GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
1) It is TUESDAY, JANUARY 26. In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): 'Making A Murderer' video spoof starring me (click Making a Showkiller to watch), NFL Championship-Round playoff picks and poll, your greatest-NBA-center verdict & more. 2) Follow us on Twitter @gregcote. Also on Facebook, Instagram, Vine and Periscope.
It's Radio Tuesday!: I'm back in-studio today with the Dan LeBatard Show With Stugotz, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 790 The Ticket, 10-1 nationally on ESPN Radio, and simulcasting on ESPNU and Fusion TV. Have a new 'Back In My Day' in hand.
CANES' AND HEAT'S BIG NIGHT: Best night of the season for Miami hoops. Then again, Miami's two big basketball teams rarely play on the same night, let alone against big opponents, with big victories. But still! Heat win 89-84 at Chicago with a large fourth-quarter comeback, led by Dwyane Wade's 28 points. D-Wade loves performing in his hometown, doesn't he? Back in Miami, the Hurricanes men bop rival Duke, 80-69, in a phyiacl game that saw UM with the upper hand throughout. This is was the night Jim Larranaga envisioned when he took the job in 2011: the Canes, ranked and beating Duke before a sold-out crowd. What a night. I was there in the campus arena. Click on Larranaga's Dream for my column.
SUPER BOWL 50 SET: IT'S PANTHERS-BRONCOS! NOW WHO YOU GOT? AND WHO DO YOU WANT?: It'll be No. 1 vs. No. 1 on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif. as the AFC-winning Denver Broncos meet the NFC-champion Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. Panthers advanced Sunday night by dominating Arizona 49-15 after Broncos upset New England 20-18. So it'll be Canton-bound veteran Peyton Manning -- he ain't done yet -- vs. rising supertstar Cam Newton. It'll be the Broncos aiming for the franchise's third Super Bowl title but first since 1998 vs. a Panthers club that is a relative postseason neophyte, its only previous SB appearance (a loss) coming 12 years ago. Carolina is installed as an opening favorite of 3.5 points or more. So, who do you predict will win? And who do you want to win? Those two answers may or may not be the same for you. Let's find out...
THE HEAT'S WHITESIDE DILEMMA: WHICH WAY SHOULD PAT RILEY GO?: The question facing the Heat is the topic of my latest Sunday column. Click on The Whiteside Dilemma to read in full. Should Miami spend big to extend Hassan Whiteside's contract? Or should the team instead opt for the financial wherewithal to pursue Kevin Durant in free agency? You almost certainly cannot do both, and there are no guarantees with either. No guarantee Whiteside (pictured) will continue his ascent and become a reliable star. And no guarantee of landing Durant. Miami would get nothing for Whiteside if it lets him go in free agency, but the option of trading him before next month's NBA deadline isn't viable. The trade market and Miami's return would be minimal since he'd be able to leave his new team in free agency this coming summer as well. It's a quandary for the Heat. Miami would hate to lose the unearthed, developing power of Whiteside. But would Miami hate that more than abstaining from the Durant Sweepstakes? Mixed into this quandary Dwyane Wade, of course. Like Whiteside he too is a free agent after this season. Will Miami want Wade, 34, back on another one-year deal? Might he accept less money to facilitate the club keeping Whiteside or pursuing Durant? Good luck figuring all this out, Pat Riley. That's why they pay you the big bucks. For now, give Riley some free advice in this poll.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (UPDATED): WHAT 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. This week's HB10:
1. NFL: Championship Sunday sets up a Broncos-Panthers Super Bowl: Sunday results left a clear contrast and theme for upcoming Super Bowl 50, a quarterback duel between near-40-year-old future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and rising superstar Cam Newton. Cam's Cats were supposed to be here. But Manning? After the worst season of his career? Epic. Oh, and that ongoing cable dispute prevented U-Verse subscribers from watching the main broadcast of the NFC game. (Thanks, AT&T!)
2. HEAT: Miami beset by losing, injuries and no scoring: The good news? Dwyane Wade makes his 12th all-star game with 10 start. The bad news? Everything else. Miami has lost four straight games and seven of past eight, is injury wracked, is 28th of 30 teams in scoring average and has fallen to the eighth and final playoff spot entering tonight's game in Chicago. Otherwise, all's well!
3. PANTHERS: Cats crush defending Cup finalists to end slump: Wild ride, these Cats. They win a club-record 12 games in a row. Then they lose four straight. Now they've won two in a row by a combined 9-2 over defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago and Tampa Bay, the team it beat in the final. The Good Cats are back, at least for now.
4. HURRICANES: Monday visit by Duke tops huge two days for UM hoops: For a Sunday appetizer you had the 16th-ranked Canes women hosting No. 14 Florida State, albeit in a 69-58 UM loss. Now, the main course: The No. 15 Miami men host rival Duke tonight. Mike Krzyzewki's guys recently lost three straight to fall to No. 20, but no matter. They're still the Devils.
5. RUNNING: Miami Marathon draws thousands: More than 24,000 runners were registered for Sunday's Miami Marathon and Half Marathon won by Moroccan Benazzouz Slimani and New York's Allison Kieffer. One entrant Larry Macon, 71, of San Antonio, competed in his 1,606th marathon. That's 42,077 miles in a lifetime of running. Big deal. My car already has more than 7,000 miles and I've only had it six months.
6. TENNIS: Top seeds Djokovic, Serena still alive in Australian Open: Year's first major moves to its quarterfinals stage with top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams still in it as expected. Serena next faces a Tuesday match with Maria Sharapova, whom she has beaten 17 straight times, including 12 of the past 13 in straight sets. Maria's improved serve supposedly gives her a better chance. Yeah good luck with that.
7. DOLPHINS: Grimes, Jones join Landry and Albert in Pro Bowl: First it was receiver/kick returner Jarvis Landry and tackle Branden Albert making the Pro Bowl as alternates because other players dropped out. Now it's Dolphins DBs Brent Grimes and Reshad Jones who are added. Brag quietly, please. That's like finally getting invited to the prom only because other girls said no. Oh, and Mike Tannenbaum says consensus agreement on who to draft in the first round is important. Well no duh, right?
8. NBA: Conference-leading Cavaliers fire their coach: It finally happened in Cleveland. LeBron James fired coach David Blatt. Of course he then denied he had any influence whatsoever on the decision. America replied, "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
9. NFL: Bills hire full-time female assistant coach: Kathryn Smith becomes the first woman to be a fulltime assistant coach on an NFL staff. She'll be Buffalo's "special-teams quality control coach." Hmm. Is that even a real position?
10. MARLINS: Spring training only three weeks away: Players begin reporting Feb. 19. I wrote an upbeat, positive column this week saying the Marlins had begun to earn back your trust. The majority email reaction was, shall we say, vehement disagreement. Bulletin to me: Fans still hate Jeffrey Loria.
Missing the cut: The Dolphins are holding cheerleader tryouts in several Latin America countries. Sure, because, clearly, there is a shortage of good-looking young Latin American women in South Florida (!) ... Upcoming tournament at Doral may be last as PGA Tour distances itself from Donald Trump. Nervous Democrats wish more Americans were doing the same ... National Signing Day is soon. That's when we instantly grade how college football programs did based on the utter guesswork of how a bunch of 17-year-olds will turn out ... World Cup champion U.S. women's soccer team announced it would play an exhibition March 9 in FAU's football stadium. It'll be weird to see a winning team on that field ... Congrats, Katie Meier, on your 200th career win at UM ... The U.S. Figure Skating Championship are going on, and nobody cares ... Answer: The U.S. team trained in Miami won the World Cup of FootGolf, a sports played on golf courses in which players kick soccer balls into giant holes. Question: Whaddya mean there are too many ridiculous, made-up sports?
Poll result: You say Panthers most likely Super Bowl champ from final four: We invited you to say which NFL final-four team you think will win the Super Bowl (not who you want to win, but who you predict will), and it was Carolina 48.0 percent, New England 32.0%, Arizona 14.7% and Denver 5.3%.
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