charles busby

#RebelNation #WhoDatNation #LordHaveMercyOnOurNation Songwriter Webgeek WordPress

[charles busby @Buzzwords_LLC]

@TheStevenWillis It is plain as day that they plan to make Ole Miss the scapegoat for the free-for-all that they have allowed. And the NCAA is not above colluding with coaches that are guilty of the same or worse in order to put a scalp on the wall.

[Baseball America @BaseballAmerica]

From unranked to first round projections, together 🤝

Ole Miss righthanders Taylor Rabe and Cade Townsend dealt their way to new heights in 2026:
https://t.co/iH9npg7JPE

[Jim Hanson @JimHansonDC]

All former FIFA-certified referees raise your hands.
🙋
That's right I used to both play & ref soccer. Now I mostly just mock it. Until they mess w/ Team USA.

This picture of the collision between Balogun & the B&H player looks awful, but it's complete garbage.
Wrong angle to see what really happened.

Balogun was closer to the ball and the B&H player came from his right AND behind initiating the contact. He caused his own suffering.

The ref got it right initially as a no call. They were both playing the ball. Even in a sport known for pitifully lame flopping sometimes two dudes just crash into each other and do some actual damage. Doesn't mean there was a foul.

The replay guy then saw an opportunity to take the Americans down a notch and the ref bought in and made an egregious red card ejection.

If any call was made it should have been against the B&H player who came from behind and out of the sight line of Balogun.

The outrage now is "How dare the Americans get this absurd attempt to weaken them overturned".

Taking a player out of a once in a lifetime game and tournament should be an exceedingly high bar. This was not.

The people pretending to care about the rules are really mad the Americans aren't getting screwed over. It's a common sentiment and all around the world hating Americans for being the Biggest, Baddest and Best is as much a national sport as Soccer Ball.

I've lived overseas for six years and traveled to several dozen countries. Furriners love to hate on us. I'm not saying it's all underserved, I'm just saying it's not new and it's everywhere.

I can't blame them, we're barely 250 years old and we have accomplished more than any country in history. We have invented more amazing things, freed more people from tyranny and lifted more people from poverty and that stings, especially for the Euros who think they own our history.

They do, the part that we left and left behind. The part we are making now they can only watch and be chafed about. Because they can't even come close.

So they were salivating at knocking a US star out of play on a BS call. Sorry Jacques Belgique, you're going to have to take on a full US squad. Good luck, I hope we make you cry some more in the game tonight.

[Ellen Carmichael @ellencarmichael]

The most interesting part of the red card saga isn't the ruling. It's how differently Americans and Europeans process the idea that they might have been wronged.

Europeans are fundamentally different from Americans in one particular way: they expect life to be aggravating and at times unfair. It's just a fact of moving through the world. I joke that in Europe, the customer is always wrong. You didn't read the fine print. The only pharmacy in town is closed every other Tuesday for three hours, and even if the times weren't posted, that's still your problem. Too bad if you want the bill, because the waiter's on his union-mandated half-hour smoke break, and you're just going to have to wait.

To quote the great Mark Knopfler: sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. There's something freeing in that. Things are less in your control, so there's less angst in managing your expectations.

In America, things couldn't be more different. We simply can't accept a wrong left unrighted.

The flight attendant sneezed handing you a drink on your one-hour flight? 15,000 frequent flyer miles. Didn't like your appetizer? A replacement is on the way, and the whole course comes off the bill. There's a reason our interstates are lined with trial lawyer billboards.

Europeans have turned complaining into a continental pastime with no expectation that the universe owes them a remedy for their grief. You gripe about the train being late, your friends nod solemnly and everyone goes back to their apéro. In America, we launch a full-blown investigation of the train system, sue the government (and its contractors) that allowed for the tardiness and hold a Congressional hearing on the state of national infrastructure.

So to an objective observer, the red card shouldn't have happened, and VAR was a travesty. To Americans, our star player shouldn't be unfairly banned from a match we couldn't afford to lose for a card he so obviously didn't deserve.

Who cares that FIFA used a little-used reversal to fix it. Who cares that other people are mad about it. We. Were. Wronged. It was unjust. It must be corrected. We would accept nothing less.

Europeans waxing poetic about the sanctity of the game are, of course, talking about a governing body whose last tournament host was decided via confirmed cash bribes — one that imposed dress codes on women, shrugged off widespread allegations of modern slavery and reconfigured the entire tournament calendar to suit the host country. Which is exactly the point. If you've made peace with all of that, at least enough to watch the tournament four years later, a probationary suspension isn't actually a scandal.

Maybe that's the real divide. Over millennia, Europeans have made peace with being the bug. Americans have never once considered it, and apparently, we're not about to start now.

[Mark Valorian @markvalorian]

Once you fully debunk the “technical justification,” the argument against Balogun’s reinstatement collapses to an irrational cling to normalcy:

“This has never happened before, therefore it is unfair.”

I can understand the gut reaction, but this is just as fundamentally illogical as the technical justification.

If we concede the red card was undeserved, why is it a bad thing for FIFA to adapt and correct a wrong? Is it preferable to deliberately allow an unjustified suspension to be carried out?

And why is it fundamentally unfair for this to be the first time they do it anyways? There is “legal” precedent; FIFA has the documented ability to review disciplinary measures and suspensions. Just because this scenario happened to play out at this stage of the tournament doesn’t change the fact that the red card was totally undeserved.

If there were another immediate example in this tournament of an egregiously incorrect card being applied that was NOT corrected by FIFA, then there would be an issue. But as it stands, there is simply no rational argument for why this should not be the first.

Of course, when you boil it down, the argument is not really about either the technical justification or the normalcy, but more that it’s just the USA that is the beneficiary. And I’m sorry to say, but if that is driving your sentiment, you need to get over yourself.

The facts of the matter are clear: this was an unjustified red card that should have been corrected, regardless of the team it was applied to. FIFA absolutely made the right decision, and the game and tournament is better for it.

[FIFA Media @fifamedia]

FIFA President Gianni Infantino:

“I have seen the public comments regarding the decision of the independent FIFA Disciplinary Committee related to the suspension of Folarin Balogun, and I would like to reiterate a fundamental principle of FIFA’s governance.

“FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent. They operate autonomously, apply the FIFA Disciplinary Code, and decide cases based on the applicable regulations and the specific facts before them. Their independence is essential to the credibility and integrity of football, and this must always be respected.

“Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues. During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.

“I read the decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee when they are issued. Sometimes I am surprised by them. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I disagree.

“What I always do, however, is respect those decisions and the autonomy of the bodies that make them. Whether we personally like a decision or not is irrelevant. Respect for independent institutions and the rule of law is what protects the integrity of our competitions and the credibility of FIFA at all times.”

[charles busby @Buzzwords_LLC]

@sophaller This viral explosion is out of this world …

[I'm 𝔽ugustra™ @fugustra1]

Who did this?! 😂

[Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter]

George Kittle is speaking out on why grass is being used for World Cup matches but not NFL games.

📸 @NFLPA

[Michael Katz @MichaelLKatz]

Following Ole Miss' season-ending loss at the College World Series, Mike Bianco told us he has "the coolest job in the world."

The story of the 2026 Rebels baseball team reminded me why I love my job, and that college sports are going to be OK. A column: https://t.co/JehKmOBU2Y

[Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson]

🚨NEW: JD Vance’s motorcade just came TEARING into the White House.

Something big is about to happen.
Big rumblings about Iran Deal around here. Stay tuned…

[Brad Logan @BradLoganTOC]

Years ago, she ripped Mississippi. I asked, politely, if she’d ever been to my state.

She blocked me.

[Michael Katz @MichaelLKatz]

Hayden Federico said he always wanted to go to the CWS. But his father Mike, a longtime college baseball coach, said one of them had “to earn it.” Mike hasn’t gotten a trip to Omaha in his coaching career. But Hayden just punched a ticket for both.

[Michael Katz @MichaelLKatz]

Finally got a chance to ask Hayden Federico about The Catch.

“Thank God it went in my glove.”

[PEARatings @PEARatings]

Path to Omaha Average Difficulty

Oklahoma and Ole Miss the only two to eclipse 5.0 in average TSR faced. Alabama had a quite generous path to Omaha.

No one had to play the maximum of 8 games to make it. 4 teams swept their way to Omaha, with 7 (!!) sweeps during Supers.

[Chase Parham @ChaseParham]

Schools to make the final 8 in football and baseball this athletics year:

Ole Miss
Georgia
Alabama

[Ole Miss Sports @RebelSportsTalk]

OH BOY!! If Nicky Saban was perturbed about Trinidad getting to play his 4 years like every other college football player does… he may have a brain aneurysm over this one… I expect him to hold a press conference within the next hour

[Steven Willis @TheStevenWillis]

The NCAA deserves this for what they tried to do to Trinidad

Said all along this was the case they said the Trinidad case was and now they have already shot their shot

[Brad Logan @BradLoganTOC]

The catch of the year and play of the game.

The winner of the Talk of Champions Photo of the Year!

📷: Hayden Carroll - Ole Miss Photography

[Chase Parham @ChaseParham]

Will Furniss had an OPS of barely .400 in 2024 against lefties. He knew it needed to be better, worked to be better.

At 6:36 p.m. on Saturday, off one of the nation's best lefty relievers, he sent a shot out of the park that will live in Ole Miss lore. https://t.co/Rv6XXGH23a

[Michael Katz @MichaelLKatz]

There was something poetic about the final out being a throw from Judd Utermark to Will Furniss, two guys who stuck it out at Ole Miss in a world where that’s increasingly rare to see. I asked @CoachMikeBianco about his appreciation for guys who didn’t leave when times got tough.