GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND
1) It's SATURDAY, APRIL 10. I was back in my regular Tuesday spot this past week on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz. Check it out on the show's podcasts. Includes the return of Bitter Mickey Mouse. 2) The Greg Cote Show podcast is separately on Twitter and Instagram. Join us on both! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, new Greg Cote Show podcast with broadcasting legend Dick Stockton & more. 4) Join me on Twitter and Instagram.
GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: TV LEGEND DICK STOCKTON IN LATEST EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 14th podcast of 2021 (56th overall) is out now! A new pod drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. You can find all 56 we've done right HERE for free. In our new Ep14 we welcome in special guest Dick Stockton (pictured), the newly retired sports broadcasting legend. In a fun chat, he talks about his career and most famous call and does play-by-play on Chris eating a bowl of cereal. And he sings! Also: A new 'Greg Doesn't Know Movies,' the Mount Gregmore of all-time best sitcom casts, plus loanDepot park and MLB moving its All-Star Game. Almost forgot: Will Greg's toenail soon be for sale? Thanks as always, pod family, for the support. Please listen, subscribe, rate and review! (Our pod now simulcasts on Sirius XM, every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET on Channel 145).
TALK OF U.S. OLYMPIC BOYCOTT REMINDS US SPORTS, POLITICS ARE ENTTWINED. AND THAT'S GOOD: The United States and allies weigh boycott of 2022 Winter Olympics n China. Megan Rapinoe rips Draymond Green’s pay-gap comments. Major League Baseball moves its All-Star Game from Atlanta because of a new voting law. Remember when sports stuck to sports and didn’t mess with politics? Yeah, me neither. Those simpler times, a.k.a. good old days, are a fallacy, a figment. In my lifetime, at least. (And chances are pretty good I’m older than you). They are snapshot memories in black and white. Cassius Clay becoming Muhammad Ali in 1964 and later refusing military induction to object to the Vietnam War. Tommie Smith and John Carlos with black-gloved fists raised from the medal stand at the 1968 Olympics. Billie Jean King’s 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match a shot fired for gender equality. The inseparability of sports and politics always has existed; it only seems magnified now because ESPN and social media and the rest make it all instant and amplified. The latest example of the intermingling: Talk that the U.S. and allies may consider boycotting the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over China's human rights record. For our full latest column, visit Talk Of U.S. Olympic Boycott A Reminder Sports, Politics Are Entwined -- And That's Good.
IT'S WHALE SEASON AGAIN, AND HERE'S WHY MIAMI HEAT LANDING KAWHI LEONARD COULD HAPPEN: Kawhi Leonard to the Miami Heat. How’s that for getting right to the point? Kawhi Leonard to Miami demands a question mark at the moment, but that could turn to an exclamation point by this summer if the smoke we’re seeing becomes a fire involving the Heat. This is what sports has become. How it has evolved through the years for both fans and media. It’s less and less about what is and more and more about what’s next. The result of a given game is seldom as big or important as where your team is headed. In the draft. In trades. In free agency. What’s next? As players broker increasing power, and more so in the NBA than in other sports, the landscape is in constant flux. Smart teams (or lucky ones) are one seismic move from instant relevance and championship contention. So: Leonard (pictured) to the Heat. It exists for now in that murky world where rumor and speculation are in a Petri dish and might or might not grow into eventual truth. But the possibility of it, the plausibility of it, is so tantalizing as to demand a public airing. It is the whim of one player from happening. From giving Miami a Big 3 era 2.0 with Kawhi, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. It feels like there could be a legit chance this time. Heat president Pat Riley, at 76, is cast in this drama as Santiago, the fisherman in Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” Santiago was obsessed with a giant marlin. Riley prefers whales.We have seen in recent years his lines cast in expeditions involving Kevin Durant and then James Harden and then (until he signed an extension with Milwaukee) Giannis Antetokounmpo. But Miami landing those whales never seemed likely. Now feels different. For our full recent column: How And Why the Miami Heat Landing Kawhi Leonard This Summer Could Happen.
THE MIAMI DOLPHINS' 6 CAN'T-LOSE OPTIONS FOR A GREAT NO. 6 PICK IN THE NFL DRAFT: Quietly, the Miami Dolphins in the buildup to this month’s NFL Draft have reminded anyone paying attention how confident this front office is in its plan and direction. This is a franchise that sees itself close to being playoff-good and sustaining that level — with a vision
that smartly isn’t all about right now. We saw that with the two recent aggressive trades that shook up the first round. The result was Miami bumping down slightly from the third to the sixth overall pick this year but gaining an extra 2023 first-round selection. That was brilliant because A) it showed a vision to think beyond this year, or next, and B) it was tailored to April 29 in particular. Unless all of the Mel Kipers and other draftniks have it wrong, the first three players chosen — maybe the first
four — will be quarterbacks. That means the Dolphins knew they would get a player they covet and need even with the dip from third to sixth. The teams wishing to trade up made it a ripe market for the Fins to move down, and they took advantage. The first-round maneuvering also verified that coach Brian Flores and general manager Chris Grier have been truthful in their publicly stated he’s-our-guy faith in second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The Deshaun Watson megatrade speculation that flared earlier this spring has cooled to near nonexistence (the spate of sexual misconduct allegations against Watson part of that). And the willingness to move down from three to six shouts loud that the Dolphins have zero intention of spending a second consecutive No. 1 pick on a QB. The aim with the sixth pick should and will be help for Tagovailoa, building around the faith in him. With the top pick certain to be Trevor Lawrence to Jaguars and the next two all-but-certain to be Zach Wilson to Jets and Mac Jones to 49ers, the draft will get interesting for Dolfans starting at four. The Falcons at four and Bengals at five might poach players that interest Miami, but with a little luck at least one might not. Atlanta really likes North Dakota State QB Trey Lance, and if like turns to love the Falcons drafting him to groom as Matt Ryan’s replacement would make sense. Cincy is expected to select a wide receiver for Joe Burrow, but a trade-down could be tempting if, say, New England or Denver are desperate to move up and select a QB such as Lance or Justin Fields. Here is our “Six at Six” list of players at the top of Fins’ radar for their first pick (Kyle Pitts, pictured, is one of them), ranked in order. For our full recent column, visit:
The Miami Dolphins' Six Can't-Lose Options For a Great No. 6 Pick in NFL Draft.
Other most recent columns: Even After Playoffs In '20, Marlins Still 'Bottom Feeders' Fighting For Respect (off Opening Day loss) / Special Opening Day as Marlins Welcome Back Fans, Feeling Of Hope (season preview) / and In History And In Hearts, Howard Schnellenberger Will Matter For All Time (tribute column).
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ARCHIVES:
Our other most recent columns: No Lowry, But Stealing Oladipo, Keeping Herro a Win-Win For Heat, Riley / Beckham Keeps Name-Dropping Messi, Ronaldo For Inter Miami. Can He Deliver? / Women Keep Accusing Deshaun Watson of Sexual Misconduct. But Will It Matter to NFL Teams? / No-Splash Free Agency Indicates Dolphins Going All In On Upcoming Draft -- And Tua / Phil Reflects on 25-Year Rivalry/Friendship With Tiger As Honda Classic Tees Off / and Why Men's NCAA Tournament Has A Needed Fresh Feel As We Welcome Back March Madness.
Other recent columns: Reality, Loss, Comeback: How Sports Has Been Guiding Light In America's Awful Past Year / Heat Should Parts Ways With Meyers Leonard Over Anti-Semitic Slur / Beckham's Resolve Tested By Tumult As Inter Miami Nears 2nd MLS Season / Time-Travelling To 1960s And Childhood, When The Baseball Card Was King / Quit Lecturing LeBron On Activism And His Own Conscience / Dolphins' Tua-or-Deshaun QB Choice Strewn with Complications and What-Ifs / Michael Jordan, Pitbull Signal Needed New Era as NASCAR Returns to Homestead / and Doesn't Matter If Tiger Woods Never Wins Again. We Are Lucky He's Alive.
Select other columns: Loss at Aussie Open Leaves Serena's Legacy Firm Yet Still Unfinished / Marlins Stick With Youth As Rest Of NL East Spends Big / Inter Miami's Beckham Risks Stepping Into Massive, Avoidable Mess / Put Brady In Sports' All-Time Pantheon. But He Has Company / Why Schilling Is To Blame For Falling Short Of Hall / Final Herald NFL 2020 QB Rankings / Saban the New G.O.A.T. as Alabama Reigns in Miami / 'A' For Effort, But King Hurt As Hurricanes' Bowl-Woes Continue / 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 Fair Chance / Fans of ESPN's Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz Should Prepare For Another Change / As Panthers Move on From Tallon, Who's Next Miami Team Executive on Hot Seat? / 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. Finding Greg: Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Columns. Podcast. Podcast on Twitter. Podcast on Instagram. LeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).
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