GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND
1) It's MONDAY, JANUARY 25. The Greg Cote Show podcast is separately on Twitter and Instagram. Join us on both! 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Greg Cote Show podcast's new Episode 3 of new year, MLK Day, INauguration Day & more. 3) Join me on Twitter and Instagram.
AFC, NFC Championship Game picks: Buccaneers at Packers. Brady-Rodgers. Bills at Chiefs. Allen-Mahomes. For our previews and picks on both Sunday games that will determine the Super Bowl matchup: NFL Championship Game Gems. (Update: Please don't look. We were 0-for-2. Ouch).
GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our Miami Herald podcast debuted last March and our new Episode 4 of 2021 (46th overall) is out now! A new pod drops every Monday morning on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Megaphone -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. You can find all 46 we've done so far RIGHT HERE for free; please listen, subscribe, rate and review. In the new Ep4 of '21, we welcome in a professional whistler, Robert Stemmons, a.k.a The Whistler (@TheWhistler.com). Meet and hear him in a fun interview about a job you may not even have known existed. Also, Greg and Chris discuss the newly minted Bucs-Chiefs/Brady-Mahomes Super Bowl matchup; a fond adieu to the dearly departed Hank Aaron and Larry King; Greg talks about what angered him about the Le Batard Show reaction to last week’s Back In My Day segment; Chris’ turn again on Mount Gregmore and he redeems himself (sort of) for his previous abysmal effort; and a little tease to what might be ahead on the podcast. Hear all of that and more in our third new episode of the new year! Thanks as always for the support. Please listen, rate, review and subscribe.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (JANUARY 24-25): 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. NFL: It's a Bucs-Chiefs, Brady-Mahomes Super Bowl!: Bucs beat Packers Sunday for the NFC crown and Chiefs topped Bills for the AFC title to mint a Tom Brady vs. Patrick Mahomes Super Bowl on February 7. The NFL announced SB LV will allow 22,000 fans at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, one-third of them vaccinated health care workers admitted free.
2. HEAT: Struggles go on for shorthanded Miami: Heat fell to 6-9 with Saturday's 128-124 loss at Brooklyn -- despite 41 from Bam Adabayo. Miami faces Nets with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving again Monday. Heat has struggled without Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro both out.
3. HANK AARON: Baseball home run king passes away: Home run king Hank Aaron passed away at age 86. And Hammerin' Hank would be the career leader in homers to this day had juiced up Barry Bonds not surpassed him with pharmaceutical help. #TheTrueKing
4. INTER MIAMI: Team takes forward in MLS Draft as Neville takes over: As former England national women's team coach Phil Neville settles in as David Beckham's hand-picked new coach, Miami selected forward Josh Penn 10th overall in the 2021 MLS Superdraft. He played for Indy Eleven in the lower-tier USL. The second-year club's two lower picks both were defenders.
5. UM BASKETBALL: Canes women play top-ranked Louisville: Miami women's team, 7-5 but 0-3 vs. ranked teams, visits No. 1 Louisville on Tuesday and then plays at No. 2 North Carolina State February 4. Canes men, despite a recent victory over No. 16 Louisville, are 6-8 after Sunday's home loss to Notre Dame.
6. PANTHERS: Cats finally back in action Tuesday, hopefully: Florida is a perfect 2-0-0 in the young NHL season but with five games already postponed due to COVID issues with Dallas and Carolina. Panthers are scheduled to next play at Columbus Tuesday night after an unscheduled full week off.
7. DOLPHINS: Fins staff in Mobile to coach Senior Bowl: Dolphins coaches will work one sideline of this coming Saturday's Senior Bowl game in Mobile, Ala., a talent show in the run-up to the NFL Draft. Gives Brian Flores and crew a chance for hands-on scouting as well as an opportunity to perhaps kidnap Alabama WR DeVonta Smith. That includes new QBs coach Charlie Frye. Hmm. The change a pretty clear sign the club didn't think Tua's progress was what it should be. P.s.: #DeshaunWatson
8. NFL: QB Rivers retires, Stafford on block: Quarterback Philip Rivers, best known for never winning a Super Bowl and having about 45 kids, announced his retirement at age 39 after 17 seasons, the last as a Colt after being a career-long Charger. And The Lions announced intentions to trade veteran QB Matthew Stafford.
9. MLB: Mets fire new GM over texting scandal: The Mets fired GM Jared Porter after ESPN reported he sent explicit, unsolicited texts and images to a female reporter in 2016 while in the Cubs' front office. #Dumbass #GoodbyeCareer
10. SOCCER: FIFA delivers blow to 'Super League': World football governing body FIFA announced players who compete in a proposed breakaway European Super League (an alternative to the UEFA Champions League) would be banned from playing in FIFA competitions -- including the World Cup.
Missing the HB10 cut: For America's sake, best wishes and good luck to President Joe Biden. (Sadly, we have reached a partisan divide where the previous sentence might actually be seen as controversial) ..... Dustin Poirier upset Conor McGregor with a second-round TKO Saturday night in UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi. Show of hands: Who else enjoys seeing the mouthy McGregor lose? ..... "OW! What the @#$%!? Dan Campbell just bit my kneecap!" ..... The Washington Football Team will promote Jennifer King to a full-time offensive assistant, making her the first Black woman to be a full-time coach in the NFL ..... The IOC denied a report that the already delayed 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics would be canceled ..... R.I.P., Larry King, the broadcasting legend who got his start in Miami ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast's new Episode 46 (No. 4 of 2021) is out Monday! ..... Update: Countdown now 1,982 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.
#HENNETHINGISPOSSIBLE: CHAD HENNE AN OVERNIGHT SENSATION, 13 YEARS LATER: Every once in awhile sports gives us — gifts us is more like it — a little story like this, unscripted, born of random circumstance. So Chad Henne gets to be the overnight sensation, 13 years later. “Who is Chad Henne?” read the CBSSports.com headline Tuesday. “Five things to know about the AFC divisional round hero.” Miami and Dolphins fans know who Henne is, of course. Fins drafted him in the second round in 2008, and he played four nondescript seasons here. Miami declined to re-sign him. But if was as if the rest of the football world had forgotten or never knew of him, until everything changed Sunday. All-world quarterback Patrick Mahomes goes down from a hard hit and leaves the playoff game woozy — all of Kansas City sagging. In comes the seldom-deployed, easy-to-forget understudy. The Chiefs led the Cleveland Browns 19-10 at the time, and would win 22-17. He didn’t get the win, but give Henne the save. He completed 6 of 8 passes for 66 yards, but it was his 13-yard scramble and then 4th-and-1 completion to Tyreek Hill that sealed the Chiefs’ triumph. “Nothing really changed for us,” tight end Travis Kelce said. “Chad uplifted us, we uplifted him and and we just rallied together.” #HenneThingIsPossible, tweeted Mahomes after the game, the hashtag instantly viral. For our full most recent column, visit Chad Henne: Ex-Dolphin An Overnight Sensation, 13 Years Later.
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THE ARCHIVES:
Select other most recent columns: Final Herald NFL 2020 QB Rankings / Saban the New G.O.A.T. as Alabama Reigns in Miami / Dolphins' Re-Commitment to Tua is Smart, And Well-Timed / Promising Season For Dolphins, Tua Ends In Crushing Collapse/ It Was the Overshadowed Bowl, but A&M and UNC Deliver An Exciting OB / 'A' For Effort, But King Hurt As Hurricanes' Bowl-Woes Continue yet Again / The King Is Dead! Dolphins Win Signals End of Era For Belichick, Pats / and Heat Are Getting No Respect, But Didn't Earn Much In Opener.For Dolphins' Tua, Now Is When We Begin to See If Greatness Is In His Reach / Le Batard Leaving ESPN, But Assures Fans They'll Hear From Him Again Soon / Marlins Hit History-Making Home Run With Kim NG Hire As GM / In a Pandemic-Battered Season For FIU, Butch Davis' Love Of Coaching Survives / Stop the Silly Noise And Speculation. Give Dolphins' Tua Time And a Fair Chance / Fans of ESPN's Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz Should Prepare For Another Change / Turner, With COVID, Joining Dodgers Celebration A Sadly Fitting End to Season / and Heat, Marlins, Canes -- now Tua. Miserable 2020 Suddenly Great Time To Be Miami Fan.
Heat NBA Finals last column: Game 6--LeBron Reigns, But Credit Heat For Unexpected Run to Finals.
Marlins postseason run last column: NLDS Game 3--Marlins Season Was A Miracle But Way It Ended Is Lesson On Work Still Ahead.
Select other 2020 columns: Boycott Of NBA Playoffs Shows Nation That Injustice Is Bigger Than Sports Right Now / Having Fans at Dolphins, Canes Games A Bad Idea And Big Risk / As Panthers Move on From Tallon, Who's Next Miami Team Executive on Hot Seat? / 'Perfect Storm For Virus Transmission': Why Football Is Struggling to Lift Off / Marlins Delaying Home Opener For COVID Outbreak a Scary Lesson For All Sports / Don Shula, 1930-2020, R.I.P. / What Shula Meant to a Father & Son. They Boy Was Me / It Took George Floyd To Finally Wake Up White America / Goodell's NFL Response to Floyd Killing Is Hypocrisy At Its Most Ironic / and George Floyd Is Why Kaepernick & Sports Must Continue Fight For Social Justice
Revisit this blog often because it updates regularly. The Associated Press Sports Editors writing awards ranked the blog's author a Top 10 national sports columnist in the major-outlet category. Greg is also a regular on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz on ESPN Radio. Finding Greg: Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Columns. Podcast. Podcast on Twitter. Podcast on Instagram. LeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio) and The Ballad Of 1440 (video).
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