1) It's SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16. A bout of laryngitis had me off the air Friday on the Le Batard Show. Sorry. Hope to be back Tuesday for my regular co-host slot. 2) Check out our 'Fins At 50' book at Amazon. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Dolphins earn upset win at Indy with DSM poll, Hot Button Top 10, NFL Week 10 picks, Le Batard Countdown Clock & more. 4) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
DOLPHINS-BILLS, UPSETS, WATSON VS. JACKSON AND THE REST: OUR NFL WEEK 11 PICKS: Off our record-setting 2018 season we've had a solid first half-plus of our 29th year of NFL picks in the Miami Herald. Last week was not great at 7-6 overall but not bad also at 7-6 against the spread. We bull’s-eyed yet another Upset of the Week pick (“Aawwk!”) with Seahawks winning Monday night at previously unbeaten San Fran, nailed another outright upset with Steelers over Rams, and also had a pair of ‘dogs-with-points in road covers by the Dolphins and Cardinals. Now here are our Week 11 picks, including Bills at Dolphins at, Game of the Week (Texans-Ravens a.k.a. Deshaun Watson vs. Lamar Jackson), upsets and all the rest. Please visit the motherlode of prognostication that I like to call NFL Week 11 Gems. We misfired badly last night in seeing an upset win by Steelers in Cleveland to get our week off to a bumpy start. Que sera, sera. Let's rally!
VROOOM! NASCAR AT HOMESTEAD: GREAT FINAL RACE. BUT HERE IS WHAT'S MISSING: NASCAR's Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway has the year's top four drivers competing for the 2019 season championship in Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex. (I leave the "Jr." off the latter's name because we all know by now it isn't his Dad out there). Hamlin seeks his first season championship, while the other three all have won once and recently, since 2014. There is history in this year's race. It will be the 18th and final season that Homestead has the final race and crowns the champion each year. Homestead will continue to be a NASCAR track, but starting next season its race will be held in March on the schedule. Sunday's Championship 4 is a really good one, yet NASCAR is missing something. I explore in my latest column. To read, please visit The Best Will Race For Title At Homestead. But Here Is What NASCAR Is Missing And Needs.
AFTER 20 YEARS OF NOT WINNING, THE MIAMI DOLPHINS ARE SUDDENLY FAILING AT FAILING, TOO?: Nineteen consecutive seasons without an NFL playoff victory establishes beyond reasonable debate that the Miami Dolphins have been averse to winning for, well, for pretty much the entire 21st Century. Now here comes the scary part. After two decades of not winning anything, the Fins are now even failing at failing. Here is the franchise that boldly and strategically decimated its roster — swapping talent for future draft picks — to be bad enough to select high enough to get its magic quarterback. To abide pain and embarrassment now in exchange for big winning down the road. And what do they do at the midsection of the season? They suddenly forget to fail. They win their way out of the top of the draft. And the Weirdest Season gets weirder as Dolphins fans who rationalized seeing the good in being 0-7 now wring hands nervously at 2-7 after Miami stacked Sunday’s 16-12 victory at Indianapolis on top of the previous week’s win over the rival Jets. This is the genesis of my latest column, in which I explore how the Dolphins now stand in the race for the overall 2020 No. 1 draft pick and their choice of quarterbacks. To read that column in full, please visit After Not Winning Enough, Are The Dolphins Now Failing At Failing?
WITH MIAMI, FIU OFF, A LIGHT SATURDAY SLATE FOR STATE FBS TEAMS: The Hurricanes and FIU are off this week, awaiting next Saturday's neutral site meeting at Marlins Park. FAU and UCF also are off, meaning only three of seven state FBS teams are in action: No. 10 Florida at Missouri, noon; Alabama State at Florida State, noon; and No. 20 Cincinnati at South Florida, 7. (Gators are modest 6 1/2-point favorites).
Our other most recent work: The Player Who Started the Glory Days for Canes Football / Canes Lose Hoops Opener, But It's Fans Who Disappoint / Enjoy The Win, Miami. Here's Why Fins Still in Great Shape For Top Pick / After Mocking And Tank-Talk, Dolphins And Flores Deserved This Day / Le Batard On Return To Air, Latest Event / Do Not Waver, Dolphins. It Must Be Tua! / and Disgraced Ref Donaghy Opens Up About Game-Fix Scandal.
Other select recent columns: Why Is NBA Doing Business With Human Rights-Violating China In First Place? / 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 / 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 / Inter Miami Aiming High With Barca's Suarez / End The Illogical Shame and Honor Schnellenberger / 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.
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Twitter @gregcote
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