Sports shorts No College Football Playoff games on New Year’s Eve

The College Football Playoff is moving the dates of future semifinals to ensure the games will be played either on a Saturday or a holiday.

The changes will start with the 2018 season and come in response to the television ratings for last year’s games played on Thursday, Dec. 31, dropping 36 percent from the semifinals played the season before on New Year’s Day.

This season’s semifinals are still set for Saturday, Dec. 31. Next season’s playoff is scheduled to be back on Jan. 1. After 2018, the games initially scheduled to be played on New Year’s Eve, will now be played Saturday, Dec. 29.

The Green Bay Packers welcomed House speaker and lifelong fan Paul Ryan to training camp July 28.

The presidential campaign was out of bounds for the Wisconsin Republican. He and his family met coach Mike McCarthy and his favorite player, quarterback Aaron Rodgers

Ryan couldn’t stop smiling as he watched practice and talked football.

He also spoke to the team at midfield after practice. Ryan said he was nervous in spite of all the big speeches that he’s made in Congress. He says the Packers can “go all the way” if they stay heathy.

The Atlanta Falcons were cautious on the opening day of training camp Thursday, pulling star wide receiver Julio Jones out of practice with an injury coach Dan Quinn described as minor.

Quinn wouldn’t describe the injury, and Jones showed no apparent difficulty as he walked off the field at the end of the session.

“He just had a little tweak, so we just decided to hold him,” Quinn said. “He’ll likely be back in there tomorrow. He could have come back in today and he was asking me to, but I decided not to.”