GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
1) It's SATURDAY, AUGUST 31. Farewell, August, month that brings us football. Thank you for blowing Hurricane Dorian away from South Florida. 2) It's the perfect time to check out my 'Fins At 50' book at Amazon. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Canes fall to Gators with CSM poll result, Hot Button Top 10, why Rosen must start at QB for Dolphins, your Fitzpatrick-Rosen poll verdict & more. 4) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
NEW! DOLPHINS AND HURRICANES PREVIEW SECTION COLUMNS:
FLORES USED TO TUMULT, BUT DOLPHINS TRADING TUNSIL WOULD BE TOO MUCH: Brian Flores’ introduction to NFL head coaching has included losing a defensive tackle to an amputated arm after a truck accident; abruptly firing his offensive line coach in the middle of training camp; enduring the fallout of the club owner’s fundraiser for Donald Trump; and guiding what is expected to be the worst team in the NFL. Now, as exhibition games cede to the regular season, Flores has made the wrong choice for a starting quarterback and put the mind-set of his locker room at risk amid corrosive speculation about the future of stalwart left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Coaches have had smoother preseasons. The upside: If you believe that stuff about baptism by fire, consider Mr. Flores fully baptized. And now the hard work begins. And the hard decision, too. Choosing Ryan Fitzpatrick over Josh Rosen was easy. Low risk. But choosing whether to include Tunsil in a trade for Texans pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney? High risk. Huge stakes. And Flores’ grip on his team in the balance. The Tunsil/Clowney cloud hovers as everything begins for real, with Tunsil pictured. To read my full most recent column, please visit Tunsil/Clowney Trade Would Be Powderkeg for Dolphins, Flores.
DOLPHINS' GRAND PLAN BECOMING CLEAR. AND CLOWNEY WOULD FIT: A football fan need not dive deep down the rabbit hole of analytics to know the simple truth about any NFL roster. Four positions are paramount. Essential. They are: Quarterback, a fearsome pass rusher, a lockdown cornerback and a premier left tackle. Start with QB and place the others in any order you wish. The Miami Dolphins’ understanding of this at last has come clear. Say this much: After most of 20 years of floundering irrelevance and lurching shifts in personnel and philosophy, the franchise’s current regime at least has a plan. A clue. It is why Miami gave shutdown corner Xavien Howard, who just turned 26, a record five-year, $75.3 million contract extension through 2024. It is why left tackle Laremy Tunsil, who just turned 25, is off the board, untouchable, in terms of trade inquiries, and why his contract (still dirt-cheap on his rookie deal) surely will be extended before he becomes a free agent following the 2020 season. It is why the Dolphins presently are looking hard into a trade for disgruntled Texans pass-rush star Jadeveon Clowney, 26, and more proven-elite than even Howard or Tunsil. And it is why Miami has stocked draft capital in a hell-bent plan to claim its long elusive star quarterback in 2020, buying up into the draft order if needed, ideally to get grand prize Tua Tagovailao of Alabama. To read my entire recent column, with an emphasis on the interest in Clowney (pictured), please visit Clowney Would Be Missing Piece in Dolphins' Emerging Plan.
SAVE THE SCORN. ANDREW LUCK DESERVES PRAISE FOR HIS RETIREMENT CALL: Indianapolis Colts football fans will wish they could take this back, but they cannot. It was too late the moment it happened. It stained a city in a way that can’t ever quite be scrubbed clean. Only in an age driven by the immediacy of social media could this have happened. It was during Saturday night’s Colts home preseason game. Star quarterback Andrew Luck had planned to announce the next day that he was retiring. That night, not playing, he was on the sideline enjoying himself with teammates for what would be the last time. Then the news broke during the game, and it spread faster than any wildfire. It was trending on Twitter in seconds. It was caroming throughout the stadium. When the game ended and Luck walked off the field in street clothes the fans who loved him an hour before booed him. Loudly. "I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hear it," he said, forced to make his announcement that night. "It hurt." And there you have the perfect epitaph to an NFL career cut short by choice: It hurt. That is what this sport does to a body and a mind. It hurts. It leaves scars. It makes men in their 30s limp. It leaves hands gnarled and misshapen. It cuts short lives, and sometimes makes the end of those lives torturous. Congratulations to Luck for getting out when he could, on his terms. For understanding there is more to life than football. To read my entire recent column, please visit Luck Deserves Praise For Putting Health, Life Above Football.
GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
1) It's MONDAY, AUGUST 25. It's the perfect time to check out my 'Fins At 50' book at Amazon. 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, case for Rosen as Dolphins' starting QB & more. 3) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
CANESFAN SATISFACTION METER: G1: 64.1%: Results are certified for the opening game of the 11th season of the Miami Herald's Canesfan Satisfaction Meter postgame polls, and they show 64.1 percent overall approval (the combination of "very" and "somewhat" satisfied votes) in the wake of Saturday night's season-opening 24-20 loss to No. 8 Florida in Orlando. That's a fairly high number following a loss. The CSM is your invitation after every Hurricanes game to vote on your overall satisfaction with the team and season in a continuing weekly gauge of how UM football fans are feeling. Criteria for voting is your own, but I suggest you consider the most recent game's performance and caliber of opponent, the season as a whole, the program's direction and your overall degree of optimism -- all in the context of reasonable expectations. You may vote here in the blog, elsewhere online here, and also at Twitter.com/gregcote (where the approval was 44%). Online voting will determine the weekly verdict, which will be announced here the morning after one full day of voting. In this case that was around 8:30 a.m. Monday.
2019 Canesfan Satisfaction Meter
G1: 64.1% following 24-20 loss vs. Florida in Orlando.
Next poll: Sept. 7 following game at North Carolina.
G1: HURRICANES VS. NO. 8 FLORIDA (IN ORLANDO): DIAZ / WILLIAMS ERA OPENS AS BIG 'DOGS: What a stage for Canes rookie head coach Manny Diaz and first-time starting quarterback Jarren Williams to introduce themselves nationally to college football! Miami and old rival Florida own the nation's attention as the sport's 150th season opens with this game, alone, tonight at 7 on ESPN at the old Citrus Bowl. The erstwhile yearly state rivals haven't met since 2013, and the reunion finds the No. 8-ranked Gators big 7-point favorites coming off a 10-3 season capped by a 41-15 bowl thrashing of Michigan. Miami by contrast limped to the finish at 7-6 after a 35-3 bowl loss to Wisconsin, yet expectations are high enough that UM debuts just outside the Top 25 (29th) in the preseason Associated Press poll. This game for me distills to which offense will be better able to find an answer because this matchup figures to be dominated by two strong defenses. Miami's led by linebacker Shaq Quarterman and UF's led by cornerback C.J. Henderson will be very tough to move and score on. The quarterback position alone gives Florida an edge, with Feleipe Franks' experience in contrast to Williams, whose only prior college action was three pass attempts in garbage time vs. Savannah State last year. Diaz surprised most by anointing Williams for the job over returning incumbent N'Kosi Perry and highly touted Ohio State transfer Tate Martell. Tonight we begin to see if Diaz made the right call. Cote's pick: Florida 20, Hurricanes 16.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (UPDATED): WHAT SOUTH FLORIDA SPORTS FANS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Our blog-exclusive every-Sunday feature, updated through 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. HURRICANES: Miami falls to Gators in season opener: Miami led three times Saturday night in Orlando but fell 24-20 to No. 8-ranked Florida to kick off college football's 150th season and the Manny Diaz era at The U. What if I'd have told you before the game that the Canes would get a really good performance from new QB Jarren Williams and four takeaways from the defense? That's a win, right? Both happened. No win. But a "right direction" feeling moving forward, am I right?
2. NFL: Stunner! Colts QB Luck retires from NFL: Indianapolis and the NFL reel with the news Saturday night that star quarterback Andrew Luck had abruptly and immediately retired from football three weeks shy of his 30th birthday, citing constant shoulder and other injuries. Jacoby Brissett is now the Indy starter. That sound you hear is the Colts falling from top-tier AFC contender to conference also-ran.
3. DOLPHINS: Three fake games in, Fins' QB battle still undecided: Fins now 2-1 this preseason after beating Jacksonville here Thursday, but nobody cares. Fake games. What does matter is the decision at quarterback, but coach Brian Flores keeps not making it. He's still weighing Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. Josh Rosen entering this Thursday's fake finale in New Orleans. Dear Brian: You're trying to find this team's future, remember? Rosen, please!
4. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Can anyone bust up the Clemson-'Bama stranglehold?: Canes and one other game snuck in early, but for everyone else the start of college football's 150th season is on deck this week. Highlights: Thursday, No. 1 Clemson whips whomever it's playing and Butch Davis' FIU visits Tulane. Saturday, No. 2 Alabama crushes somebody, Florida State hosts Boise State, and Lane Kiffin leads FAU to slaughter at No. 5 Ohio State.
5. BASKETBALL: U.S. shaky with men's FIBA World Cup on deck: The major 32-nation international hoops event begins this coming Saturday and runs though Sept. 15 in China, with Team USA on shaky ground after a tuneup loss to Australia -- the first time in 13 years an American team with NBA players has lost. Team USA is the favorite but no cinch for gold. Most top NBA stars said nah -- Kemba Walker is the biggest-name U.S. player -- so let's see what Gregg Popovich can do with this B-team roster.
6. TENNIS: Serena, Djokovic favored as U.S. Open begins: Year's fourth and final Grand Slam event begins today/Monday and runs through Sept. 9 in New York, with Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic the betting favorites -- although Serena is only the No. 8 seed. Williams tries again for what would be a record-tying 24th career major, but to do it she must first survive a tough first-round draw in unseeded Maria Sharapova in what, oddly, will be these old rivals' first-ever U.S. Open meeting.
7. MARLINS: Fish playing out the string as homestand continues: Fish are an NL-worst 47-82 after 0-6 road swing and now 2-1 into a seven-game homestand vs. Phillies and now Reds. The 100-Loss Watch now projects to 59-103. The question: When will the Marlins' bright future get here ... and will Don Mattingly still be around to manage it?
8. GOLF: Mclroy wins season ending Tour Championship: Lightning injured six fans (none seriously) and delayed the Tour Championship in Atlanta, the PGA Tour's season-ending event open only to the year's top 30 money winners. But eventually Rory McIlroy avoided rivals and lightning sufficient to win.
9. YOUTH BASEBALL: U.S. reigns in Little League World Series: Curacao upset powerhouse Japan on Saturday for the international crown and River Ridge, La. beat Wailuku, Hawaii for the U.S. title in the Little League Word Series. Sunday, the U.S. team bopped Curacao 8-0 for the grand title. Now all of those 12-year-old boys can go from being on national TV to being nervous about meeting girls again.
10. SPRING FOOTBALL: XFL reveals team names, logos: Vince McMahon's new eight-team XFL, set to begin play in February 2020, revealed its team names and logos (including the Tampa Bay Vipers). If the history of previous pro spring league attempts is any indication, we can expect the "XFL is folding" announcement any time around midseason 2021.
Missing the HB10 cut: Show of hands. Who drafted Andrew Luck on their fantasy team Saturday? ..... U.S. Patent Office denied Tom Brady's trademark request for "Tom Terrific". About damned time Brady lost at something ..... Orioles set all-time record with a 259th home run allowed. Does the pitching coach walk to the mound in a false nose and glasses? ..... Dolphins coach Brian Flores played eight straight Jay-Z songs at practice a day after receiver Kenny Stills criticized Jay-Z's alliance with the NFL. To "challenge" Stills, said Flores. Weird ..... Dwight Howard to the Lakers. Hahahahaha! ..... Larry Bird complained after an artist painted a mural that depicted him with tattoos. A little too much free time there, Lar? ..... Been a minute Conor McGregor did anything embarrassing. Somebody check, make sure he's OK ..... Update: Countdown now 2,492 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in the 2026 World Cup.
ZERO DOUBT NOW. ROSEN MUST START FOR DOLPHINS! LATEST COLUMN: Me, from the stadium, off last night's Dolphins win over Jacksonville in Fake Game 3: The Miami Dolphins seem prepared to take a big loss even before the NFL regular season begins. Is this a thing that might actually happen? This is the feeling, and we hope we are wrong. Because it would be much easier to say "oops" on what we think and fear might happen than to try to explain why on earth a team in the midst of a rebuild might start bearded fossil Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback at the direct expense of fully finding out what it has in young Josh Rosen. Fins coach Brian Flores acknowledged his Fitzpatrick-leaning after Thursday night’s 22-7 home exhibition win over Jacksonville, saying of Rosen’s performance: "He played well. That makes the decision harder." OK, stop right there. The decision should not be hard. The answer is Rosen (pictured), and it didn't take his leading that 99-yard scoring drive to know that. To read my full column, kindly visit Zero Doubt: Rosen, Not Fitzpatrick, Must Start For Dolphins.
POLL RESULT: ROSEN CLOBBERS FITZPATRICK IN HERALD TWITTER POLL: We posted a Fitzpatrick-or-Rosen poll on our Twitter feed, it drew 2,380 votes in one day and Rosen beat Fitzpatrick in a landslide with 76 percent of the vote at Twitter.com/gregcote.
GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
1) It's THURSDAY, AUGUST 22. Happy birthday to my wife! The greatest person I know, that's all. 2) It's the perfect time to check out my 'Fins At 50' book at Amazon. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Behind Canes' bold gamble on Jarren Williams, fallout from Ross' fundraiser for Trump, latest Back In My Day video & more. 4) Join us on Twitter @gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
Note to readers: Blog readers, apologies that I haven't updated here lately. Been busy with special football section stuff. Will properly attend the blog again soon. Stay tuned.
NEWEST COLUMN: DON'T OVERTHINK IT, DOLPHINS. START ROSEN: The Miami Dolphins and new coach Brian Flores are trying to do the right thing with the most important position. All indications through the first half of this NFL preseason suggest that. Josh Rosen is getting the vast majority of snaps at quarterback. The stage is his to prove he deserves to start, or that he does not. He does. He has shown enough. Flores’ decision on a starter is unmade, or at least unannounced, but it should be clear to him by now. On merit and for other reasons perhaps even more important, Rosen should be given the keys to this season, and that should be unequivocal. The preceding begins my latest column. To read it in full, kindly visit Don't Overthink It, Dolphins. Start Rosen.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (UPDATED): WHAT SOUTH FLORIDA SPORTS FANS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Our blog-exclusive every-Sunday feature, back today from two weeks off on vacation, 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. HURRICANES: Opening Week as Canes football, QB Williams take on Gators!: Countdown is now 2 days until Hurricanes face No. 8 Florida in Orlando Saturday night in the very first game of college football's 150th season. Game marks opening of the Manny Diaz era and first career start for new quarterback Jarren Williams, who seemed out of the hunt this spring but ended up beating Tate Martell and N'Kosi Perry for the job. That was the easy part. Now he must prove UM made the right choice.
2. DOLPHINS: Fins still haven't named who least-bad starting QB will be: Miami fell in Tampa 16-14 Friday night after beating Atlanta 34-27 to open the preseason, with Fake Game 3 on deck tonight/Thursday vs. Jacksonville. A starting quarterback still hasn't been named between Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen. Maybe Fins will take a page from the Canes, look behind door No. 3 and surprise us with Jake Rudock?
3. INTER MIAMI: Team Beckham reported close to signing coach, first star player: Inter Miami, beginning play in MLS next spring, already has signed a trio of 19-year-olds who may be a part of the club's future. Now the big news is looming for Team Beckham. International reports are that Paris Saint-Germain star Edinson Cavani is prepared to join Miami next summer when his contract in France ends. And reports out of Italy are that former AC Milan coach Gennaro "Rino" Gattuso may be a leading candidate to be Miami's inaugural coach. Futbol!
4. MARLINS: Can this season end quicker, please?: Fish have lost five straight games, 15 of their past 18 and are 45-80 as six-game road trip ends tonight before start of a seven-game homestand. The 100-Loss Watch finds team's current pace still at 58-104. Meantime the 2020 schedule is out and next season will open with a seven-game homestand starting March 26 vs. Phillies. Just say that '20 had better be better than what we're slogging through right now.
5. HEAT: Udonis returns, 2019-20 schedule is set: Udonis Haslem announced he'll be back for a 17th Heat season, good news for Heat fans already suffering withdrawal symptoms from no Dwyane Wade. Meanwhile NBA revealed its 2019-20 schedule and the now Jimmy Butler-led Heat will open Oct. 23 at home vs. Memphis. Though Butler and a weakened East make Miami a likely playoff team, Heat will have only a modest six nationally televised games on ESPN or TNT.
6. PANTHERS: Cats to retire Luongo's jersey number: Fittingly and not unexpectedly, Florida announced goaltender Roberto Luongo's No. 1 would become the first retired number in franchise history in a ceremony prior to the March 7 home game vs. Montreal. Luongo, 40, retired June 26. The Cats and new coach Joel Quenneville open the new NHL season Oct. 3.
7. GYMNASTICS: Queen Simone does it again: Four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, 22, reaffirmed her place as the world’s undisputed No. 1 gymnast in the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City -- winning a sixth national gymnastics title with an historic double-double dismount on the uneven bars and then an astounding triple-double during her floor routine.
8. JAY-Z: Rapper and NFL in controversial partnership: Jay-Z's Roc Nation partnered up with the NFL to lead its entertainment and social justice platforms, with Jay-Z immediately called a sellout. Might have helped if Colin Kaepernick had been made part of the marriage. But he wasn't.
9. SOCCER: No Messi is no problem as Miami turns out anyway: Barcelona beat Napoli 2-1 at Hard Rock Stadium earlier this month in a match that drew 57,062 despite Barca star Lionel Messi missing the trip with (supposedly) a calf injury. Miami's continuing embrace of soccer has to have David Beckham and Jorge Mas smiling as they prepare for Inter Miami's first MLS season next spring.
10. YOUTH BASEBALL: Little League World Series underway: The annually televised LLWS from Williamsport, Pa. began on Friday and runs through Aug. 25. Don't care who wins as long as it isn't the Rhode Island team accused of cheating by stealing signs to win its New England regional. Their coach should be tarred and feathered and then deported -- while still covered in tar and feathers -- to Tristan da Cunha, the world's most remote inhabited island. Update: Rhode Island got eliminated with two straight, the first by a no-hitter. Justice! Karma!
Missing the HB10 cut: Conor McGregor punched an old man in a Dublin bar in an argument over whisky. Or, did that go without saying? ..... Hot Button Top 10 returns after missing the past two Sundays on holiday. Miss us? Lie and say you did! ..... Locals sports radio giants 560 and 790 were put in a blender and mixed up by the company that owns both. In other news, "560 The Joe" may be the worst radio station name in history ..... English Premier League season is underway with U.S. star Christian Pulisic now with Chelsea. I follow Everton and Watford, proving beyond doubt I am not a frontrunner ..... U.S. Open tennis begins in eight days. Can Serena Williams finally tie the ll-time majors record? ..... The men's FIBA Basketball World Cup begins Aug. 31 in China. Will the last player to drop off the U.S. team please turn out he light? ..... Antonio Brown found a helmet he's OK with. Thanks God! We can all rest easy again! ..... Switzerland just hosted the men's Fistball World Championships. Fistball is like volleyball, only with a much dumber name ..... Six players were ejected from a WNBA game for throwing punches, proving that women occasionally can be every bit as dumb as men ..... The World Orienteering Championships end today in Norway. Are eliminated teams said to be dis-oriented? ..... The Big3 has-beens basketball league came through Miami and nobody cared ..... Fantasy football drafts, near. Greg's Lobos, girding ..... Update: Countdown now 2,499 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in the 2026 World Cup.
GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
1) It's FRIDAY, AUGUST 16. Back from our glorious vacation! Nine days in New Mexico, Arizona and California. More on that to come, inevitably. 2) Look for the return of the Hot Button Top 10 this coming Sunday after a two-week hiatus. 3) It's always the perfect time to check out my 'Fins At 50' book at Amazon. 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): I'm outta here! Off on vacation & more. 5) Join us on Twitter @gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
WHY CANES TOOK THE BOLD (BUT SMART) GAMBLE ON JARREN WILLIAMS AT QB: Manny Diaz said the other day that the biggest signing in his first months as Miami Hurricanes head coach was not a player, not anybody who would be in uniform on the football field. "The best recruit we signed was Dan Enos," he said. We saw why this week as UM stunned most folks by awarding its starting quarterback job to Jarren Williams (pictured). It was a reminder of the essential importance of a head coach having a lieutenant who can be relied upon to lend an experienced, trusted voice. The Hurricanes’ offense was mired in the bog of bad quarterbacking last season in the combination of Malik Rosier and N’Kosi Perry. A strong defense was wasted in the 7-6 season. Yet the highly recruited Williams was invisible at a time when his spark might have turned a season around. He couldn’t get in a game. (Well, OK, he got in one. Played garbage time against cupcake Savannah State, going 1 for 3 for 17 yards). Why? Because then-coach Mark Richt was too busy waffling between Rosier and Perry to notice Williams’ talent or grow it. And Richt had nobody on his staff to either champion Williams or tell the head coach he was wrong to not give him a shot. Richt’s quarterback coach last season? His oldest son, Jon. The missteps at quarterback that collapsed the 2018 season led to Richt’s abrupt resignation, Diaz’s return to The U from a brief few weeks at Temple — and to Enos. Diaz’s first major decision upon his return to UM was to understand he’s a rookie head coach versed in defense, and needed to hit big on the offensive coordinator. Plenty of coaches’ egos wouldn’t allow that concession. Enos was hired off Nick Saban’s Alabama staff, where he ran the offense, coached the QBs and helped developed Tua Tagovailoa (the Dolphins’ dream get in 2020) and Jalen Hurts. That is hitting big. And that is why Williams will be the Canes’ starting quarterback in the Aug. 24 opener vs. rival Florida in Orlando — even though Williams was not the easiest, safest, most experienced or most expected choice. I explain how and why that came to be in my latest column. To read, kindly visit Here's Why Canes Took Bold Gamble on Jarren Williams at QB.
DOLPHINS' ROSS GAMBLED HE COULD HAVE IT BOTH WAYS -- AND LOST BIG: Those of us with lighter wallets can only imagine that when one is wealthy enough to have it all, that luxury might come with a sense of entitlement. Of expecting to have it both ways, all ways, any way the billionaire desires. Doesn’t always work that way, of course, as Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross is being reminded. Ross’ net worth is estimated at $7.7 billion, but he doesn’t have enough money to buy his way out of this controversy of his own design, this distraction his football team hardly needs as it prepares for the NFL season. You still say sports and politics don’t mix? Ross just mixed them, and with combustible results. OK, that's the intro to my recent back-from vacation column, on Ross hosting a fundraiser for Donald Trump's re-election campaign, and the resulting fallout. (The two buddies are pictured). The fallout Ross is enduring includes calls for boycotts of his businesses, criticism from Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills, and public disappointment within his own Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE). To read the full column, kindly visit Dolphins' Ross Cannot Be Surprised By Major Fallout Over Trump Fundraiser.
GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
WE'RE ON VACATION!: I'll be off from Friday August 2 through Sunday August 11. I need the break. You may need the break, too -- from me -- even more. In the meantime...
ESPN listeners/viewers -- I'll not be on the air on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz this Tuesday August 6 but will return the following Tuesday. Don't plan to miss a single Hard Network Out while I'm away!
Social media followers -- I expect I'll be posting an initially amusing but eventually annoying inundation of vacation videos and photos while off, so stay in touch on Twitter @gregcote and also on Instagram and Facebook. Where on Earth will I be? Anywhere? Or just holed up in my garage? Stay tuned...
GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
1) It's THURSDAY, AUGUST 1. Farewell July and welcome Augie, when the football games begin! 2) ) It's always the perfect time to check out my 'Fins At 50' book at Amazon. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, thank you Fort Myers & more. 4) Join us on Twitter @gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
Talking 'Greg Cote Day' on Le Batard Show: Thank you again Fort Myers! To the minor-league Miracle ballclub and to all of the fans who turned out Saturday night for Greg Cote Day. We were humbled to be honored at such a truly ridiculous event. Loads o' fun! We discussed on Tuesday's Le Batard Show on ESPN Radio. For that conversation, plus videos from the event, go HERE.
BUONICONTI'S LEGACY: GREAT ON THE FIELD, GREATER OFF IT: Nick Buoniconti, the first big, established star in Miami Dolphins franchise history, has died at age 78 after a life so much bigger than football. Buoniconti passed away Tuesday night in hospice care after a years-long struggle with dementia that his family believes was brought on by chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the brain injury that can result from football-related trauma. His impact on the field was great, as a Hall of Famer who played a key role as the captain and driving force of the famed "No-Name Defense" in the Dolphins’ historic 1972 Perfect Season and in the repeat Super Bowl championship in 1973. But his impact off the field was even greater. He founded the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the Buoniconti Fund after his son, Marc, had been paralyzed while playing college football, helping raise some $500 million for the Miami Project. And, right to the end, his going public about his own dementia raised awareness of CTE and its link to football-related brain trauma. For my full column on the passing of a Dolphins great, kindly visit Buoniconti: Hall of Famer, But Even Greater Off the Field.
DOLPHINS, CANES STARTING QUARTERBACK BATTLES: AND THE WINNERS ARE...: There is no proverbial-on-the-job "honeymoon" for Manny Diaz or Brian Flores to enjoy. They take over the Miami Hurricanes and Miami Dolphins as rookie head coaches under uncommon pressure — for different reasons, and for one that is the same. Diaz must live up to expectations of the Canes that are very high for a team that went 7-6 last year, and he faces a rugged opener as underdogs to the top-10 Florida Gators on Aug. 24 in Orlando. Flores must disprove expectations of the Dolphins that are gutter-low, and somehow survive a brutal opening-month schedule vs. the Ravens, Patriots, Cowboys and Chargers — every one a 2018 playoff team. But first, each must not mess up the first major on-field decision of his head coaching career, the one you simply have to get right. It is rare for an NFL or major college team to have a truly open quarterback competition carry this deep into summer, into training camp, with games looming. Miami has two of them, with Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. Josh Rosen on the pro side, and N’Kosi Perry vs. Tate Martell vs. Jarren Williams across town in Coral Gables. OK. Those are the bones of my newest column, the intro. To read the full column -- how I think both battles will play out, who'll win the jobs and why -- kindly visit Analyzing QB Battles for Hurricanes, Dolphins, and Why These Players Will Win. Pictured left: UM's Perry (5) and Martell (18). Pictured right: Fins' Rosen (sans helmet) and Fitzpatrick.
