Justin Frank

Bravo… this

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.

@JSB_TV @USMNT The US hockey team more than had its moment, I’m sorry for you that you weren’t there for it.

What I keep thinking about is how Balogun and the @usmnt players - who did nothing wrong in this situation - will feel the effects of the White House intervening for likely the rest of their careers. It draws parallels to the U.S. men’s hockey team, who, had WH officials never been in the locker room, would have had their moment.

@UwDienstwillige Well we can start with the part about a king,

As a Belgian, I never want to beat a team because my King asks the sports federation to alter the rules in my favour. I want all the smoke. Guess things are diffferent overseas.

@MoeCrow13 @matthewdmarsden Instant replay shouldn’t be used in any sport to officiate. The game is played at full speed, coached at full speed it should be officiated the same.

@matthewdmarsden The VAR needs to go. This is not how the sport is meant to be played. Shouldn’t be stopping play to watch video then make calls that weren’t made on the field. It’s gross. Making a mockery of the game.

In all my years watching soccer, I have never seen such blatant cheating. This is disgraceful.

@BosniaNTBall I don’t even think he had a limp afterwards. The drama of “ almost breaking someone’s leg” is why I think Americans struggle with soccer. Our heroes have played super bowls with a broken leg, not spent days crying about how their uninjured leg could have been,

I guess you can almost break someones leg and be good guys. This is crazy stuff!!!

@AVARY I loved it all the way through, I’d like to give it a rewatch up see how I feel the second time through.

I just finished Season One of 2018’s Barry, Bill Hader & Alec Berg’s excellent dramatic comedy about an ex-Marine turned contract killer who becomes entangled with the Azerbaijanian mob in Los Angeles while stumbling into an acting class run by Henry Winkler. Thoughtful and well-written, with hilarious performances all around, Barry manages to balance the comedy by finding absurd truth in the situations. Hader & Winkler won Emmys for their performances (and Hader won a well-deserved DGA award) but Anthony Carrigan’s NoHo Hank is a revelation, and Stephen Root is brilliant as Barry’s handler. There are so many insights into humanity and personal identity, and the struggle for success in the Los Angeles dream factory, that I found myself emotionally engaged well beyond expectation. The series is something of a cousin to John Cusack’s terrific Grosse Pointe Blank, and if you like that film you’ll love Barry. The question is, does it maintain its excellence through its two year Covid-19 shutdown and subsequent culture collapse for seasons 2-4?

@Gibboanxious The prestige rewards rewatching better than any movie I’ve seen. Knowing what’s coming adds poignancy to many of the earlier moments.

What do you think is the best movie to rewatch once you know the twist/mystery???

@DavidASmithSB @ianmSC The world minus the United States being with Australia did them as much good as you would think it would.

Man you just hate to see Australia lose after their fans spent weeks rooting against the USMNT for no apparent reason and celebrating our backups losing to Turkey in a meaningless game

@argwing_s1 @mamashami2 So why disallow the first goal renaldo scored to tie it, and add ten minutes of extra time when Portugal led, and let that go to 12 minutes when Croatia got the controversial goal overturned.

@mamashami2 Rigging it for Ronaldo. Shame

This is not a World Cup. This is an elimination process by FIFA's VAR. It started with Iran. It will not end with Croatia.

@JohnSmythe311 @mamashami2 If they were rigging it for renaldo why did they disallow portugals first goal, by renaldo, that tied it at 1. And then add ten minutes of extra time when Portugal had the lead and then allow that to go to 12 minutes when Croatia got this controversial goal?

@mamashami2 Such a horseshit call… commentator was like ohhh I can see his hair move… yeah that happens when you move your head moron the ball never touched his head so idk what view they had to blow this call this bad! Guess the fix is in for Ronaldo v Messi smh pathetic

@BuckSexton These are the worst movie takes maybe ever.

Christopher Nolan has always been a wildly overrated director Other than his Batman movies (very entertaining but huge flaws) and for some people Interstellar, it's a lot of try-hard slop for the masses Compare his best to the best of the 80s/90s and it's not in same league

@ScottKacsmar The wnba is more a political statement than a sports league.

The Lynx deleted a post with a stat comp. between Fudd and Miles because people complained it was hateful, ugly behavior, and targeted bullying. A stat graphic with the top 2 picks in the draft. Just admit WNBA discourse is not normal. These people are not sane.

@nut_history Softball may be different but in baseball the corners are supposed to get anything they can

A douche purposely dives in front of a women setting herself up for a routine ground out to steal the ball from her. The next play she makes a phenomenal play to register the out. Girls can play ball, don’t ever be that guy.

@DocLibertarian @FridaCallow @SuperSagaNews @nytimes She’s stuck in her own circular logic, this is a lost cause. Anything anybody says apparently proves her point, while she simultaneously ignores what you’re saying. I tried a little. Good luck to you.

@FridaCallow @dutman31 @SuperSagaNews @nytimes How is that?

Warner Bros executives on the social media toxicity surrounding Milly Alcock "We were surprised by both the ferocity of the backlash and its reach, believing the culture had evolved past that sort of campaign" (@nytimes | nytimes.com/2026/06/28/bus…)

@josephewing80 @SportsPatriotUS She’s averaging 21 pts 4 rbs and 8 asts a game and viewership for games she’s in on tv are pretty much double what any other team or player get. The fact that this isn’t just an outlier belief tells you how backwards this league is. It honestly doesn’t deserve any success.

@dutman31 @SportsPatriotUS What actual franchise in the W would actually value her over the noise of the Activists?

The Caitlin Clark Isolation Phase Has Begun We told you to watch it before tipoff. Not after the game. Not after the Fever beat the Sparks by 24. Not after the box score looked clean. Not after the broadcast had time to polish the story. Before. We said the Indiana Fever’s first game without Caitlin Clark was not just a basketball game. It was a Caitlin Clark narrative test. And now we are here. The Fever won 111-87. The offense looked smooth. The whistle looked friendlier. The free throws tilted Indiana’s way. The guards were allowed to play. The rotations looked cleaner. The coach looked more comfortable. The broadcast had a pretty box score. The media got exactly what it needed. One clean night without Caitlin Clark. Now watch what happens next. Because this was never going to end with one game. This is the beginning of the next phase. The Caitlin Clark isolation phase. That does not mean everyone is sitting in a room plotting every word. That is not the point. The point is that the incentives all lined up perfectly. The WNBA needed the controversy around Caitlin to cool down. The Fever needed to look functional. Stephanie White needed a cleaner night. The media needed a way to discuss Indiana without admitting how badly the league has mishandled Caitlin Clark. And the Caitlin skeptics needed one game they could use to softly suggest what they have wanted to say all along: Maybe the Fever are calmer without her. Maybe the ball moves better without her. Maybe the team is happier without her. Maybe the coach can breathe without her. Maybe Caitlin Clark is not the solution. Maybe she is the problem. They will not say it that plainly. They are too careful for that. But listen to the language. “They looked balanced.” “They looked connected.” “They played freer.” “They trusted each other.” “Stephanie White had them settled.” “Tyasha Harris gave them poise.” “The Fever showed they are more than Caitlin Clark.” On the surface, all of that sounds harmless. It is not. That is how a narrative is built. Not with one giant lie. With a hundred little suggestions. And last night gave them the perfect foundation. Tyasha Harris started in Caitlin’s place and played well. Good for her. She deserves credit for being ready. She scored, she handled the moment, and she helped Indiana win. But the way the moment is being framed matters. After the game, Coach White’s tone around Harris was warm, proud, and trust-based. She talked about trusting her. She praised her readiness. She let the room celebrate her. The energy was relaxed, affirming, and emotionally open. Again, that is fine. Coaches should praise players who step up. But Caitlin Clark fans are not crazy for noticing the contrast. Because when Caitlin is discussed, the public tone too often feels different. More correction. More management. More talk about what she needs to clean up. More focus on control, decisions, pace, turnovers, emotions, learning, and maturity. With Tyasha, the frame was simple: We trusted you. You were ready. You delivered. That is not a small difference. Especially in this moment. Because Caitlin Clark is not just out with an injury. She is out after one of the ugliest stretches of league failure we have seen around a star player. She took dangerous contact to the throat area. No foul was called live. The league reviewed it after the fact, called it reckless, called it a non-basketball act, upgraded it to a Flagrant 2, and handed down one game and a $1,000 fine. One game. Then players defended the physicality. Media voices minimized the outrage. The commissioner said far too little. The Phoenix Mercury posted a nasty graphic and deleted it after the backlash. And Caitlin Clark, the player who has carried so much of the league’s growth, was left looking more isolated than protected. That is the part people do not want to say out loud. Caitlin looks like she is on an island. Where is the loud, public support from the league? Where is the clear line from the commissioner? Where is the full-throated defense from the organization? Where are the teammates saying enough is enough? Sophie Cunningham has been one of the few willing to make it obvious. Everyone else seems careful. Quiet. Managed. Or missing. And now, after all of that, Caitlin sits out and the Fever suddenly get the perfect “we are fine without her” game. That is why this week matters. Because this is going to get ugly. The Caitlin Clark bashing session has already started online. It will get louder. The next few days will be filled with speculation about her injury, her future, her attitude, her fit, her coachability, her fans, and whether the Fever are secretly better when she is not on the floor. They will pretend to care about her health while using her absence to build a case against her value. They will say the team looks less chaotic. They will say the vibes are better. They will say the offense has more flow. They will say Coach White can finally coach without everything being about Caitlin. They will say Harris gave the Fever a steadier presence. They will praise the locker-room energy. They will frame the win as proof of growth. And eventually, someone will get brave enough to say what the whole narrative has been nudging toward: Maybe Caitlin Clark is too much. Too much attention. Too much pressure. Too many fans. Too much drama. Too hard to coach. Too big for the league. No. That is backwards. Caitlin Clark did not make this league smaller. She exposed how small it still is. A serious league would have protected its star early. A serious league would have controlled the physicality before it became a weekly debate. A serious league would have demanded better officiating. A serious organization would have built a stronger public wall around its franchise player. A serious coach would understand that managing Caitlin Clark is not the same thing as empowering her. And serious media would not use one clean game without her to pretend the last several weeks did not happen. That is the danger now. Not that Tyasha Harris played well. Not that the Fever won. Not that Stephanie White praised a player who deserved praise. The danger is that all of it now becomes part of a larger effort to emotionally frame the Fever without Caitlin. The game was not just played without her. It was emotionally framed without her. That is the line people need to understand. The Fever did not just win a basketball game. They got a version of the game Caitlin Clark rarely gets. A friendlier whistle. More breathing room. Cleaner rotations. Less defensive obsession. A coach who looked relaxed. A media environment ready to praise the calm. And now the league gets to pretend that difference is about Caitlin’s absence, not the way everything around Caitlin changes when she is present. That is the trick. When Caitlin plays, she gets the pressure, the contact, the scrutiny, the weird whistle, the strange rotations, the lectures, the criticism, and the blame. When she sits, everyone else gets space, praise, rhythm, and benefit of the doubt. Then people compare the two environments and act like they are comparing the same thing. They are not. That is why our prediction matters. We are not saying we know who planned what. We are saying we told you exactly what to watch before tipoff, and the game unfolded almost perfectly along those pressure points. The whistle changed. The free throws changed. The offensive rhythm changed. The coaching optics changed. The guard treatment changed. The postgame tone changed. The narrative door opened. And now, the next phase begins. This week will not be about basketball as much as it should be. It will be about Caitlin Clark’s place in the league. Her injury. Her future. Her attitude. Her fanbase. Her relationship with Stephanie White. Her value to the Fever. Her value to the WNBA. Her willingness to keep absorbing a league culture that has taken everything she brought and still seems uncomfortable defending her. And for the first time, I am not sure there is a clean path forward. I used to believe the basketball people would eventually rise up. The purists. The coaches. The former players who know what a generational guard looks like. The analysts who understand spacing, gravity, pace, passing, shot creation, and the way one player can change the entire geometry of a floor. I thought they would defend the game. I thought they would defend the star who made more people care about it. I thought they would eventually say enough. But after the last several weeks, I am not so sure. Because when Caitlin Clark was hit in the throat area, too many people looked for a way to minimize it. When the league handed down a weak punishment, too many people shrugged. When the Fever won without her, too many people immediately saw an opening. And when Coach White praised the replacement guard with warmth and trust, it felt less like a normal locker-room moment and more like another piece of a larger emotional shift. Maybe that is unfair. Maybe it is all coincidence. Maybe everyone is just doing their job. Maybe Caitlin will return, the Fever will rally around her, the coach will empower her, the league will protect her, the officials will clean it up, and the media will stop pretending her greatness is an inconvenience. Maybe. But I would not bet on it. Because the writing is starting to look pretty clear. The next week is going to be brutal. The Caitlin Clark era in the WNBA may not be ending tomorrow. But the attempt to redefine it has already begun. And if the people around her do not start defending her with the urgency this moment requires, then the question will no longer be whether Caitlin Clark can survive the WNBA. The question will be whether she should keep trying. We called the narrative test before the game was played. Now we are calling the next phase before it gets fully underway. The Caitlin Clark isolation phase has begun. And everyone who cares about the future of women’s basketball should be paying attention.

@FridaCallow @DocLibertarian @SuperSagaNews @nytimes If there’s no problem keep doing it the same way, and keep getting the same results. I don’t make my living in Hollywood so I don’t have skin in the game. I do have a job where we don’t go around insulting potential customers all day because it’s bad for business.

@dutman31 @DocLibertarian @SuperSagaNews @nytimes Christian dad of four was never going to see this movie. Otherwise he would Have lived The Last Jedi. Also I thought it was a horrible movie? Why the new story it failed because the actress had opinions?

@FridaCallow @DocLibertarian @SuperSagaNews @nytimes She was a self fulfilling prophet. There’s a reason most businesses don’t go around spitting in their potential customers faces. It’s only the entertainment industry that keeps doing this.

@DocLibertarian @SuperSagaNews @nytimes And she was 💯 a prophet!

@3pugsmama What a face

Look at da face @dutman31