[1) It is Saturday, May 19. Defrocked Dolphins safety Yeremiah Bell signs with Jets, and Miami's best rivalry just got a shade better. 2) It's a perfect day to join us on Twitter @gregcote. Click Perfect Day to hear Lou Reed perform his magnificently sad song live. 3) R.I.P., Donna Summer, taken by cancer at 63. 4) Drinks on me if Ed Reed really retires].
Click Heat: Ice Cold & Wrong Kind Of Hot for my column from Indianapolis off Thursday's loss.
PLOT THICKENS: HEAT CANCEL FRIDAY PRACTICE, MEDIA SESSION: The Heat canceled a scheduled early-afternoon practice yesterday in Indianapolis and subsequent media availability. It might not mean too much. After all, the pacers had the day off, too. But it is tempting to read a lot into it considering Miami is coming off a huge Game 3 loss that clearly showed signs of internal strife including Dwyane Wade (in the midst of a 5-point game) having heated words with coach Erik Spoelstra. Other media reports also indicate Udonis Haslem is upset with his diminished role in this postseason.
G3: PACERS DOMINATE SECOND HALF, CRUSH HEAT: Indiana wins 94-75 for as 2-1 series lead as Miami is held to 32 second-half points. Mario Chalmers big with 25 points and LeBron James adds 22 but Dwyane Wade a ghost with five points on 2-for-13 shooting. ..... It's 43-43 at halftime despite Dwyane Wade with 0 points. (And despite Dexter Pittman starting at center). ..... Pregame: Coach Erik Spoelstra just said: "As we get into the game that's when we have to do reads [on lineup changes]. We have to do that more than ever now. With Chris [Bosh] out, everything is on the table. The game will dictate. We don't have a history or a long blueprint with this dynamic." There is a fine line, is there not, between adapting-as-we-go and flying by the seat of one's pants? Original post: I have just arrived in Indianapolis for tonight's Game 3 of Heat-Pacers in the NBA playoffs' second round, the teams square at 1-1. It feels like (doesn't mean it is) the fulcrum game that will determine the favorite to win this best-of-7 and advance. A lot of extraneous noise followed Miami's home loss the other night, such as who took the last shot (Mario Chalmers!?) and how LeBron James and Dwyane Wade -- despite their combined 52 points -- failed to come up huge in the closing minutes. Of course the more telling bottom line is that, without injured Chris Bosh, Miami looked like a two-man team with no No. 3 raising his hand and stepping forward. Chalmers? Udonis Haslem? Mike Miller? Shane Battier? Anybody? Somebody other than LeBron or Dwyane will stand up tonight or the Heat's grand championship plan will seem in jeopardy.
LEBRON AMONG 17 ATHLETES ON 100-MOST-POWERFUL-CELEBS LIST: Remember when Forbes was a serious business magazine? Now Forbes puts out lists like its latest: the 100 Most Powerful Celebrities. No. 1 overall is Dolphins-ownership-favorite Jennifer Lopez, calling into question the entire list. The slew of athletes on the list are: 12. Tiger Woods, 15. LeBron James, 27. Kobe Bryant, 31. Roger Federer, 32. David Beckham, 33. Manny Pacquiao, 40. Peyton Manning, 44. Cristiano Ronaldo, 47. Rafael Nadal, 48. Phil Mickelson, 50. Lionel Messi, 52. Floyd Mayweather, 60. Tom Brady, 63. Alex Rodriguez, 71. Maria Sharapova, 77. Serena Williams, and 87. Li Na.
DOLPHINS' ROSS LAGS 25TH AMONG NFL OWNERS: That's via biglead.com but the estimation seems reasonable, with a mention of the botched Jim Harbaugh non-hiring and the appraisal, "[Ross] seems willing to spend big, but not necessarily how to spend it." Bookending the rankings: Patriots' Robert Kraft predictably No. 1 and Browns' Randy Lerner dead last.
LE BATARD FRONTS ESPN'S HISPANIC STRATEGY: ESPN president John Skipper in a new interview portrays Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable as a key to the network's very targeted efforts at increasing its footprint among Hispanic viewers. Pictured: an and his father, "Papi," on the unqieu fake-kitchen set. "We as a company need to get a higher participation by Latino viewers in the U.S.," Skipper said. "We under-index with Hispanic viewers. They are 12 to 14 percent of the population and our average show is more like 6 to 8 percent Hispanic. The LeBatard show immediately has the highest composition of any show we have among Hispanic Americans. So that show has the purpose of beginning to help Latinos understand that ESPN is for them, which is also why we are hiring more Hispanic talent. We have commercials in Spanish. We are doing a lot of La Liga games in Spanish. Given the importance of that portion of our population over the next few years, we have to embrace that, and that is what LeBatard is about."
SAINTS CONTINUE SPIRALING DOWN COMMODE: Wasn't enough that head coach Sean Payton is suspended for the year. Wasn't enough that several players are serving Bountygate suspensions. Wasn't enough that star Drew Brees is upset (very) over his contract status. No, that isn't enough turmoil. So now Jonathan Vilma (the ex-Cane) is suing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for defamation! Paper-bag time? Aints redux?
LATEST NUDES ON BEACHES: Expedia commissioned a Harris Poll to determine which of 21 countries has the most nude-beach-friendly people. Germany led with 15 percent saying they had nudied at the beach. The U.S. tied for seventh at 2%. Most of those were probably vacationing German tourists.
WAYNE GRETZKY'S DAUGHTER: It has come to my attention that Wayne Gretzky's daughter, Paulina, is the person pictured at right in the middle, and so I pass it along for your edification on the off chance you might find yourself on Jeopardy and hear Alex Trebek reveal the category "Athletes' Hot Daughters." I would imagine that Wayne's pride over the dissemination of this photo is all but indescribable.
Click back. Will updating and adding to this latest blogpost...
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