LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A familiar face is back at No. 1 as Oregon makes a quick return to the top spot in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll, announced Tuesday by the Association.

 

The Ducks (35-5), which held the top position just two weeks ago, are coming off a Pac-12 series sweep of then-No. 19 Arizona State (7-0, 12-3, 4-3). Oregon received 22 out of a possible 32 first-place votes and 787 points. The Ducks have won five straight and 19 of their last 21. 

After holding down the No. 3 ranking since March 17, Florida received seven first-place votes and 773 points to move up to No. 2 this week. The Gators (39-4) picked up three wins over ranked foes, defeating in-state foe and then-No. 8 Florida State (5-1) and taking the first two games from then-No. 13 Kentucky (1-0, 6-3) this weekend.

Previous No. 1 LSU tallied the final three first-place votes (726 points), but fell two positions to No. 3 after a .500 week. A pair of SEC road wins at then-No. 11 Tennessee (5-1, 7-4) were sandwiched around two losses; in the finale to the Lady Vols (5-8) and a mid-week non-conference road test at SEC rival Mississippi State (4-9).

Michigan (699), Oklahoma (669), Alabama (636) and Auburn (602) stayed put at No. 4 through 7. UCLA (572) and Louisiana-Lafayette (535) inched up to No. 8 and No. 9, respectively, while Florida State (473) fell to the 10^th spot.

The Wolverines (37-6), Sooners (36-5) and Bruins (35-8) enjoyed 4-0 weeks, which included league series road sweeps of Rutgers (18-0, 16-3, 5-0), RV Texas (8-0, 3-1, 4-1) and Stanford (12-4, 18-3, 10-2), respectively.

Before enjoying their SEC weekend bye, the Crimson Tide (31-9) earned resounding wins at then-RV UAB (10-0) and at home over Middle Tennessee State (11-0). Auburn became one of the first two teams (No. 17 UCF) to reach the 40-win plateau after a 3-1 week. The Tigers (40-6) topped UAB (10-6) and took two-of-three at Texas A&M (8-1, 4-12, 12-4).

The Ragin’ Cajuns (32-5) picked up a pair of ranked wins at home over then-No. 14 Baylor (3-1, 12-2), while the Seminoles (30-11) went 1-2, falling to then-No. 3 Florida and splitting the first two ACC games at Louisville (0-1, 9-1).

Notre Dame (32-11) makes its return to the poll at No. 25 since last being ranked 23^rd in the March 3 poll.

The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference.  Current 2015 records are shown and first-place votes are in parentheses.

USA Today/NFCA Division I Softball Poll – April 14, 2015

1

Oregon (22)

35-5

787

2

2

Florida (7)

39-4

773

3

3

LSU (3)

38-5

726

1

4

Michigan

37-6

699

4

5

Oklahoma

36-5

669

5

6

Alabama

31-9

636

6

7

Auburn

40-6

602

7

8

UCLA

35-8

572

9

9

Louisiana-Lafayette

32-5

535

10

10

Florida State

34-11

473

8

11

Georgia

35-10

458

12

12

Tennessee

30-11

451

11

13

Minnesota

33-7

421

15

14

Kentucky

27-13

379

13

15

UCF

40-6

343

17

16

Arizona

33-10

328

16

17

Baylor

29-9

321

14

18

California

31-9

245

20

19

Washington

35-11

211

18

20

Missouri

26-10

179

21

21

Arizona State

27-15

165

19

22

South Alabama

31-7

144

22

23

James Madison

32-6

95

24

24

Texas A&M

32-12

81

23

25

Notre Dame

32-11

48

RV

New to Poll: No. 25 Notre Dame

Dropped out: No. 25 Kansas (33-7) 

Others Receiving Votes: Kansas (15), Mississippi State (15), USC Upstate (7), Texas (7), North Dakota State (6), Western Kentucky (5), Cal State Northridge (3), South Carolina (1).

MGM and Orion Pictures have released a new poster for Child’s Play, the Chucky reboot, that reveals a June 21, 2019 release date.

“More than a toy… he’s your best friend,” reads the poster, which depicts a warehouse full of boxes of Buddi toys. A box in the foreground gives a good look at the packaging, which includes a WiFi signal above the “i” in Buddi. Icons along the side of the box indicate Buddi can be controlled by phones, tablets, and computers when connected to WiFi.

All of this indicates that the Child’s Play remake will put a modern stamp on the 1988 original’s formula. In September, it was revealed that Child’s Play will chronicle how things take a turn for the worst after a mother named Karen (Aubrey Plaza) gifts her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a toy doll that, unbeknownst to them, has an evil nature.

The reboot was first said to be in the works in July. A TV series is also reportedly being developed, but it’s said to follow the most recent line of Child’s Play films including 2017’s Cult of Chucky, rather than being set in the same universe as the reboot.

Nick Santangelo is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. He loves video games and sports, but not sports video games. Follow him on Twitter.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Defending National Champion Florida will start the 2015 campaign at No. 1 as the Gators (55-12) received 20 first-place votes and totaled 699 points to claim the top spot in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Preseason Top 25.

 

Coming off its first WCWS title, Florida, under the direction of Tim Walton, opens the season at No. 1 for the second time (2009) in program history. In 2014, the Gators spent five straight weeks in the top spot (Feb. 18-Mar. 18) before returning there at the end of the season.

Oregon (56-9-1), which reached the WCWS semifinals, was a mere five points (694) behind Florida after receiving eight first-place votes. National runner-up Alabama (53-13) chimed in at No. 3 with 648 points, while Oklahoma (51-13) received a first-place vote and 613 points and Florida State rounded out the top-5 with 571 points.

Coming in at No. 6 was Kentucky (50-19) with 565 points and at No. 7 with 536 points, UCLA. Rounding out the top-10 were Michigan (47-15), Louisiana (49-10-1) and national semifinalist Baylor (49-16).

To view the complete USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll, please click this LINK.

The Southeastern Conference led the way with nine total selections, while the Pacific-12 Conference added five and the Big 10 Conference three teams in the preseason rankings. The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference boasted a pair of programs, respectively, while the Big East Conference and American Athletic Conference each had one squad represented.

The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference. Final 2014 records are shown, first-place votes are in parentheses.

The federal government recently legislated Canada Post employees back to work following weeks of rotating strikes. But with Christmas just around the corner, an unprecedented backlog of undelivered packages has forced the agency to cancel its holiday delivery guarantee.

“We’ve been working through [the backlog] but more and more comes and it’s more than we’re able to get out the door,” Canada Post spokesperson John Hamilton told CTV News.

Typically, it’s the agency’s most lucrative time of year: parcel revenue grew by $393 million in 2017 compared to the year before, and the bulk of that haul happened during the Christmas season. They delivered around one million parcels per day for 40 consecutive days during the holidays, notching a 20 per cent increase from 2016, which was also a record-breaking year.

But now that Canada Post customers can expect lengthy waits for the foreseeable future — international parcels could be even delayed to March 2019 — a crop of nimble alternative shipping services are stepping in to fill the vacuum during the height of holiday gift-giving.

eShipper, a Toronto-based company founded in 2005, takes a sweep of available carriers — including Purolator, DHL and UPS — and finds customers the best rate to deliver their goods anywhere in the world.

The process is pretty simple: you create an online account, get a quote, print a label and send it off. Customers get free package pick-up from their home or office, which will probably prove convenient once the apocalyptic snowstorms get started.

Imtiaz Kermali, eShipper’s vice president of sales and business development, says providing customers with a competitive alternative to Canada Post is part of the company’s business model. He described eShipper as the “Expedia of shipping.”

“My job as a salesperson is to go into the system and compare the rate you pay with Canada Post and beat it,” Kermali told HuffPost Canada.

ShipTime, Inc. offers a similar service for consumers and small businesses alike.

“If you’re a small business with limited volume, you’re able to tap into our collective buying power to get cost-effective rates for all kinds of shipping,” Allan Pratt, president and CEO of the Oakville-based company told HuffPost.

Pratt says business has grown significantly since the strike was announced in the fall.

For entrepreneurs across the country, Chit Chats offers another option: they will drive your packages across the border, dump them in the USPS’ mail stream and save you money.

The business essentially began in 1998, when company founder Derek Nolan figured he could drive packages from Durham, Ont., across the border himself to circumvent expensive Canadian shipping costs. When his neighbours caught wind of the idea, they started to load Nolan’s station wagon with their U.S.-bound packages, too.

Today, Chit Chats offers free online sign-ups and 18 drop-off locations across Canada. They are planning to open nine more in the new year.

“We benefit every time a Canada Post strike happens,” Juhee Cha, communications manager for Chit Chats, told HuffPost. She reported four times the usual Chit Chats account sign-ups and a 30 per cent increase in shipping volume since the strikes were announced.

There is a catch, though: in order to comply with border regulations and ship duty-free, packages from small businesses must be valued at less than $800 USD.

For many small and micro-businesses, that limit isn’t a problem.

According to Cha, customers on Vancouver Island, where there is no drop-off location, are willing to cough up the cost of shipping to a Vancouver or Richmond drop-off location: it’s still cheaper, and faster, than shipping directly to the U.S.

The process works well for Maps As Art, a Sechelt, B.C.company that designs custom-made maps. Cha said the firm saves $8 per package compared to Canada Post.

“If you know the cost of shipping is the same cost as the item you’re trying to deliver, your business is just not viable,” Cha said. “People don’t want just shut their businesses down because they can’t ship to their customers. We offer them a viable way not to do that.”

While Pratt of ShipTime Inc. has weathered five Canada Post strikes during the 30 years he has worked in the shipping business, he described today’s circumstances as “exasperating.”

“Any strike or threat of strike puts incredible strain on a carrier’s entire infrastructure,” he said. “But I have never experienced this kind of pressure on the system so close to peak season. “

Carriers are indeed feeling the strain: some, like FedEx, have limited the services they’ll provide for new customers, opting to first clear out bursting warehouses.

Still, it’s not all bad.

Pratt said that the holidays typically produce a 35 per cent spike in business, but ShipTime Inc.’s volumes have already exceeded that figure.

Kermali at eShipper echoed the sentiment.

“The business we were able to do in four weeks, we’ve done it in two.”

The first two games of the 2015 Women’s College World Series Championship Finals between the defending national champion/No. 1 Florida and No. 3 Michigan (best-of-three game series) have resulted in the most-watched WCWS Championship Finals Game 1 ever (Monday, June 1) and college softball’s highest overnight rating in eight years (Game 2 on Tuesday, June 2). Additionally, with Florida’s 3-2 victory in Game 1 and  Michigan’s 1-0 win in Game 2, the Gators and Wolverines will play just the fourth decisive WCWS Championship Finals Game 3 (Wednesday, June 3, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN) in history.  The 2015 WCWS Championship Finals are coming off an ESPN record-setting 2015 Women’s College World Series bracket round (May 28 – May 31).

 

Defending National Champion/No. 1 Florida vs. No. 3 Michigan is Most-Watched WCWS Championship Finals Game 1 Ever

2015 WCWS Finals Game 2: College Softball’s Highest Overnight in Eight Years

Only Fourth Ever Decisive WCWS Championship Finals Game 3 Tonighton ESPN (8 p.m. ET)

The 2015 WCWS Championship Finals Game 1 was watched by 1,542,000 average viewers (off a 1.0 rating), topping the 2009 WCWS Championship Finals Game 1 (Washington vs. Florida) for the most-watched WCWS Championship Finals Game 1 ever (1,412,000 viewers). Tuesday night’s Game 2 garnered a 1.2 overnight rating, resulting in college softball’s highest overnight rating since the 2007 WCWS Championship Finals Game 2 (Tennessee and Arizona)  which earned  a 1.4 overnight. Combined, the 2015 WCWS Championship Finals Games 1 and 2 has averaged a 1.1 overnight, tying it for the second most-watched WCWS Championship Finals Game 1 and Game 2 on record (since 2007).

Additionally, 2015 WCWS Championship Finals Game 1 audience and Game 2 overnight are up 37% (1,126,000 viewers) and 33% (0.9 overnight rating), respectively, compared to the 2014 WCWS Championship Finals Game 1 and Game 2 which featured Alabama vs. Florida.

Please note: Only overnight rating (and not audience numbers) were available for Game 2 when this release was issued

Top Markets (Combined Games 1 and Games 2)

Detroit is the highest-rated local market with a 3.7 rating, followed by Birmingham (3.2), Knoxville (2.9), Jacksonville & Oklahoma City (2.6), Orlando (2.5), Tampa (2.1), Nashville (2.0) and Dayton (1.9).

WatchESPN

The 2015 WCWS Championship Finals Game 1 and Game 2 (combined) has experienced a 120% growth in average minute audience and a 84% spike in total unique viewers on WatchESPN compared to the 2014 WCWS Finals Game 1 and 2.

2015 Women’s College World Series Championship Finals Game 3 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)

With only the fourth decisive Game 3 to be played tonight, both Florida and Michigan are looking to make history. The Gators would be just the third team to win back-to-back national championships joining UCLA and Arizona – who have each done it multiple times.

Michigan, also going for its second national championship, is trying to duplicate what it did in 2005 – rebound to win both Game 2 and Game 3 after dropping Game 1. In fact, in the other two years (2007, 2012) which a Game 3 was needed, both times the winner of Game 2 went on to win Game 3 (Arizona and Alabama).

— Courtesy of ESPN

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Meghan Markle doesn’t have a big family, and as we all know, her father probably won’t be in the running for world’s best parent any time soon. But she’s close with her mother, Doria Ragland — and according to reports, the two might get even closer.

Depending how trustworthy you find tabloids, there is growing evidence that Ragland is preparing to move to London to be closer to Meghan, her only child. According to Express, she’s “beside herself with excitement” about the move, which will reportedly happen next month.

“She is getting ready to move to London. I think she will be going as soon as possible,” a friend of Ragland’s, who of course could not be named, apparently told Express. “She also fell in love with England and told me when she got back that it’s somewhere she believes she too could happily live.”

Another source told the paper that Meghan and her mother are “inseparable.”

It’s not impossible that a move might be coming: Ragland, 61, quit her job at an L.A. mental health clinic in May. She was a social worker focusing on geriatric patients, and also taught yoga on the side.

Of course, some people see the news about Meghan’s mom as a precursor to Meghan and Harry becoming parents themselves. “Following rumours that Meghan and Harry will start a family of their own in the near future, it makes sense that Ragland would want to be much nearer her daughter,” Harper’s Bazaar wrote. (Not to add to that speculation, or anything, but this might be a good time to point out that when they first got engaged and a BBC reporter asked them if they planned to have children, Harry said, “Of course.”)

In an essay published in Glamour last summer, Meghan cited her mother as one of the women who changed her life. She praised her mother’s “life-long sensitivity to nurturing and caregiving” as well as her “free spirit.”

“We can just have so much fun together, and yet, I’ll still find so much solace in her support,” she wrote. “That duality coexists the same way it would in a best friend.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk apparently tried (unsuccessfully) to work with Nintendo on an in-car version of Mario Kart.

On Twitter earlier today, Musk was asked about the potential of making certain games playable in Teslas. Specifically, someone asked about Mario Kart.

“How about a version of Mario Kart where you can play against random people who are also charging their car at the moment?” asked @rocketisfine.

“We tried,” replied Musk. “Nintendo won’t license it to us.”

Mario Kart isn’t the only game people want to play in their Teslas, either. Another Twitter user asked about the possibility of putting Steam in Teslas. It doesn’t sound like Tesla has looked into that yet, but Musk responded, “That would be cool.”

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The idea of playing video games in a Tesla isn’t as far-fetched as it may seem. In August, Musk announced that some classic Atari games would be made playable in Teslas. He delivered on that promise in October, and readers can watch IGN play games like Missile Command and Centipede in a Tesla.

Nick Santangelo is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. He loves video games and sports, but not sports video games. Follow him on Twitter.