Chambliss’ appeal denied, officially TRIAL LAWYA time

On Wednesday night, an NCAA appeals committee finally got around to denying Trinidad Chambliss’ appeal of a previous denial, ending a process dedicated to going through the motions before a pre-determined outcome.

No one expected anything less from the guardians of the game, and the last 3+ weeks only served as something to talk about until Chambliss’ first day in a Mississippi court arrived. While we should shrug the ol’ shoulders and move on, there is therapeutic benefit to besmirching the NCAA.

As anticipated, Ole Miss was pretty steamed and released this statement, which was shorter than the original draft that checked in at 25,000 words:

The phrase “holding the NCAA accountable for a decision that fails to align with its own rules” is of note, though I don’t know what Ole Miss could do other than post pelvic thrust GIFs if Chambliss’ gets a court injunction allowing him to play in 2026.

To be fair to the NCAA appeals committee, they did have a good laugh as an intern read that statement to them while they dined on steak and lobster at an expensed dinner. The intern was then fired for bringing $20 bills rather than $100 bills to light their cigars.

Now that the NCAA choreography is over, Chambliss’ last chance (and always his only chance) for eligibility rests on the arguments put forth by his TRIAL LAWYAS in Mississippi chancery court. The legal festivities kick off with a hearing on February 12th at 9:30 AM in the Calhoun County Courthouse, and what happens after that is unknown at this point.

More importantly, where is the Calhoun County Courthouse, you might ask? It’s in Pittsboro, Mississippi, which is just down Highway 9 from Bruce. That makes it about a 40-minute drive south of Oxford, so all lawyers will probably drive rather than Learjet their way into town.

Fun facts about Pittsboro:

• Population as the of the 2020 census is 157
• The county seat of Calhoun County
• Considered a village and not a town
• Birthplace of Ike Knox, who played football, basketball, and baseball at Ole Miss from 1907-08 and later became a surgeon in Vicksburg and helped establish the Ole Miss Medical Alumni Association

What about the Calhoun County Courthouse, you ask? We don’t have fun facts, but I can tell you it has a 5-star rating on Google reviews with 3 people speaking about it glowingly.

Here’s Reviewer #1:

Built in 2012, and beautifully done for the NEW Millenia to come in Calhoun County Mississippi! I’m POSITIVE Governor Dennis Murphree: Forty-second and Forty-seventh Governor of Mississippi: 1927-1928; 1943-1944 would approve. Highly functional and accessible this Courthouse will get your Car tag, taxes, and cases adjudicated in a professional and timely manner.

And Reviewer #2:

I went to the Tax offíce to get my tag, run by Mr. Bill Malone. I didn’t have to get out and go in, didn’t even have to put the decal on, Mr. Malone brought it the paperwork and put the decal on took my money and brought my çhange to me. We have truly been blessed with some of the best public servants in the world.

Finally, Reviewer #3:

Modern, convenient and clean. You can take care of all of your county business in one large area.

Functional, accessible, modern, convenient, clean, and great public servants. Can’t ask for more than that.

While we are thankful the people of Calhoun County have this courthouse to make their lives easier, the one part of those reviews that applies to Ole Miss and Chambliss is in the first one where it says “…cases adjudicated in a professional and timely manner.”

It’s unclear if that includes cases about injunctions related to college football eligibility. Though it may brand me as lazy, I will not dig through the Calhoun County Courthouse records to find out if this is the first case of its kind there.

I’ll take Reviewer #1’s word for it that Chambliss’ case will also be adjudicated in a professional and timely manner, unlike the guardians of the game’s arbitrary and “some bullshit we made up 10 minutes ago” approach.