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The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
LONGHORNS & SOONERS DO NOT RENEW GRANT OF MEDIA RIGHTS WITH BIG 12
Oklahoma and Texas officially notified the Big 12 on Monday that they will not be renewing their grants of media rights after their expiration in 2025, according to a joint statement released by both schools. Big 12 sources told ESPN on Monday that the statement leaves some “wiggle room” and doesn’t fully guarantee that the flagship schools would remain in the league through 2025. The possibility remains that they will pay the $75-80 million penalty for leaving early, while also giving the required 18 months’ notice, per Big 12 bylaws. Based on the expected move to join the SEC, the next step would be for the schools to formally announce they want to join the conference. Then the SEC would need 11 of its 14 presidents and chancellors to agree to extend an invitation to the two schools.
[SOURCE: espn.com – ENGAGEMENT: 15.32%]
13-YEAR-OLD OLYMPIC SKATEBOARDERS SOME OF THE YOUNGEST MEDAL WINNERS
At 13 years old, skateboarder Momiji Nishiya of Japan just became one of the youngest gold medal winners ever at the Olympic Games. The girls standing by her side on the podium? Also teenagers. Nishiya took home the gold Monday in the women’s street competition — which debuted in Tokyo for the very first time. It sealed her nation’s fate as the current dominating force in skateboarding, following a win by Yuto Horigome in the men’s competition the day prior. Nishiya landed her final three tricks and was awarded big scores to beat out Rayssa Leal of Brazil, also just 13. More than half of the women in the final competition were in their teens — Funa Nakayama of Japan, who clinched the bronze medal, is the eldest medal winner at 16.
[SOURCE: cbsnews.com – ENGAGEMEN: 8.90%]
NAOMI OSAKA KNOCKED OUT OF OLYMPICS IN STRAIGHT SETS
Naomi Osaka was knocked out of the women’s singles tennis at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday when she suffered a surprise defeat in the third round of competition to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. Vondrousova, the 2019 French Open runner-up, is ranked no. 42 in the world. She beat Osaka, who is ranked no. 2, in just 1 hour and 8 minutes of play. That makes Vondrousova the first player to move through to the quarter-finals. Vondrousova beat Osaka 6-1, 6-4 in the third round of competition at the Ariake Tennis Park. The roof was closed on Tuesday due to rain from the incoming Tropical Storm Nepartak.
[SOURCE: time.com – ENGAGEMENT: 8.24%]
TUNISIA’S PM SACKED AFTER VIOLENT COVID PROTESTS
Tunisia’s president has sacked the PM and suspended parliament, after violent mass protests nationwide on Sunday. Anger over the government’s handling of a massive recent spike in Covid cases has added to general unrest over the nation’s economic and social turmoil. President Kais Saied, who was elected in 2019, announced he was taking over. His supporters erupted in celebration, but opponents in parliament immediately accused him of staging a coup. Clashes among rival groups continued on Monday. They threw stones at each other outside the legislature, which has been barricaded by troops, who have also prevented workers from entering some government buildings.
[SOURCE: bbc.com – ENGAGEMENT: 6.59%]
OLYMPIC BROADCASTERS CURB SEXUAL IMAGES OF FEMALE ATHLETES
At an Olympics aiming to set the highest level of television standards, the head of broadcasting at the Tokyo Games is trying to banish overly sexualized images of female athletes. “Sport appeal, not sex appeal” is one mantra Olympic officials push in an effort to reach gender equity on the field of play and on screen. “You will not see in our coverage some things that we have been seeing in the past, with details and close-up on parts of the body,” Olympic Broadcasting Services chief executive Yiannis Exarchos said Monday. That can be difficult with state-of-the-art technology filming sports — such as beach volleyball, gymnastics, swimming and track — where female athletes’ uniforms can be scant and skimpy. To achieve this, the IOC updated “Portrayal Guidelines” to steer all Olympic sports and their rights holders toward “gender-equal and fair” broadcasts of their events. Advice includes “do not focus unnecessarily on looks, clothing or intimate body parts” and reframing or deleting a “wardrobe malfunction … to respect the integrity of the athlete.”
[SOURCE: yahoo.com – ENGAGMENT: 4.78%]
BODY OF TEXAS FIREFIGHTER IS ‘FOUND IN BATHROOM WINDOW IN CANCUN’
A Texas firefighter was found dead at a resort in Cancun while on vacation to celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary. Mexican authorities discovered the body of 35-year-old Elijah Snow, of Arlington, last Monday and opened an investigation. ‘The circumstances in which the events occurred are being investigated,’ officials wrote in a social media post from the state attorney general’s office for Quintana Roo, Fiscalía General Quintana Roo. Snow’s body was ‘located in a bathroom window’ at a hotel but it was not the resort where Snow had been staying but about half an hours drive, or 10 miles away from the beachfront hotels of Cancun. So far, Snow’s cause of death has not been released but family members think he may have been killed after a possible kidnapping. Adding to the confusion, Snow’s wife, Jamie Snow, was told that her husband had in fact died after falling over a wall while at the Cancun resort where they were staying, but the family do not believe the explanation.
[SOURCE: msn.com – ENGAGEMENT: 4.61%]
TESLA MODEL 3 OWNERS ARE MOST SATISFIED ELECTRIC CAR OWNERS IN NORWAY
Norway’s Electric Car Association has released the results from its “Electric Car List 2021,” which includes survey responses on how satisfied electric vehicle owners are with their vehicles. It should be said first of all that owners of many different models love their vehicles. Nonetheless, there has to be a winner, and this year it is again a Tesla model, the Model 3. Tesla has led these results before, but the Kia e-Niro actually climbed in front of it in 2020. This year, the Model 3 reclaimed its position on top of the mountain while the e-Niro at least kept a grip on the silver medal. Another Tesla, the Model X, got bronze.
[SOURCE: cleantechnica.com – ENGAGEMENT: 3.95%]
US AIR FORCE TO SEND F-22 FIGHTER JETS TO THE PACIFIC AMID TENSIONS WITH CHINA
The United States Air Force is sending more than two dozen F-22 stealth fighters to an exercise in the western Pacific this month, an unusually large deployment of the powerful jets that analysts say sends a strong message to a possible adversary in China. Pacific Air Forces in Hawaii this week said approximately 25 F-22s Raptors from the Hawaii Air National Guard and from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, will deploy this month to Guam and Tinian islands for Operation Pacific Iron 2021. Deploying a large number of F-22s for the exercise sends an immediate message to China at a time when relations are tense over Pacific flashpoints like Taiwan and the South China Sea, said Carl Schuster, a Hawaii-based defense analyst and a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center. Normal F-22 deployments consist of six to 12 aircraft, he said.
[SOURCE: msn.com – ENGAGEMENT: 3.29%]
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