GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
1) It is WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. Excited to be seeing Brian Wilson tonight at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood. Much respect for the Beach Boys' founding member and driving force. 2) Pictured right: the Dolphins' new "Nike Color Rush" uniforms, to be unveiled and worn as an alternate look in the Sept. 29 game at Cincinnati. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Dolphins lose heartbreaker in Seattle with DSM poll, Canes clobber FAU with CSM poll, Collball Week 2, your Super Bowl pick & more. 4) Join us on Twitter @gregcote. Also Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Periscope and Snapchat.
The new 'Back In My Day': Click here for the ESPN Radio podcast of yesterday's LeBatard Show. To go directly to the latest BIMD, go to "Hour 3: 9/13/16." It starts around 14 minutes in.
On Fins' anthem protest: My latest column is on the national-anthem kneel by Arian Foster and three other Dolphins Sunday. Many thought it was especially wrong to do it on 9/11. I disagree. Click on Timing Was Perfect, Not Wrong to read the column in full.
Other recent columns, ICYMI or wanted another look: Week 1 Gems (our NFL picks) and Fearful Forecast (our divisional and Super Bowl predictions). Awesome Vs. Awful (on UM's resounding season-opening victory over Florida A&M). Now Can Dolphins, UM Look as Good as the Place They Call Home? (Hard Rock unveiled). NFL Ranking (Best to worst teams, 1 through 32). Brad Kaaya (on UM's key player). She Never Quit (on FIU coach Ron Turner's inspiration). And Kaepernick's Protest Does Not Make Him Un-American (QB sits to take a stand).
BOSH DECLARES HIS READINESS, BUT STILL AWAITS TEAM CLEARANCE: In-limbo Heat forward Chris Bosh said Tuesday, "I'm ready to play,” in a podcast for Bleacher Report's Uninterrupted. Bosh has been working out in Los Angeles and calls himself in "incredible shape," adding, "I look good when I take my shirt off." Bosh, 32, has seen two seasons in a row wrecked by blood-clot issues. The Heat still has not medically cleared him to play, but, increasingly, it appears that will be the eventuality. An announcement figures to come soon, since Miami has training camp Sept. 27-Oct. 1 in Nassau, Bahamas.
DOLPHINS AND DOLFANS: WHY 'MORAL VICTORIES' ARE NOTHING TO EMBRACE: There are moral victories in sports -- some good to be found and encouragement felt even in defeat. For example, if you throw me into an octagon for a UFC fight and I somehow luck to last 30 seconds before being pulverized unconscious, that's a moral victory! But of course coaches and athletes in professional sports are not allowed to see silver linings, or at least not allowed to admit publicly that they do. It's understandable. It isn't what the indoctrination ingrained in you. Nobody gives you credit for "almost." Nobody who has just been crushed by disappointment wants to hear, "Nice try, though!" You are paid to win, period. Here lies the dilemma for the Miami Dolphins, as a team and franchise, and also for their fans, in the wake of Sunday's season-opening 12-10 loss in Seattle. Are you allowed to be encouraged? Or have you been let down too many times by too many years of mediocrity to feel anything but "same ol' same ol'" today? What we saw Sunday from the Dolphins is the problem, and the frustration. It seems they are almost always good enough to have these big efforts in them, but seldom good enough to close the deal and turn almost into exclamation. They tease, the Fins do. In fact if the NFL kept such a stat Miami might be among league leaders in moral victories this century, but, alas, have you noticed only losing teams count those? Those kind of almosts never get your team to the playoffs, they only get your team's coaches fired. Let us count the ways Dolfans have been encouraged only to be let down since the club last reached the postseason in 2008: Miami had a stretch of seven wins in 10 games including a defeat of New England in 2009, was headed for the playoffs, then fizzled to end with three straight losses, the last two at home. In 2010 Miami also was on playoff pace before losing the last three games, two of those at home, too. The Dolphins won at the Jets 30-9 in 2012 to be 5-3 at midseason, then the trap door opened, including a 37-3 home loss to Tennessee. In 2013 Miami started 3-0 for the first time in 11 years but then lost in New Orleans on a Monday night, 38-17. Later that season the Dolphins beat New England, a third straight win that put the Fins in control for a playoff spot -- then lost two straight division games to end the year. Remember how the 2014 season opened with a rousing 33-20 home victory over the Patriots? Followed by three losses in the next four games? Sunday was the latest tease. You have to see it as such, until which time this team proves it can win games like this one -- games it dominates, games it leads late, games it has every right to win. If only the defense had one more stop in it. If only Kenny Stills makes that catch. Enough with teases and "if onlys" and almosts. When the Dolphins begin to win games like Sunday's and do it with some consistency, then real change will have begun.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (SEPTEMBER 13): WHAT SOUTH FLORIDA SPORTS FANS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Our blog-exclusive every-Sunday feature (posted Tuesday this week) 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. DOLPHINS: Miami (well, almost) shocks the world in season opener: It would have shocked the NFL, at least. And almost did. As King Sport unfurled with Kickoff Weekend, the Dolphins entered Sunday's opener in Seattle as Week 1's biggest betting underdogs league-wide, but mostly acquitted themselves well in a 12-10 loss. Glass half-full: Encouragement in a moral victory. Half empty: A loss is a loss.
2. HURRICANES: UM clobber FAU, awaits tougher test: After beating Florida A&M 70-3 in opener, the No. 25-ranked Canes faced what should have been another comfy, low-stress win Saturday vs. the FAU Owls and it was: 38-10. Just wait, though. If September's schedule is a feather for UM, October's hits like a sledgehammer.
3. MARLINS: Do you believe in miracles?: It will take one of those for Miami to somehow climb back into wild-card playoff race, at five games back with only 19 to play. Starting today/Monday all remaining games are vs. NL East. The realistic consolation prize left? Finishing above .500, at least.
4. TENNIS: Upsets rock Championship Weekend at U.S. Open: It's death, taxes and sunrise leading the way among life's certainties. Right after that it would probably be Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic favored to win tennis' next major tournament titles. Except both lost. I hereby retire all my snide comments about tennis being so predictable.
5. HEAT: Richardson out, Bosh still in limbo: Josh Richardson is out six to eight weeks with a knee injury. Meantime Heat open their first NBA training camp without Dwyane Wade since 2002 on Sept. 27, and still no official word on the health, status or future of in-limbo Chris Bosh. Enough with the media speculation and "indications are." Tell us, Heat.
6. NASCAR: Let the Chase begin as field cut to 16 finalists: Sweet. We're down to 16 drivers competing to race the Sprint Cup trophy in November at Homestead.
7. BASKETBALL: Shaq, Iverson head Hall induction class: Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson topped the 10-person Basketball Hall of Fame induction class Friday. Shaq spent 3 ½ of his 19 NBA seasons in Miami. So Heat fans pro-rated the ownership and pride they felt to about 18 percent.
8. PANTHERS: Cats add Huberdeau to growing future: Hockey's close (Panthers' first preseason game is Sept. 27), and Florida continues to lock up key pieces and build a solid future. The latest: forward Jonathan Huberdeau signs a six-year, $35.4 million extension. Cats win the mythical offseason Stanley Cup!
9. TIGER WOODS: Fading superstar sets October return: Golf and the PGA Tour get a jolt -- of drama, if not excitement -- next month with Tiger Woods' announced plan to return to action. The real question: Will he still be playing, and playing well, when the next major rolls 'round: The Masters in April.
10. 9/11: Never forget: But, also, remember more than once a year, please.
Missing the HB10 cut: America's Hobby, fantasy football, is underway. Congratulations on your wonderful start and your terrific team. I'm sorry about your Week 1 and your team ..... Mets signed Tim Tebow to a minor-league contract, insisted it was not a publicity stunt, and everybody laughed ..... A Tennessee-Virginia Tech game at Bristol Motor Speedway drew 156,990, biggest crowd ever to watch college football game. Did they have a final whistle, or a checkered flag? ..... Soccer's Champions League begins play Tuesday. No in-between here. You are either passionate about this, or have no idea what it is. ..... U.S. Swimming suspended Ryan Lochte 10 months for his Olympics police involvement. Wait. I thought those guys only competed once every four years anyway! ..... An Honus Wagner baseball card is expected to sell for more than $3 million at auction. For that money, it had better include Honus himself. With a check for $2.9 million ..... ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker has begun, verifying there are too many hours to fill with actual quality programming ..... The two-week World Cup Of Hockey starts this coming Saturday. Not sure exactly what it is, but it sounds important ..... Colin Kaepernick isn't standing for the anthem. But as a backup QB, he'll be doing a lot of sitting during games as well.
SOPY RANKINGS, THE 'STATE HEISMAN': NOLES QB MAINTAINS LEAD, UM'S WALTON LEAPS TO FOURTH: The fifth season of our blog's SOPY rankings -- State Offensive Player of the Year -- is off and running with Florida State freshman QB Deondre Francois maintaining the overall lead after two week and Miami running back Mark Walton (pictured) making the biggest, to fourth place. Our weekly cumulative rankings measure the most productive quarterbacks, running backs and receivers for the state's seven FBS teams: Miami, Florida, Florida State, FIU, FAU, UCF and South Florida. Our simple formula awards a half-point for every passing yard and one point for every rushing or receiving yard, with six points for every TD scored or thrown. We close it off after the regular season to penalize players whose teams don't make a bowl game. Here is the SOPY Top 10 entering Collball Week 3, followed by our updated Cote's State of the State team rankings:
SOPY TOP 10 AFTER WEEK 2:
RK LW Player, Team-pos. Week Year
1 1 Deondre Francois, FSU-qb 146 426.5
2 5 Quinton Flowers, SoFla-qb 252 411
3 6 Luke Del Rio, Florida-qb 189 340
4 -- Mark Walton, Miami-rb 179 301
5 3 Dalvin Cook, FSU-rb 104 296
6 9 Joe Yearby, Miami-rb 148 278
7 2 Jason Driskel, FAU-qb 60.5 263
8 4 Justin Holman, UCF-qb 55.5 234
9 7 Gregory Howell, FAU-rb 85 225
10 -- Alex Gardner, FIU-rb 115 214
Bubble: Antonio Callaway, Florida-rec, 213. Week 2 best: Flowers, 252. Season best: Francois, 280.5, Week 1.
Cote's State of the State team rankings: 1. Florida State (2-0); 2. Miami (2-0); 3. Florida (2-0); 4. South Florida (2-0); 5. UCF (1-1); 6. FAU (1-1); 7. FIU (0-2).
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