GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
1) It is MONDAY, AUGUST 17. Click on Random Evidence for our latest Sunday notes-column package, leading with UM's Al Golden being ranked No. 1 in preseason list of college football's "hottest coaching seats." 2) Click on A Lot To Like for my previous column off the Dolphins preseason opener. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Dolphins drop preseason opener at Chicago, NBA keeps ruining Christmas, tennis sex scandal, Colin Cowherd beer & more. 4) Follow us on Twitter @gregcote. Also on Facebook, Instagram, Vine and now Periscope, too.
"Marcell Ozuna, back with the Marlins, said of his demotion to Triple A, 'It's like a jail.' Dude. Please. Try to fake a little self-awareness, would you?" --Greg Cote
CELEBRATING DON SHULA: As the Miami Dolphins turn 50 this season, the franchise's great coach and icon is a regal 85 now, 20 years off the sideline and out of the game but still sharp and going strong in retirement. Recently
I sat down with Shula for an extensive interview at his home, in a den filled with his career's memorabilia. Journalists are supposed to be neutral, dispassionate. I don't claim or attempt such things when it comes to Shula. I admire the man. What he accomplished, and who he is. I have an in-depth column on Shula in today's Miami Herald on page 1A, a column that is not yet available online but will be starting Tuesday. For now, click on DON SHULA for a video from our retrospective interview; Shula is pictured from during that conversation. Shula talks about perfection, his career, his regrets and more. He even talks about the man who replaced him, the coach he called "Jimmy Who." (Thanks to our online and video folks for their excellent work. My only quibble: the extreme closeups of me. Gawd! I am un-telegenic and old. I demand a far angle and a soft focus! Anyway...) My Shula video and accompanying column begin the rollout of the Herald's ongoing coverage commemorating the Dolphins' upcoming Golden Anniversary season. The package will also include videos of my extensive interviews with defensive legends Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor. Click here for a brief sneak preview of the Thomas video.
HOT BUTTON (AUG. 16): TOP 10 THINGS SOUTH FLORIDA SPORTS FANS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Our blog-exclusive Sunday feature (updated Monday) is part week-in-review, part look-ahead. Hot Button means what's on our minds, locally and nationally, from a Miami perspective, as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead:
1. DOLPHINS: Starters impressive despite loss in exhibition opener: As Dolphins prepare for their annual kickoff luncheon tomorrow/Tuesday, the limitlessness of possibilities was redefined in the preseason opener as Dolfans discovered it was possible to be generally pleased after a game in which Miami lost at Chicago 27-10 while committing 12 penalties and four turnovers. The starters looked great. For mid-August, that’s enough.
2. MARLINS: Lost year as Fernandez, Yelich join Stanton on disabled list: Fish have won four of past five after winning in St. Louis last night but the season was beyond hope, and now Jose Fernandez and Christian Yelich have joined Giancarlo Stanton on the DL. Interim manager Dan Jennings said of this season, “Thank God there’s no Prohibition in baseball.” It’s disappointed fans who could use a drink.
3. HURRICANES: Countdown 19 days as UM prepares for opener: Canes held their first scrimmage, but it was closed to fans and media. (If a scrimmage falls on campus but nobody hears it, does it still make a sound?) Miami’s Sept. 5 opener against Bethune-Cookman had better require little more exertion than that intrasquad scrimmage, or the Canes could be in trouble.
4. HEAT: NBA schedule out; Miami hosts Christmas game again: The Heat opens play at home Oct. 28 in Chris Bosh’s comeback, and visits LeBron James in Cleveland two days later. Also notable: A Christmas home game against New Orleans. Bah humbug. NBA should take that sacred holiday off but instead will play a record five games. Jesus!
5. GOLF: Jason Day wins PGA Championship, year’s final major: Jason Day finally won a major by capturing the PGA Championship in Wisconsin, but, once again, Tiger Woods couldn’t find the map to Sunday, missing the cut for the fourth time in his past five majors. Remember when Tiger was thrilling to watch? Now it’s closer to sad.
6. AL GOLDEN: UM coach ranked No.1 on hot-seat list: Canes' Al Golden is a dubious No. 1 on ESPN.com’s preseason list of the 10 “hottest coaching seats” in college football. I don’t want to exaggerate Golden’s unpopularity with fans, though. He isn't Jeffrey Loria. Also, even his biggest critics surely like Golden more than, for example, that Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil the lion. Probably.
7. NFL: Only the Jets! Sucker-punch breaks Geno Smith's jaw: Embattled Jets starting quarterback Geno Smith is sidelined half the season with a broken jaw after being punched by teammate Ikemefuna Enemkpali, who immediately was cut. Worst part? Jets fans weren’t sure whether to call Smith’s injury good news or bad.
8. TOM BRADY: Federal suit over Deflate gate still unsettled: The Patriots QB's federal court case against the NFL over his four-game Deflategate suspension has yet to settle. Meanwhile the courtroom sketch artist was ridiculed nationally for her rendition of Brady that was unflattering. Check that, the artist was ridiculed in New England, but hailed as a modern-day da Vinci elsewhere.
9. ICHIRO: No. No, he did not surpass Ty Cobb in career hits!: It keeps getting reported that the Marlins' Ichiro Suzuki just surpassed Ty Cobb's 4,189 hits for second on the all-time list. But that's only if you count his hits in Japan, which MLB does not and never has. In fact, Ichiro still trails Cobb by more than 1,200 hits.
10. TENNIS: Love triangle on tour?: Tennis pro Nick Krygios was fined $10,000 by the ATP tour for telling opponent Stan Wawrinka during a match that another player was, um, ah, engaged in carnal knowledge with Wawrinka’s girlfriend, who also is a touring pro. Well, there goes that Kyrgios-Wawrinka doubles partnership!
Missing the HB10 cut: A Milwaukee Brewers minor-leaguer has revealed he is gay. Um, when do we get to stop caring about stuff like that? ... Bills sign Jets sucker-puncher. ... Dolphins owner Stephen Ross invests in Drone Racing League. Will play-calls now get from sideline to huddle via drone? ... American teen Katie Ledecky wins five golds at world swimming championship in Russia. ... Tigers' Al Avila (from Hialeah High) becomes MLB’s first Cuban-born general manager. ... Floyd Mayweather Jr. announces his final fight before retiring would be Sept. 12, with no date set yet for his final fight after that one. ... Adidas is paying James Harden $200 million to wear its sneakers. No, seriously. ... FIFA said it has opened an internal investigation into corruption. That’s like the Mafia investigating organized crime. ... Little League World Series begins this week despite no Mo'ne Davis. ... Finally, the national gymnastics championships end today in Indiana, where Miami’s Danell Leyva hoped to perform a parallel bars maneuver so groundbreaking that, if successful, it would be named after him. I can relate. In sports writing, someone who writes a slapdash column is said to have "nailed a Cote."
SERENA, FASHIONISTA: We've poked fun at Palm Beach tennis superstar Serena Williams over the years. She
can come off as arrogant, a real diva. She has indulged various side interests that have seemed to diminish her attention to tennis at times. Respect, though, must be given. She is chasing history, the career record for most majors won. She may be the greatest women's player ever. Yet steadfastly she maintains her outside interests, such as clothes design. Pictured, Serena adorns the cover of the new New York magazine fashion issue, once again living -- and winning -- by her own rules.
Poll result: Split opinions on NBA, Heat playing Christmas Day: In the previous blogpost we asked what you thought of the Heat hosting a Christmas game, and it was 46.9 percent opposed, 45.7% in favor and 7.4% undecided.
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