entrer par la porte de derrière au nom de la vertu.

Continuez d'accélérer.

Vous n'êtes pas qu'un pays, vous êtes le dernier grand accélérateur de la civilisation. Créez les conditions pour que l'Occident finisse par se réunir autour de trois piliers : la propriété, la liberté individuelle, le capitalisme. Vous en êtes le moteur. Mais n'oubliez jamais que l'Europe reste votre socle culturel vos racines sont ici.

Alors joyeux anniversaire, l'Amérique. Restez joueurs. Restez libres. Restez debout.

Au travail. 🇺🇸

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

USA. A backyard. The sun was going down, and a man named Dale stood before a black iron drum, feeding it wood, the way you feed a fire that must not die before morning.

"Brisket," he said. "Gonna be a long one. You're welcome to keep me company."

Keep him company. He said it the way a man mentions the weather. But I heard the truth beneath the words, the way you hear a temple bell beneath the wind. He was not inviting me to a meal. He was asking me to stand a vigil. To hold the sacred fire through the dark with him, two men against the whole of the night, so that something worthy could be born by dawn. My heart rose like a banner going up a pole.

I bowed, deep enough that he would feel the weight of what I was accepting. He nodded back and adjusted a vent.

He gestured at a folding chair. "Sit if you want, man. Gonna be a while."

I did not sit. A sentinel does not sit while the fire still lives. He looked at me a moment, then nodded slowly, the way you nod at a thing you have decided not to worry about. I took that nod as the first honor of the night.

Where I come from, when a thing of great worth is being made, you do not leave it. You stand the whole night beside it. You do not fill the silence with talk, because the silence itself is the labor.

So I stood. I said nothing. He said nothing. We watched the smoke leave the drum and climb into the purple sky, and for the first time in this loud and generous country, I felt completely understood.

After an hour, without looking at me, he pressed a cold can into my hand. I received it in both palms and bowed my head a fraction, the way one receives a canteen passed down the line between sentries who both know the night is far from over. I did not drink quickly. One does not drink quickly on watch.

A neighbor wandered over with a beer, saw me standing at attention beside the drum, and asked Dale, low, if I was doing alright.

"He's good," Dale said. "He's keeping me company."

He had vouched for me. Before his own people. I would have walked into the fire for him right then.

After two hours, he spoke. Once.

"Smell that bark setting up?"

I closed my eyes and breathed in, and I will tell you honestly, my chest went tight. Because it did. It smelled like patience. It smelled like a thing no king and no army could hurry, however mighty. "I do," I said, and I said it like an oath.

We did not speak again for a long while. A dog came and lay across both our feet, choosing neither of us, guarding the both of us. The stars came out over the fence and the cheap string lights and the plastic chairs, and I thought, with my whole heart, that there are grand temples in this world holding less holiness than this tired man's backyard.

Near midnight his wife leaned out the door. "Dale, you two have been standing there four hours. You know you can sit down, right?"

"We're good, hon," Dale said.

We're good. Four words. He had spoken for the both of us, claimed me as his brother of the watch, and waved away all comfort in a single breath, and he did it without once taking his eyes off the fire. I have heard generals give long speeches that carried less.

A fire kept alone is only a chore. A fire kept together is an oath.

When the meat was finished, near dawn, he cut the very first slice and laid it in my hands. The guest. The man who had done nothing but stand beside him and honor the work.

I have eaten at tables that cost a season's wages, served by men trained from boyhood. None of it ever fed me the way that one slice did, handed over by a weary man at sunrise who had decided, hours before and without a single word, that I was worth keeping the watch with.

I do not know Dale's family name. I would stand the whole night for him again tomorrow, and count myself honored.

[Ann Allen @aallen9814]

That’s our boy - way to go A Rod!! 🧡⚾️🤘🏻🔥

[Longhorn Baseball News @HornsBsblNews]

🚨BREAKING: Texas’ Adrian Rodriguez has just become the third player in College World Series history to hit for the cycle.

He joins Minnesota's Jerry Kindall (1956) and Tennessee's Christian Moore (2024). #HookEm

[Texas Baseball @TexasBaseball]

finest freshmen 🇺🇸

#HookEm | @NCBWA

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

“If you think the world is selfish and rotten, go to the cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach. See what one group of men did for another on D-Day, June 6th, 1944.” — Andy Rooney

[Ann Allen @aallen9814]

HOOK ‘EM!! 🧡🔥⚾️🤘🏻🧡

[Texas Baseball @TexasBaseball]

is this heaven? no, it's Austin 🤘

#HookEm

[Ann Allen @aallen9814]

🧡🧡🤘🏻😎🧡🧡

[🏈🏐⚾️Truman'sTexas⚾️🏐🏈 @TrumansTexas]

Seen on campus.

[Horn Takes Podcast @HornTakes]

Come to Texas! Play for one of the most tradition rich baseball programs in the country and compete for SEC Freshman of the Year honors!
🤘⚾️

[Occupy LF @OccupyLF]

We’ll REALLY celebrate when we see some of these faces on the CWS All Tournament Team.

🤘🏼⚾️😏😤

[Evan Vieth @EvanVieth]

Much deserving finalist nominations for both Volantis and Robbins.

Two of the best at their respective roles in the SEC

[Ann Allen @aallen9814]

BANG BANG!! 🔥🤘🏻🧡

[Occupy LF @OccupyLF]

LMAOOOOOO …

Oh, Carson. 🤘🏼⚾️💣

[Ann Allen @aallen9814]

One reason why we still study Shakespeare!!

[JAMIE @CoffeeGirlTX]

Timeline cleanse:
5 days ago in Ennis, TX.
Peak bluebonnet season in full swing.
#TexasBluebonnets #EnnisTX #BluebonnetTrails #TexasWildflowers

[Photo credit: Sibil George Photography]

[Rony @Ronycoder]

Instead of watching an hour of Netflix, watch this 2 hour hour Stanford lecture will teach you more about how LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude are built than most people working at top AI companies learn in their entire careers.

[Ann Allen @aallen9814]

@Travis_L_Brown What happened to humility in victory? Or treating your opponents with respect? 🧡⚾️🤘🏼🧡

[Miss Ally @MissAlly_01]

NASA's Artemis II just released the first photo of the far side