The playoff committee will rank the top 25 teams throughout the season, releasing its rankings publicly around midseason. In the meantime, we’ll have a new poll to keep tabs on things. MORE: Top 25 players for 2014 | Alabama’s 10 best | Notre Dame’s 10 best The Football Writers Association of America and the National Football Foundation announced Tuesday that they will have a weekly football poll during the upcoming season called the FWAA-NFF Grantland Rice Super 16 poll — in honor of the famous sportswriter....

Tampa police were called on Sunday, December 18, to a parking lot at the Arbour Ponds apartment complex on North Dale Mabry Highway after reports of an accident. According to a police statement, a driver was backing out of a parking spot in a Toyota Corolla when he struck the 80-year-old woman and her 3-year-old great-granddaughter. The 23-year-old driver told officers that “he did not see the woman pushing the child in a stroller as they returned from the grocery store and accidentally backed his vehicle over both victims....

A huge great white called Scot, measuring more than 12 feet long and weighing 1,644 pounds, was tracked roughly 100 miles south of the city on July 3. Scot was first tagged by the ocean research organization in September 2021, when he was found off Ironbound Island in Nova Scotia. Like most North Atlantic sharks, Scot spent the winter in the south, off the Gulf Of Mexico. Scot is not the only great white shark to be tracked in the waters off New York recently....

The bonus program, which came into force this year, seeks to help offset the projected shrinkage of Greece’s 10.7 million population, with the country’s numbers expected to significantly diminish in the decades to come if birthrates continue to decline, according to the European statistics office, Eurostat. Greece’s new center-right government is so determined to boost population numbers that it is prepared to invest as much as €180m a year in the scheme, according to The Guardian....

I’m thinking about this now not only because of the headlines detailing corporate greed and avarice, but because I’m in the midst of vacating an apartment building that is owned by a landlord who could not care less that the place is infested with toxic mold and who will probably force at least two of us to take him to court. Obviously, in his mind, he owns the road and everyone else can go to hell....

That may be the likeliest scenario, but ESPN and FoxSports.com sources say that DGB will pursue a hardship waiver that would make him immediately eligible to play for the Sooners. However, John Infante, author of the Bylaw Blog and a Sporting News contributing reporter, said OU would probably seek what is called a run-off waiver for Green-Beckham. There would be a number of standards that would need to be met, and documentation provided, including:...

Although the Fed has slashed short-term interest rates by 35 percent from their prerecession peak, bank lending has been flat since May. More important, the growth of total private credit (including such lenders as insurance and mortgage companies) is one third of its normal rate, the lowest on record, says Lyle Gramley, a former Fed governor. “The recovery simply cannot continue into 1992 with so low a rate of growth in private borrowing,” says Gramley....

The bottles, which also had O’Rourke’s name on them, contained a piece of paper with statistics about fentanyl and the number of Americans that die from overdoses, according to Madlin Mekelburg of the Austin American-Statesman, who tweeted photos of the bottles at the Wednesday night event. The top of the label reads: “Beto Biden Open Border Crisis,” with the fake “prescription” being issued to O’Rourke, with a figure for fentanyl deaths in 2021 printed below....

“For Texas, it’s going to cost less than it did for the Trump administration for one reason, and that’s because in Texas, unlike the Trump administration, we’re not having to devote money to acquire the land,” Abbott said. Abbott went on to explain that the state of Texas owns land on the border itself, allowing it to freely build without the requirement of making purchases. Furthermore, a number of farmers have offered to donate their land along the border, he said, because they have become “fed up” with the current levels of migration....

In a letter addressed to the DFPS on February 22, Abbott enacted the agency to consider some of these procedures as examples of child abuse. These surgeries include sterilization or mastectomies, as well as the administration of certain doses of testosterone or estrogen. He also ordered that all licensed professionals, including teachers and nurses, must report any suspected gender transitioning in children to the authorities. “Because the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is responsible for protecting children from abuse,” wrote Abbott, “I hereby direct your agency to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the state of Texas....

A new poll published on Monday found that Abbott, a Republican, leads O’Rourke by 19 points among likely Texas voters but also found widespread support for new restrictions on gun purchases. The BluePrint Polling survey found that 48.5 percent of respondents said they would definitely vote for Abbott, while 7 percent were leaning toward the Republican. A further 32.9 percent said they would definitely vote for O’Rourke and just 4....

Hammon made history this summer in leading the Spurs to a Summer League title. Even more heartening: She did so in a way consistent with the Spurs brand. No distractions, no discipline problems, no backlash from the young players under her guidance — just wins. MORE: Greatest Spurs of all time | The sports world’s pioneers | NBA coaches who played But for all the history Hammon has made in becoming the first female coach in the league, Popovich wants to make this clear: She’s not on his staff so she can make history....

Monday’s night loss in Las Vegas came just two days after the three-time defending Olympic champions lost to Nigeria in the first of five games in preparation for the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. It also means the U.S. have now lost four of its five past games, dating back to the 2019 World Cup. The mood was tense in the post-game press conference, when Popovich took exception to a reporter suggesting to Portland Trail Blazer star Damian Lillard the U....

Turns out Pop is cool with veteran filmmaker Spike Lee, whom he put in a call to in order to schedule a screening of the movie for the team ahead of its primetime meeting against the Cavs Saturday night. The flick, a modern-day version of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata set on the Southside of Chicago released in theaters nationwide Dec. 4, didn’t do well at the box office. It grossed just $2....

Photos of the effigy showed it had two braids like Thunberg, and it reportedly had a sign stating, “Greta is your God.” Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi pledged the solidarity of her city to Thunberg and her family. “Shameful the effigy of @GretaThunberg found hanging from a bridge in our city,” Raggi tweeted in Italian, according to a translation. “To her and her family, my solidarity and that of the whole @Rome....

The France forward’s sporting adviser Eric Olhts claimed in July that talks were held with the Ligue 1 champions before Griezmann extended his stay at the Vicente Calderon until June 2021. Griezmann has become one of Europe’s top talents since moving to the Spanish capital in 2014 and he has started this season in terrific form with six goals in as many La Liga matches. The 25-year-old was again questioned about the possibility of moving to Paris following Les Bleus’ 1-0 World Cup qualifying win in the Netherlands on Monday, but he insists he is focused on winning major honors with Atleti....

The Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot earned a write-in vote in Burlington County, N.J., which borders Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia. It’s not the first time that the NHL’s favorite mascot — which, yes, Gritty won via voting among both NHL players and fans alike — has earned votes in U.S. elections. MORE: Remembering Gritty’s greatest moments During mid-term elections in 2018, Gritty received write-in votes for a number of New Jersey offices, including a seat in Congress and for sheriff in Camden County....

The 19th-seeded Williams, at 34 the oldest woman left in the draw, did not need to deal with too much trouble while beating 78th-ranked Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-1, 6-4 Wednesday night. “Well, now I’m happy. I won a match again. Finally I did something I couldn’t do the last couple years,” Williams said. “That’s good stuff.” She showed bits and pieces of the type of game that once lifted her to the top of the sport — the No....

Martin Cunningham, a 24-year-old father of one from Keady, County Armagh, was attacked in Liverpool alongside several of his friends at around 1:00 a.m. on August 14. The incident occurred while Cunningham was out in the city celebrating his upcoming wedding, according to a statement from Merseyside Police that was shared with Newsweek. Cunningham’s friends who were with him during the incident told The Liverpool Echo that he was “left for dead” by the alleged attackers, while they called both the police and paramedics for help, with the former providing first aid when waiting for the latter to arrive....