GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND
GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: STUGOTZ JOINS US IN NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our Miami Herald podcast debuted last March and our new Episode 6 of 2021 (48th 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 48 we've done so far RIGHT HERE for free. In the latest Ep6 of '21, Greg and Chris discuss the Super Bowl rout by Brady's Bucs over Mahomes' Chiefs, and Greg blasts the football Hall of Fame for again denying Zach Thomas. And Stugotz to talk Super Bowl, the future of the Le Batard Show, and the recent death of his mom. Also, a new Mount Gregmore centered on the University of Miami. Hear all of that and more in our sixth episode of the new year! Thanks as always for the support. Please listen, rate, review and subscribe.
NO NATIONAL ANTHEM AT GAMES AT ALL? WHAT STARTED WITH KAEPERNICK HAS TAKEN SHARP TURN: It is a good thing that the people who make their living playing sports are exercising their social conscience. It’s almost as if there is a bit of guilt — making tens of millions of dollars for hitting or throwing or bouncing a ball — that must be atoned for by taking advantage of an outsized platform for something more important than endorsing a sneaker. Colin Kaepernick reignited this movement in 2016 but didn’t invent it. His controversially kneeling during the national anthem to protest systemic social and racial injustice — a foretelling of the national protests in the summer of 2020 — was an echo. It was an echo of Jackie Robinson. Of John Carlos and Tommie Smith raising fists during the anthem at the 1968 Olympics. Of Cassius Clay becoming Muhammad Ali to underline his conscientious objection to the Vietnam War. You tell LeBron James to shut up and dribble and he says hell no and gets louder. More power to him. Segue to the news of the week, the story that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had ordered his team to stop playing the national anthem before games. Then the NBA quickly overriding and saying all teams must play the anthem as part of the league’s long-standing policy. We weigh in on this issue as it arises anew, including my personal feelings, in our latest column. For that column in full, visit Oh Say Can You See No Anthem At Games? We Weigh In.
INTER MIAMI'S DAVID BECKHAM AND REPORTED DEAL WITH QATAR A BUDDING, AVOIDABLE MESS: David Beckham unquestionably is the handsome, charismatic face of Inter Miami as the club prepares for its second season in Major League Soccer. Is he now also the face — dubiously, controversially — of Qatar? The Daily Mail newspaper in London reported Beckham has agreed to be the “media-friendly face” of that Middle Eastern country in its buildup to hosting the soccer World Cup in 2022. The report said the role would pay Beckham at least 10 million British pounds, or $13.85 million U.S.In effect, that means Inter Miami’s club president and part owner has agreed to be the goodwill ambassador for the Persian Gulf state that is as notorious as it is wealthy. If the report from London is true it would seem an odd partner for Beckham to climb into bed with. The former England football captain’s name is an international brand cultivated and manicured with care. Aligning with Qatar sounds an odd, dissonant chord. The very fact Qatar is hosting the World Cup at all is enmeshed in controversy. It is a small nation of about 3 million and smaller in size than Connecticut, one with a minimal history in soccer and with a brutal summer climate. The U.S. Department of Justice alleged that massive bribery was involved in Qatar being named host by FIFA, the sport’s world governing body. The international group Human Rights Watch also notes Qatar’s blemished record including anti-LBGTQ laws that make being gay in Qatar illegal. For my full recent column, visit Inter Miami's Beckham Risks Stepping Into Massive, Avoidable Mess.
TOM BRADY BELONGS IN SPORTS' ALL-TIME PANTHEON. BUT HE HAS COMPANY: Here is what Tom Brady was doing Sunday night when the Super Bowl was won, really won: He was watching, on the sideline. He was marveling, like the rest of us, as his defense spent the entire game hounding Patrick Mahomes without relent and forcing the worst game of his young professional career. That was the difference and what defined the Tampa Bay Bucs’ 31-9 pounding of the Kansas City Chiefs. It was not Brady’s excellence, which we have spent 20 years assuming. It was the utter erasure of Mahomes as any factor in the game. It was seeing Wonder Boy hopeless and hapless for the first time. I say this not to diminish what Brady has done by even an iota, but to remind that football is the ultimate team sport in a way that baseball and basketball are not. It is worth noting as we read and hear the breathless anointing now of Brady as the greatest ever in the history of sports. As if Sunday night settled that, and removed any room for argument. What Brady is is the most accomplished, decorated quarterback or player at any position in the history of the NFL. He just won his seventh Super Bowl. The most by any one franchise is six. Fathom that. But Brady was the quarterback G.O.A.T. even before Sunday added yet more blingy of trophy room. His place in sports history hardly needed Sunday, and needs no hyperbole. The plain facts speak. (Remember facts? Those are provable statements on which all of us could agree, back before the simple concept of truth somehow became the stuff of controversy). Ten Super Bowls. Seven championships. Five Super Bowl MVPs. Staggering, those facts. It’s Tom, then a canyonesque gulf, and then second place. Nobody else has come close in the 55-year era of the Super Bowl, and nobody will be close 55 years from now. No, not even the anointed prince put in his place Sunday by the old king. Still, though, the collective need now by the media to place Brady above all others, any sport, any time, is unnecessary, not to mention impossible, because it compares what cannot be compared. For my full recent column, visit Put Brady In Sports' All-Time Pantheon. But He Has Company.
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ARCHIVES:
The Super Bowl With a Smirk series: Smirk V starring Dolphins up for NFL Honors including Zach Thomas for Hal of Fame; Smirk IV starring our Top 10 Super Bowl scandals/controversies/things gone wrong; Smirk III starring the sad, gradual death of the mystique of the Super Bowl commercial. Smirk II starring Brady-Mahomes as bitter Joe Exotic/Carole Baskin/Tiger King rivals; and Smirk I starring a virtual Super Bowl Week not remotely like usual.
Select other most recent columns: Why Schilling Is To Blame For Falling Short Of Hall / Why A Brady-Mahomes Super Bowl Is Torture For Dolphins Fans / Chad Henne: Ex-Dolphin An Overnight Sensation, 13 Years Later / 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: 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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