1) It's MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17. We're back from a week's vacation. Details here below the new Hot Button Top 10. 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, links to latest columns & more. 3) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
Our most recent columns:
(*) It's Time For Anonymous Lone Voter Who Denied Jeter To Step Forward.
(*) Heat And Gloriously Impatient Riley Win In Trade For Iguodala.
(*) Return Of Ed Reed, Even If Mostly Symbolic, Leads Surge By Canes Football.
(*) Poor Dolphins Finally Getting Rid Of Brady Only to Have Mahomes Take His Place.
(*) Two-part series: How One Man Long Forgotten Changed Everything For the Miami Dolphins; 2) How Shula Made Dolphins Perfect and Made Miami Matter, And the Coach Today at 90.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (FEBRUARY 16-17): WHAT SOUTH FLORIDA SPORTS FANS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Our blog-exclusive Sunday-into-Monday feature 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. DWYANE WADE: It's "L3GACY Celebration" Week in Miami: A jersey retirement ceremony isn't enough. Uh uh. Not big enough. Not for this guy. So the Heat will celebrate Dwyane Wade's career with three nights of arena events: "The Flashback" career retrospective (for season-ticket holders only) this coming Friday night; jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of Saturday night's game vs. Cleveland; and the premiere of a new documentary about Wade next Sunday.
2. MARLINS: Spring is sprung as Year 3 of Jeter Era gets underway: The Marlins' first full-squad workout of spring training in Jupiter is this Wednesday (pitchers and catchers already have reported) and Miami's Grapefruit League exhibition schedule commences next Saturday February 22. It's Year 3 of the Derek Jeter Era. Noticeable improvement, por favor?
3. NBA: All-Star Game, tribute to Kobe go off in Chicago: It was Team LeBron edging Team Giannis 157-155 in Chicago last night in the 69th NBA All-Star Game, with the recent death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash hanging over the proceedings, which will included tributes to Bryant. Kobe, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett will lead hall of fame inductees in the 2020 eligibility list just announced.
4. NASCAR: Daytona 500 postponed until Monday: Jimmie Johnson's farewell season and an appearance by Donald Trump were notable on Sunday as NASCAR opened its season with its most famous race. Alas, inclement weather postponed the D500 until today. Homestead will rev up again soon enough, this year hosting the sixth race on March 22 after years hosting the finale.
5. HEAT: Bam, Jimmy lead Miami all-stars at break: Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler repped the Heat in last night's NBA All-Star Game, after Adebayo won Saturday's Skills Challenge and Derrick Jones Jr. won the dunk contest. Miami is 35-19 and fourth in the East at the break, but only 4-6 since January 24 and looking to start the second half strong when games resume this Thursday in Atlanta.
6. MLB: Astros cheating mess getting worse and worse: Houston staged a universally scorned apology press conference that really wasn't, only making matters worse in its scandal over sign-stealing that tarnishes its 2017 World Series title. What a mess clouding the start of spring training. Damned baseball can't ever seem to get out of its own way.
7. PANTHERS: Slumping Cats trying to regain footing in NHL playoff chase: Once-hot Panthers have cooled in February (only 2-7 this month), and are now four points off NHL playoff pace in the East after Saturday's loss to Edmonton. Now it's five straight away on a West Coast road trip.
8. UM BASEBALL: Canes open season with sweep, await visit by Gators: UM, No. 7-ranked by USA Today, awaits a home series vs. No. 10 Florida next weekend after a Wednesday game vs. Kent State. Miami opened its season with a three-game series with Rutgers, completing a sweep on Sunday.
9. INTER MIAMI: Getting close now. So, so close...: Inter Miami's inaugural Major League Soccer season begins March 1 in Los Angeles, with the historic first home game in Fort Lauderdale on March 14 at the old Lockhart site. Let the countdown begin!
10. CANES HOOPS: Average UM teams need a strong finish, and a prayer: Miami men are 13-12 after Saturday's win at Wake Forest and the Canes women are also 13-12 after beatng Clemson Sunday, both with five games left in the regular season. Each needs a strong finish and some sort of splash in the ACC Tournament for any prayer of an NCAA Tournament bid. Doesn't help that neither has beaten a Top 25 team.
Missing the HB10 cut: The Las Vegas Raiders reportedly are prepared to offer Tom Brady a two-year, $60 million free agent contract. Which sounds like a rumor planted by Tom Brady's agent ..... Has the XFL folded yet? ..... Getting close: UM spring football practice begins February 29. The NFL Scouting Combine commences February 27 ..... Update: Countdown now 2,317 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.
MAN WHO DISLIKES BOTH DISCO MUSIC AND DANCING GOES ON 'DISCO CRUISE': That would be me. I love a wide spectrum of music, but disco may be my least favorite of any type. The genre lends itself to dancing -- which I don't particularly enjoy, either. Yet there I was on a five-day 'Disco Cruise' this past week from Miami to Key West and Nassau aboard the Celebrity Infinity. Went with my wife and another couple because the women thought it would be fun ... and it was, primarily (for me, at least) because a premium drink package and a casino meant I was free to partake of as much or as little of the actual disco music as I wished. In fairness I must say most of the performers were quite good, albeit entirely as nostalgia acts churning out 40-year-old songs. And of course in the case of the Jacksons, the Miracles, the Commodores, the Blue Notes and others, the acts typically were missing the one person who made them most famous (that would be Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie and Harold Melvin, chronologically). Many acts were one-hit wonders, such as The Trammps (Disco Inferno) and Sister Sledge (We Are Family). There were tribute bands for Earth Wind & Fire (so so) and Abba (really good). The headline act, KC & the Sunshine band, was a disappointment for me, although, in fairness, based on crowd reaction, I think my opinion was clearly in the minority. Frontman Harry Casey did his best, but at age 69 and by his own admission really overweight, the spins and dance moves were excruciating to watch and the show was overly choreographed and almost Broadway-like in bombast and overproduction. KC poked fun at his own weight gain, joking the band maybe should be call "KFC" and the Sunshine Band. Still, give the Miami-born entertainer credit for a long and enduring career -- one given a new kind of life by these disco cruises.
Other select recent columns: Chiefs, Mahomes And A Former Dolphin Win Super Bowl 54 -- And So Does Miami and Kobe's Death Sends Sports World Reeling, But Immortality Is His. Also: How The NFL, Even Amid Safety Concerns, Bounced Back And Is Healthier Than Ever / How Miami Went From Forgotten to Back On Top As 'Super Bowl City' / Jimmy Johnson's Biggest Triumph? Knowing When To Quit -- And Why / Announcing Miami Dolphins' 2010-19 All-Decade Team / On Miami's Home Field, Gators Remind Canes How to Win Major Bowl Game and We Are The Champions: How South Florida Came to Own the State in High School Football.
Visit Greg Cote Column Headquarters, and revisit this blog often because it is updated regularly. The Associated Press Sports Editors 2018 writing awards ranked the blog's author a Top 10 national sports columnist in the major-outlet category. Author of 'Fins At 50,' available on Amazon. Regular co-host on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz on ESPN Radio and ESPNews. Follow on Twitter @gregcote.
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