New! Our NFL Week 9 picks for Dolphins-Jets, upsets and all the rest; plus Radio Friday!, our Fins/Tua and Tim Donaghy columns & more
1) It's FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1. Hope ya'll had a Happy Halloween! Oh and welcome November! 2) Condolences on the passing this week of the great former University of Miami athletic director Sam Jankovich, who died at 84. I knew Sam very well in the 1980s. He was a good man and a good AD. 3) Check out our 'Fins At 50' book at Amazon. 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Dolphins must stayed focused on Tua, Fins lose in Pittsburgh with DSM poll, NFL Pix 'n Fantasy Week 8 results & more. 5) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
It's Radio Friday!: Double duty this week. I'm back in-studio today on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz. It airs 10 to 1 nationally on ESPN Radio and ESPNews. And watch for a local-only hour linked from the show's social media platforms.
DOLPHINS-JETS, GAME OF THE WEEK, UPSETS: OUR NFL WEEK 9 PICKS: Off our record-setting 2018 season and a solid first half of our 29th year of NFL picks in the Miami Herald, here are our latest selections. We went a perfect 15-0 straight-up last week and a tough 7-8 against spread despite hitting on two outright upset picks. This week, will the still-winless Dolphins win at home vs. the equally bad Stinkin' Jets? What about our Patriots-Ravens Game of the Week? And our three new upset picks? Answers to all of that and more may be found in the motherlode of prognostication that is our NFL Week 9 Gems. We can't top 15-0, but we can try. Got off to a mixed start last night. Had Niners beating Cardinals and also covering. They won, but didn't cover. You let me down, San Fran D.
Eyes on the prize! Why Dolphins must remain steadfast for Tua: We’ve been reading and hearing it from South Florida media to the talking heads on Monday's Dolphins-Steelers telecast. The what-if game on the 2020 NFL Draft. The notion that whomever ends up with the No. 1 pick next spring — including the favorite, Miami — dare not pass on the draft’s hot new shiny object, Ohio State’ havoc-wreaking pass rusher Chase Young. No! Let's hope this is a false narrative floated purely for the sake of argument. Because, at least in the Dolphins’ case, it is an absurd supposition that Miami should or might bypass the franchise arm for anybody else The whole point of this season, this exquisitely orchestrated tanking, is to wind up with Tua Tagovailoa. The full column: Do Not Waver, Dolphins. It Must Be Tua!
Disgraced ref Tim Donaghy talks game-fixing: He was at the center of one of NBA's major scandals of the 2000s. A movie about it is out this week. We spoke with the villain himself. The fiull column: Disgraced Ref Donaghy Opens Up About Game-Fix Scandal. The movie preview: Inside Game Trailer.
Our most recent other columns: Heat's Opener Stars Butler As Missing Person, Winslow As Rising Star / Heat 'Tighten the Screws,' And Dion Waiters Is the Lesson, As New Season Begins / Diaz Playing 'Rebuild' Card As Weak as Canes' Effort in Loss to Ga-Tech / LeBron Follows Company Line On China After Career Devoted to Social Justice / Now Or Never For Panthers To Stop Wasting The Barkov Years.
Previous other select columns: Why Is NBA Doing Business With Human Rights-Violating China In First Place? / 'Culture' Isn't Enough. It'll Take These 5 Factors to Lift Miami Heat / Riley Introduces Butler -- 'Cause the Heat Don't Tank / Why Dolphins, Even Epic-Bad, May be Closer to Major Turnaround Than Canes / Turning Its Back on Kaepernick Enters Year 3 As NFL's Ongoing Shame / Worst Miami Team Ever? Epic Losing Already Making Dolphins A National Joke / Quit Whining! Yes Dolphins Are Tanking, And Yes They Should / Dolphins' Ross Cannot Be Surprised By Major Fallout Over Trump Fundraiser / Le Batard on Miami Radio Turmoil: 'We Were Evicted' / Buoniconti: Hall of Famer, But Even Greater Off the Field / It Is Megan Rapinoe's World Cup -- On And Off The Field / An Era Ends As Panthers' Luongo Retires / O.J. Can Tweet What He Wants, But How He's Seen Is Not Up To Him / Ranking Dolphins, Heat, Marlins & Panthers' Best Young Players / Inter Miami Aiming High With Barca's Suarez / End The Illogical Shame and Honor Schnellenberger / Oh To Be Hated Again! Lean Times For Miami Sports / Why Tiger's Masters Triumph Is About More Than Golf / Transgender-Athlete Firestorm A Necessary Debate / Across the Rio Grande to the PGA Tour / From Dark and Empty to Top Of the World: Dan Le Batard at 50.
APSE-HONORED WORK: The Associated Press Sports Editors 2018 writing awards ranked us a Top 10 national sports columnist in the major-outlet category. Thanks, APSE. Here are the five nominated columns that earned the honor: At Doral, an annual tradition since 1962 is replaced by silence, and by what's missing / Marlins' Jose Fernandez statue is divisive yet has a chance to serve a greater purpose /NFL has moral obligation to help Buonicontis and Kiicks while it limits future suffering / What led to El Clasico Miami began with Joe Robbie's unlikely, accidental love of soccer / With 59 home runs, Stanton still had a magic season. Just hope this wasn't goodbye.
Revisit our blog often because we update and add to our latest posts throughout the day.
Twitter @gregcote
