1) It's TUESDAY, MARCH 10. Happy International Women's day! 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Premiere Week for new Greg Cote podcast. repentant cheater A-Rod blasts Astros, Inter Miami poised to quake sports landscape & more. 3) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
It's Radio Tuesday: Back in-studio today on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz. Airs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. nationally on ESPN Radio and local affiliates including 560 in Miami, and on ESPNews. Also look for a local-only hour linked from show's social media platforms.
GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST EPISODE 2 NOW OUT!: Our new Miami Herald podcast, "The Greg Cote Show With Greg Cote," premiered last Monday and is out with Episode 2 today. You can find it by searching 'Greg Cote Show' on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you do your podding. Or find it directly right here. Please listen and subscribe! Subscribing is totally free and so important to what we're doing in this new project. Our podcast is a variety show, sports and non-sports, 3-0-5 and national, fun and (when absolutely necessary) serious. Check out Episode 2 now!
WITH MONEY AND PICKS GALORE, PRESSURE ON DOLPHINS GM GRIER TO WIN NEXT 6 WEEKS. NEW COLUMN: For the Miami Dolphins the next six weeks will shape a forlorn franchise’s immediate and long-term future. But the coming free agency period and NFL Draft will not be about any one player as much as it will be an overall referendum on general manager Chris Grier, the man out front in roster decisions. (He is pictured with coach Brian Flores). This begins Grier's fifth season as GM and third with say over personnel, and he begins the biggest month-plus of his professional life. It will dramatically and quickly turn the Dolphins competitive, or be a seismic disappointment. The question: Are Grier and his braintrust including owner Stephen Ross and coach Brian Flores -- up to the challenge. Miami has hit the lottery in terms of available spending money and draft picks. That means Grier and Co. have every opportunity and no excuse to fail. For our full latest column, please visit It's Dominate Or Bust For Dolphins GM Grier Over Next 6 Weeks.
Our most recent columns: Repentant Cheater A-Rod Slams Astros With Lesson On How to Handle Their Own Scandal / Inter Miami Is Market's Sleeping Giant As Home Opener Nears and As NFL Free Agency & Draft Near, All You Need To Know About Dolphins' QB Situation. Also: Beckham, Inter Miami Survive To Finally Reach Opening Week / Jeter Arrives At Camp, Calls Marlins 'Layered With Talent' / Dwyane Wade, His Transgender Daughter And A Lesson In Love / Why Marlins Aren't Pursuing Puig All About Change In Ownership and Pressure On Marlins for Big Improvement Now -- and It's About Time.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (MARCH 8-9): 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. INTER MIAMI: New team falls again; home opener in 6 days: lAfterlosing 1-0 at Los Angeles FC, Inter Miami dropped a tough-luck 2-1 verdict Saturday at D.C. United. Now comes the long-awaited maiden home opener, Saturday March 14 vs. David Beckham's old L.A. Galaxy squad, in the new stadium on the hallowed ground of the old Lockhart in Fort Lauderdale.
2. HEAT: Win over Bucks defines Miami's upside: Miami is 41-23 and fourth in the East and had won four straight -- including an exhilarating 105-89 win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the mighty Milwaukee Bucks -- before falling Friday at New Orleans. Heat rebounded to win at Washington Sunday, but it was that Bucks win that raised the bar on their playoff potential.
3. PANTHERS: Cats finally end home skid as Luongo honored: The Cats retired Roberto Luongo's No. 1 jersey in a ceremony Saturday for the retired goaltender, then whipped Montreal 4-1 to end a record eight-game home losing streak. Before Saturday Florida had been in a 4-12 slump since February 4. Panthers are back on the edge of playoff pace entering Monday's test at St. Louis.
4. CANES HOOPS: UM women gag in ACCs; can the men do better?: The Miami women's team, once 9-3 and ranked, ended a .500 season with a disappointing one-and-done performance in the ACC Tournament, losing its opener to lower-seeded Clemson. An NCAA Tournament bid should not be expected. The Canes men, also .500 after Saturday's win over Syracuse, will need a big showing in the ACCs this week for any prayer of an NCAA invite.
5. DOLPHINS: QB Fitzpatrick endorses new CBA: NFL players have until this Thursday to vote on the league's new collective bargaining agreement that would increase regular season games by one, to 17, and Dolphins QB Ryan Fitzpatrick became one of the most prominent players to say he was on board. The vote requires a simple majority to pass. The onset of free agency soon follows. Will Miami be a spender?
6. MARLINS: Pool gone, but Fish continue spring splash: Miami is 10-5-1 this spring after Sunday's loss to St. Louis in Jupiter. Meantime the team announced the Clevelander nightclub and swimming pool beyond the left field wall won't be back at Marlins Park for the 2020 season. "Oh darn!" I said facetiously.
7. NBA: Curry makes long-awaited return for Warriors: Steph Curry returned from a four-month injury absence to score 23 for the Warriors Thursday night, albeit way, way too late to rescue or save Golden State's lost season.
8. SOCCER: U.S. women beat England, then Spain: The World Cup champion USWNT is back in action in the SheBleieves Cup, opening with a 2-0 dispatch of England in Orlando, and then on Sunday beating Spain 1-nil in a tougher test in Harrison, N.J.
9. TENNIS: Miami Open and stellar field getting close: The Miami Open's second year at Hard Rock Stadium begins its two-week run on March 23, with a terrific field including 18 players who have won a combined 80 Grand Slam titles. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams lead the way.
10. HURRICANES: Spring football practice takes a break: UM is four practices into spring work and now the team is off all this coming week, returning to the field next Sunday. The idea of practicing in March has always struck us as a waste of time and money and something college football should consider eliminating, although coach Manny Diaz might vigorously disagree.
Missing the HB10 cut: Shameless plug: Episode 2 of the new Greg Cote podcast drops this Monday ..... ESPN wants to sign Peyton Manning and trade with NBC Sports for Al Michaels to form a Monday Night Football super-booth. You go, Mickey Mouse! ..... Spike Lee, how about you enter Madison Square Garden like a normal human being and quit whining when you don't get pampered with preferential treatment ..... Countdown 14 days until the race that debuts Homestead's new earlier spot on the NASCAR calendar ..... Keep booing the Astros, please ..... Is the XFL still playing games? ..... Honda Classic is moving a few weeks later on the golf calendar to try to get a stronger field. It couldn't hurt ..... Update: Countdown now 2,303 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.
Other select 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 / And our two-part series: How One Man Long Forgotten Changed Everything For the Miami Dolphins and How Shula Made Dolphins Perfect and Made Miami Matter, And the Coach Today at 90. Also: Chiefs, Mahomes And A Former Dolphin Win Super Bowl 54 -- And So Does Miami / Kobe's Death Sends Sports World Reeling, But Immortality Is His / 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. And check and our new Greg Cote Show podcast and subscribe!
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