Spain reigns over Italy 4-0; plus Stanton leads hot-again Marlins, 'Dirty Secrets of NBA Champs!', Riley on Heat free agency, lacrosse, Olympic song & more
[1) It is Monday, July 21. New blogpost coming later this (Monday) morning! 2) We bring you the Rolling Stones' new 50th annivesary logo. I'd have thought the redesign might have had the tongue spitting out dentures. (Sorry, Mick). 3) InsideTheU.com reporting that Hurricanes safety Ray-Ray Armstrong has been suspended for discussions with a booster on Twitter. 4) Woman Super-Glued to Walmart Toilet. 5) Join us on Twitter @gregcote]
SUNDAY UPDATES: SPAIN REIGNS; MARLINS HOT AGAIN: Spain beats Italy yesterday 4-nil to win Euro '12. I said I'd be surprised if Spain didn't win but expected a better match for sure. Must admit I was rooting for Mario Balotelli and the u-dog Italians. (Sorry I had the final as 3-0 for a while. Stopped watching in the 86th minute; meant to recheck the final but forgot). ..... Congrats to Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton for his first all-star selection today, well deserved and the first many I have a feeling. (He'll be in the Home Run Derby, too). Stanton is Miami's only all-star and showed why another homer leading a fourth straight victory. The topsy turvy Marlins are suddenly topsy again!
'DIRTY SECRETS OF THE NBA CHAMPS!': Well I saw that headline in the Publix checkout line today and since the July 9 issue of the Globe called it a Special Report I had to waste spend $3.99 to find out what the dirty secrets are. 1) 'LeBron James' family shame': Old news about his mom Gloria's past run-ins with the law. 2) 'Dwyane Wade's boys in kidnapping drama': Rehash of the recent situation that led Wade to seek a revoking of his ex-wife's visitation rights. 3) 'Chris Bosh's Bitter Child Support War': In which the lawyer for the mother of Bosh's daughter claims his $2,600 in monthly child support isn't enough -- even though that is exactly what the courts ordered him to pay. Well, in summary, that's $3.99 I'll never get back, but I spent it so you don't have to. On the bright side, the Globe apparently failed in efforts to prove that any of the Heat's BIg 3 is, in fact, a space alien.
HEAT DRAFT TALL WHITE GUY JUSTIN HAMILTON: Interesting and arguably productive NBA Draft for the Heat last night. They end up with LSU center Justin Hamilton (pictured) as the 45th overall selection, plus a future conditional first-round (but lottery-protected) pick from Philadelphia, in exchange for sending forward Arnett Moultrie (originally picked 27th by Miami) to the 76ers. (I called Justin "Josh" before noticing the mistake. Sorry!) Arguably productive? Naysaying ESPN.com grades Miami's draft an 'F' because it says Moultrie was a better fit and that Miami also could have drafted a shooter such as Jeff Taylor. Hamilton, 22, is one of those advertised-as 7-foot guys who's really 6-11 but possesses a silky, Bosh-esque shooting touch from the outside. He also has dual U.S./Croatia citizenship, so you can expect the Heat will likely farm him out to develop overseas for a year or two. There was speculation Miami would go small-ball in the draft but they needed size, frontcourt help, so this looks like a prudent choice. That future No. 1 will be a nice bonus, too. Miami had no pressing needs that could be answered with a 27th pick, so call this trade-down for a developmental player the luxury of a champion.
PAT RILEY PREVIEWS FREE AGENCY: It starts Sunday and the Heat don't have the spending power available to be major players but would like to add an available shooter -- anybody got a number for Ray Allen? -- if he'd take less than he could get elsewhere. Miami's selling point? "Not many teams have a chance of winning a title," as club president Pat Riley (right) noted late last night in post-draft remarks. Riles said the club has "five or six guys earmarked" in free agency with the positional priority a shooter or a big. "We've got a compelling team," said Riley of his champions, "and it excites me to try to make it better."
LORIA: MARLINS STILL "ABSOLUTELY" HAVE PLAYOFF TALENT: Spoke to Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria yesterday for today's latest column. Click on "I Love Our Chances" to read it. At midseason of Year 1 in the new ballpark, much has been disappointing, from Muhammad Ali/Opening Night to Ozzie Guillen/Fidel Castro to the June swoon to less-than-expected attendance. But now, with the Heat done and football a ways off, this is the Marlins' window of opportunity. The stage is theirs. Do they have a big second-half and playoff run in them? The owner thinks so. Do you?
Poll result: Yearning for Dolphins Super Bowl beats Heat repeat: In the previous blogpost I asked which Miami prefers: The Dolphins to win the Super Bowl this coming season or the Heat to repeat as NBA champions next year. The winner? An end to the Dolphins' 40-year title drought, 63.6 percent to 36.4. The results sound reasonable to me.
PRO LACROSSE TO SOUTH FLORIDA?: Major League Lacrosse stages its all-star game in Boca Raton Saturday night at the FAU football stadium, testing waters for possible future expansion here. So there.
LONDON OLYMPICS PICKS OFFICIAL SONG: It is "Survival" by the English rock group Muse. Click on Survival to hear it. (You'll be sick of it by the Closing Ceremony). Sounds like a dirge for about the first minute but then gets all peppy, with lyrics about winning and never quitting -- imagine that!? I think bands now write songs expressly to be played at sporting events.
NEW USFL THREATENS 2013 LAUNCH: A new United States Football league is planning a March 2013 startup with eight teams, and initial cities being explored are Akron, Austin/San Antonio, Portland (Ore.) and Salt Lake City. Here is the new logo. You will next see it when the league announces it cannot possibly whip togerther an eight-team league in less than a year and is delaying its launch. You will then see the logo a final time when the USFL announces it is folding before ever playing a game.
WOO-HOO! I WIN A 'CUPY': The Miami Herald gives out monthly in-house CUPY awards for special effort (yeah I have no idea why they're called CUPYs), and I was one of three June winners for my deadline columns during the Heat playoff run. (The only negative? Now I'll need a new tombstone to replace the epitaph I'd planned: 'But He Never Won A CUPY!') Other June winners were news reporters Ellie Brecher and Nadege Green, heavy lifters on the Causeway Cannibal story. I was talking to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade about winning; they were talking to cops about somebody's face being chewed off. I like my job.
ON MAGIC MIKE: I have no interest in seeing the new male-stripper movie, Magic Mike, but the title interests me. I think it's a compromise, not quite what they really wanted. As for what they really wanted, use your imagination. In a totally, totally unrelated question, whatever happened to Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz, harmonica player and founding member of The J. Geils Band?
Click back. Will be updating/adding to this latest blogpost...