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CFP Chairman Mark Keenum: ‘It’s Way Too Soon’ to Expand Playoff Field
Chris Carlson/Associated Press
It doesn’t look as if the College Football Playoff will be expanding anytime soon.
The CFP board of managers held its annual meeting Monday, and chairman Mark Keenum released a statement saying, “As far as expanding the number of teams in the Playoff, it’s way too soon—much too soon—to know if that is even a possibility.”
Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic shared the statement that also said those in attendance were in “unanimous agreement that the Playoff has been a tremendous success”:
Nicole Auerbach @NicoleAuerbach
Statement released by the CFP about today’s meeting: https://t.co/zXiObPNj7C
The possibility of expanding the current system from its four-team field has been a talking point in college football of late, especially given recent developments.
Central Florida went undefeated in each of the last two regular seasons and was never seriously seen as a playoff threat, while Notre Dame making the field in 2018 and two SEC teams making it in 2017 left multiple power conferences on the outside.
There are four spots and five power conferences to begin with, so there will always be at least one of the five major leagues that is left out of the field.
The Big Ten knows that feeling of late, as its last three conference champions missed out (although Ohio State was an at-large bid in one of those years). Conference commissioner Jim Delaney said of potential expansion, “It’s probably a good idea, given all of the conversations and noise around the issue, to have discussions with our colleagues,” per Auerbach.
Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby echoed those sentiments when he said, per Auerbach, “It’s an appropriate thing to begin thinking about.”
One conference that has enjoyed plenty of success in the current system is the SEC, as it has never failed to send at least one team to the playoff since it was instituted prior to the 2014 campaign. Perhaps because of that, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said “the four-team playoff has worked exceptionally well,” per Brett McMurphy of Stadium.
He apparently doesn’t have to worry about that changing any time soon given Keenum’s insistence it is too early to discuss expansion, but the topic is on the forefront of the minds of many college football fans. That could lead to an eventual change, much like the switch from a two-team BCS Championship Game to the current four-team system.
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Why has Ukraine’s Orthodox church split from Russia?
The eastern Orthodox church has over 250 million members around the world, with its spiritual leader based in Istanbul.
But for followers in Ukraine, there’s a new found independence.
Churches there have officially cut ties with the Russian branch of the church – accusing it of what they call ‘pro-Moscow propaganda’.
But the decision has angered Russian leaders, with Moscow warning of serious consequences for what it calls political maneuvering.
Presenter: Elizabeth Puranam
Guests:
Valentin Yakushik – professor of political science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Marat Shterin – professor of sociology of religion and department head of theology and religious studies at King’s College London
Alexander Bratersky – senior foreign policy writer at Gazeta.ru newspaper
Source: Al Jazeera News
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Why Apple is supporting AirPlay 2 on TVs from LG, Samsung, and Vizio
Apple is all over CES 2019.
True, the California-based tech giant doesn’t have an official presence here, apart from a single, pointed billboard. Apple still ditches the show, even if the convention fawns all over its products in the form of innumerable iPhone and Mac accessories. But there’s more going on this year.
It started with Samsung, who made a surprise pre-show announcement that its 2019 smart TVs would support AirPlay 2, letting iOS users natively stream music and video from iPhones and iPads, mirror their screens, and use their devices as a remote control. Both LG and Vizio followed Apple in announcing AirPlay 2 support, and Apple made it official by updating its AirPlay webpage to say AirPlay 2-enabled TVs were “coming soon.”
SEE ALSO: It’s official: iPhones are too expensive
This is a big deal. No manufacturer can just add AirPlay support on their own. To get the official certification, they need to partner with Apple, which up till now has restricted the ability to speaker companies.
But Apple’s partnership with Samsung goes further. Samsung TVs will be the first ones to include iTunes, meaning owners can buy and play movies, TV shows, and music directly from Apple. In addition, LG and Vizio TVs will also include support for HomeKit, so iPhone users can control the sets via the Home app or even with Siri.
This is unusual for Apple, though not entirely unprecedented. It famously makes Apple Music available for Android devices, and if you go back even further, it offered iTunes on Windows to ensure Windows users didn’t have to buy a Mac to use an iPod. (Some attribute that decision as the key to how the iPod — and subsequently the iPhone and iPad — became runaway successes.)
If this were just about adding support for its latest standards to a few more devices, it would be notable, but not earth-shaking. But the iTunes move suggests this is about much more than simply giving AirPlay a boost. There’s more going on here, and it mostly has to do with Apple facing some hard truths:
1. Apple doesn’t own the streaming market
The Apple TV is a good product for Apple customers, but if you haven’t fully bought into the company’s ecosystem, there are any number of devices on the market that have most if not all of the feature of Apple TV for a much lower price. Amazon’s Fire TV, Google’s Chromecast, and Roku’s streaming devices are all more than capable competitors, sometimes with even more content to choose from. Unless you get most of your content from iTunes, there’s little reason to spend $149 on an Apple TV.
Besides preventing Apple TV from becoming a hit, the intense competition creates a downward spiral for iTunes. Since the service is only available on Apple devices, customers with other streaming devices will increasingly shift whatever attention they give to iTunes content toward cross-platform services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, and others.
Apple doesn’t break out iTunes revenue or give much in the way of numbers — especially for its video content. But the fact is, for video, Apple hasn’t been anywhere near the influence it once was for music, and the silo-ing of iTunes has been a big factor here.
So why open things up now? Well…
2. Apple’s TV service needs help
It’s clear Apple is up to something big when it comes to video. It’s been rumored to have a premium TV service in the works for years, something along the lines of what you’d get if Sling TV’s live OTT service and Netflix’s Originals had a baby. In the last year it’s signed some head-turning contracts with the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and even the creators of Sesame Street.
The Apple video service is certainly coming, but for the reasons outlined above, Apple TV can’t be the only vehicle for it. A service that’s confined to Apple devices by definition will have a smaller audience. Yes, Apple would sell some more Apple TVs as some consumers will see it as worth the price to get the content, but many won’t.
If the goal is to boost services — and Apple has repeatedly said, for years, that services are an extremely important and growing part of its business — those services need to reach the widest possible audience. Expanding iTunes beyond Apple devices will give Apple’s premium TV service the best chance of success.
3. Apple’s recent bad news, and what’s underlying it
All of this speaks to a larger issue, one that Apple’s investor note and stock drop last week directly addressed: Consumer behavior is changing, and Apple hasn’t done a good job of keeping up.
You can’t blame Apple for doubling and tripling down on the iPhone over the years, given how popular and profitable it was and still is. But the strategy behind it, which was, in the broadest sense, to keep its ecosystem walled off in order to sell more devices, isn’t going to fly if services are front and center.
The iPhone ride was always going to end, but to prevent last week’s news from being the beginning of a long decline, Apple needs to make adjustments to its business. For services, that means being open to putting them on competing platforms. It doesn’t mean the dam’s bursting — iMessage probably isn’t coming to Android anytime soon — but for content, you can probably expect iTunes and AirPlay coming to more devices.
Apple created a very successful business by building a walled garden, with the charge of admission being buying an Apple device. Now that the world outside has flourished in other ways, however, Apple has found it prudent to dismantle that wall, slowly and selectively, brick by brick.
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The new Congress is the most diverse ever
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Dwayne Haskins Declares for 2019 NFL Draft After Sophomore Season at Ohio State
Jay LaPrete/Associated Press
Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins will forgo his junior and senior seasons and enter the 2019 NFL draft.
Dwayne Haskins, Jr
@dh_simba7
They say that dreams come true
and when they do, that there’s a beautiful thing… Scarlet & Gray Forever #BuckeyeNation #ThankYou https://t.co/ngHQfLq8C7
Haskins is coming off a productive redshirt sophomore campaign that saw him throw for 4,831 yards, 50 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa.
There was a great deal of pressure on Haskins entering the 2018 season since he was taking over for J.T. Barrett, who ranks first in Ohio State history in career passing yardage and passing touchdowns.
Haskins was up to the task, as he set new OSU single-season marks in passing yards and passing scores.
Amid Haskins’ dominant season, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller reported on Nov. 16 that he planned to declare for the 2019 NFL draft in order to avoid being in the 2020 class with Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Georgia’s Jake Fromm.
There isn’t much of a consensus when it comes to quarterbacks in the 2019 NFL draft class, but NFL draft expert Benjamin Allbright appeared on 97.1 The Fan’s Carpenter and Rothman (h/t 247Sports’ Patrick Murphy) in October to discuss Haskins’ draft stock.
Allbright expressed his belief that Haskins would be the No. 1 or No. 2 quarterback off the board if he decided to declare.
Also, Allbright touched on his belief that Haskins is a developmental prospect who will need time to progress at the next level:
“He’s a tools guy that’s got everything you want. It’s going to take a while to kind of mold him into a pro quarterback. There’s a lot of potential there. He’s a guy that you have to turn from being an athlete thrower into a quarterback.
“How ready he is to start at the NFL level? He could be a year or two away. So you have to have a veteran in place, a guy that can be the placeholder, the stop-gap guy until you know he’s ready to be the guy if he even does come out.”
Although there are some question marks surrounding Haskins, his stock is high after what he was able to do as a first-year starter in 2018.
Another strong collegiate season may have solidified his status as a high pick, but he also would have risked injury by returning to school.
With Haskins leaving for the NFL, highly touted signal-caller Tate Martell is favored to take over as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback as a sophomore next season.
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Saudi Arabia deports dozens of Rohingya to Bangladesh: MEE
Dozens of Rohingya are being deported from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh, despite being from neighbouring Myanmar.
In video footage sent to Middle East Eye wesbite on Sunday, men are seen lined up for deportation at the Shumaisi detention centre in Jeddah.
Some Rohingya were also put in handcuffs after they attempted to resist their deportation to Bangladesh, according to voice notes sent to MEE.
The Rohingya man who filmed the footage said that the men who have been locked up in a Saudi detention centre for up to six years were being deported.
“I’ve been here for the last five to six years, now they are sending me to Bangladesh. Please pray for me,” the man in the video said.
Another recording sent to MEE recounted the events that led up to Sunday’s forcible removal.
“They came to our cells in the middle of the night at 12pm, telling us to pack our bags and get ready for Bangladesh,” a Rohingya detainee, who wished to remain anonymous, told MEE.
“Now I am in handcuffs and being taken to a country I’m not from – I am Rohingya, not Bangladeshi.”
#BREAKING The Saudi government is deporting hundreds of #Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh.
Here’s a video sent to me by an inmate in Shumaisi showing Rohingya being lined up, handcuffed, and prepared for deportation. pic.twitter.com/6gGWTVey5d
— Areeb Ullah (@are_eb) January 6, 2019
Many of them reportedly entered Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage visas but overstayed to work.
Some detainees locked up in Shumaisi told MEE they had lived in Saudi Arabia their whole life and had been sent to the detention centre after Saudi police found them with no papers.
‘No one is ready to help’
Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist told to Al Jazeera from Frankfurt, Germany, that most of the Rohingya entered Saudi Arabia in 2012 following violence breaking out in Rakhine state, searching for a better life.
Since then they have been supporting their families held in refugee camps in Bangladesh. When they land in Dhaka, they will become refugees and transported to refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar.
|
US law firm says Myanmar committed genocide against Rohingya |
Nay San explained that upon entering Saudi Arabia, their fingerprints had been registered as “Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepalese” as the Rohingya identity isn’t accepted.
“According to Saudi law, since they are registered as a different nationality, we can’t do anything in terms of legal help,” Nay San said.
“Saudi brought four embassy officials to the detention centre. Three embassies refused [to accept them]; Bangladesh was the only one to accept them.”
Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar are described as the most persecuted minority in the world.
Nearly a million Rohingya were forced to take shelter in Bangladesh after Myanmar’s army, responding to attacks by an armed group, launched a brutal campaign against the minority in the country’s western Rakhine state in 2017.
The Rohingya have faced persecution in Myanmar for decades. The military government, which took power following a coup in 1962, stripped the Rohingya of citizenship in 1982.
Since 2012, following deadly riots between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya, tens of thousands of people from the minority have been forced to live in squalid internment camps.
|
Thousands of Rohingya refugees protest repatriation plan |
“They have been in an open-air prison for decades,” Nay San said. “The genocide is ongoing there. No one can have a Myanmar passport to travel outside of Myanmar.
“They are not even allowed to travel from one town to another in Rakhine state. These people who are now being deported… managed to get in with different passports through smugglers.
Nay San said that human rights activists have been appealing to Saudi authorities for the past two years and that he has approached Saudi officials, diplomats, but “no one is ready to help”.
Activists are approaching the European government to appeal to the Saudi authorities, he said.
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AP College Basketball Poll 2019: Complete Week 10 Rankings Released
Gerry Broome/Associated Press
The Duke Blue Devils reminded college basketball fans why they are the current kings of the sport with a convincing 87-68 win over Clemson on Saturday in their first action since Dec. 20.
While they maintained their spot atop the rankings, a number of challengers flexed their muscles in marquee games. Michigan handled a conference test against Indiana with ease and remained undefeated, Virginia defeated Florida State in a Top 10 showdown, and Michigan State earned a notable road victory over Ohio State in a Top 15 matchup.
There were also some poll-altering upsets, with Iowa State beating Kansas, New Mexico crushing Nevada and Alabama edging Kentucky.
The result was a shakeup in the Monday rankings when the Associated Press revealed its latest Top 25.
1. Duke
2. Michigan
3. Tennessee
4. Virginia
5. Gonzaga
6. Michigan State
7. Kansas
8. Texas Tech
9. Virginia Tech
10. Nevada
11. Auburn
12. North Carolina
13. Florida State
14. Mississippi State
15. North Carolina State
16. Ohio State
17. Houston
18. Kentucky
19. Buffalo
20. Iowa State
21. Marquette
22. Indiana
23. Oklahoma
24. St. John’s
25. TCU
A number of games jump out this coming week, including an in-state clash between North Carolina and North Carolina State.
The ACC isn’t all about Duke, and early positioning in the conference race will be on the line between these rivals. The Tar Heels are in the middle of an up-and-down season, with a win over Gonzaga but losses to Michigan, Kentucky and Texas. The fact that they missed multiple opportunities in nonconference play puts more pressure on getting off to a quick start during the ACC slate with Selection Sunday looming.
They will have to go through a North Carolina State team that has lost just one time all season in a nail-biter at Wisconsin. Part of the Wolfpack’s great record is thanks to a relatively light nonconference schedule outside of Auburn, so this is a chance to make a statement as ACC contenders who will make noise in March.
Elsewhere, Kansas’ grip on the Big 12 appears somewhat tenuous after it lost to Iowa State and announced big man Udoka Azubuike will miss the rest of the season with ligament damage in his right hand.
The Jayhawks have won 14 straight regular-season conference crowns, and games like Tuesday’s battle between Oklahoma and Texas Tech will go a long way toward determining which teams, if any, will emerge as challengers to the throne.
The Blue Devils, meanwhile, will face a new test this week—true road games.
Mike Krzyzewski’s team has yet to play a true road game this season, but that will change with matchups at Wake Forest and at Florida State. The Seminoles lost on the road to Virginia by double digits but have already defeated the likes of Florida, LSU and Purdue and will look to bolster their resume versus mighty Duke.
Duke receives the opponent’s best shot on a nightly basis given its history and NBA talent in Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish, among others, but the young core will play in front of raucous opposing crowds at the collegiate level for the first time with ACC positioning and the top spot in next week’s Top 25 on the line.
How they handle it should give college basketball fans a preview of what is to come in the pressure-packed moments of late February and March.
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Treasury weighing whether to issue tax refunds during shutdown
The agency is divided over whether it has the legal authority to both summon furloughed employees back to work to process the refunds. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
The Treasury Department plans to announce probably Wednesday or Thursday whether millions of Americans will see their tax refunds delayed this year because of the partial government shutdown.
The agency is divided over whether it has the legal authority to both summon furloughed employees back to work to process the refunds and also if it has the power to issue the payments amid the standoff over President Donald Trump’s demand for funding of a border wall.
Story Continued Below
Officials have been examining the issue exhaustively, a senior administration official said, and expect to have answers around midweek.
“We’re trying to figure out legally what the right answer is here — what we’re allowed to do,” the official said. “If it was settled, I’d tell you, but it’s not.”
The prospect of delayed refunds hangs over the budget impasse, now in its third week with no sign of lawmakers resolving the dispute. Any holdup in refunds threatens to amp up public unhappiness with the standoff because of the sheer number of Americans who receive refunds.
More than 70 percent of taxpayers typically get money back at tax time and, for many, it is the largest single payment they receive all year. Lower-income people, who are particularly reliant on refunds, tend to file early.
Tax-filing season typically begins in late January, with refunds starting to go out the door soon thereafter. Last year, by Feb. 16, the IRS had doled out $103 billion in refunds to 33 million Americans.
The legal questions the department is now working through are arcane. There is “some art as opposed to science in determining who can get recalled during a shutdown,” the official said.
Also, there is a pot of money the agency could potentially use to keep refunds flowing on time, known as a “continuing appropriation,” but officials are divided over whether it is affected by the shutdown.
“There are really good arguments both ways,” the official said.
Treasury’s decision will include details like when this year’s filing season will begin, the official said.
The official criticized the “frenzy” of speculation over the prospects of refunds being held up.
“I just don’t know that it’s worth all the time and effort that it’s getting,” the official said. “It’s speculation at this point, until the decision is made.”
House Democrats, hoping to increase pressure on the administration, plan to move legislation this week funding the IRS.
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Bryan Singer Thanks Golden Globes For Bohemian Rhapsody Win (But No One Will Thank Him)
Getty Images
The controversy that marred Bohemian Rhapsody‘s tumultuous production has shadowed the film all the way to awards season, but that hasn’t stopped the film from collecting its things on the way to the Oscars. On Sunday night (January 6), the film took home two Golden Globes, one for star Rami Malek and another for the film itself: Best Motion Picture, Drama.
It was a surprise for many reasons. Bohemian Rhapsody received mixed reviews from critics, and while it made money at the box office, it didn’t have the cultural resonance of some of the category’s other nominated films, namely A Star Is Born and the year’s highest-grossing film, Black Panther. The Queen biopic also suffered serious blows during production.
Getty ImagesJim Beach, Roger Taylor and Brian May of Queen, Rami Malek, producer Graham King, and actor Mike Myers
In 2017, director Bryan Singer was fired from the project midway through filming after his repeated absences from set caused serious friction between him and the studio and, reportedly, Malek. (Singer has also been accused of sexual assault.) Dexter Fletcher stepped in to finish the film because, well, the show must go on — but there was no mention of Singer on Sunday night, despite the fact that his name is still listed in the credits as “director.”
Instead, upon accepting their awards, Malek and producer Graham King chose to focus on the efforts of the cast, crew, and most importantly, Queen and Freddie Mercury. “The power of movies is that it brings us all together,” the producer said onstage. “Freddie Mercury and Queen did that so successfully through their music and that’s what we always wanted to accomplish in the cinema.”
When pressed backstage to account for Singer’s role in the film, the question was avoided altogether. One of the producers responded, “That’s not something we should talk about tonight,” before Queen’s Brian May added, “Good question, though.”
Meanwhile, Malek chose to redirect the conversation entirely: “There’s only one thing we needed to do, and that was to celebrate Freddie Mercury.”
As for Singer, the director acknowledged the film’s big Golden Globe win on social media, posting a behind-the-scenes photo from set — with himself in the director’s chair. “What an honor,” he wrote, before thanking the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the award.
While Bohemian Rhapsody‘s win at the Golden Globes does give the troubled film momentum heading into the Oscars, it’s not a particularly strong indicator of its chances, especially if the backlash continues to pick up steam. And let’s not forget that there’s not a lot of overlap between the two voting bodies of these awards — and as the Academy becomes more diverse, so do the films it champions.
Of course with Oscar voting kicking off today (January 7), we’ll have to wait and see.
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