GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND
1) It's MONDAY, APRIL 26. I'll be back on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz this week after a week off, but on Thursday, not Tuesday. 2) The Greg Cote Show podcast is now separately on Twitter and Instagram. Join us on both! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Justice for George Floyd but still much work to do, Greg Cote Show podcast with Dave Parker and Roy Bellamy & more. 4) Join me on Twitter and Instagram.
GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our new episode, out now, features special Mina Kimes of ESPN (pictured) to talk NFL Draft and Miami Dolphins. Also, Mina and Greg face off in a geography quiz. This is our 16th of 2021 and 58th overall. A new pod drops Mondays 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 58 we've done HERE for free. In our new Ep16, along with Mina, we introduce a third member of our podcast team joining Greg and Chris. Also, wait, is that Joe Biden on the phone. Bonus: The Mount Gregmore of Dolphins' all-time worst first round draft picks. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, subscribe, rate and review! (Our pod now simulcasts on Sirius XM, too, every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET on Channel 145).
Our most recent columns: Justice For George Floyd Helps Heal Our Shaken Faith, But Fight For Equality Goes On / What Would Jackie Robinson Think About Race In America Today? / The Case For Dolphins Trading Up, Going All-In For Kyle Pitts / and It Won't Fix the World, But Matsuyama's Masters Win Lifts Japan In Time Of Anti-Asian Hate.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (APRIL 25-26): 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. DOLPHINS: Three days 'til Fins select [your guess here] in NFL Draft: First round is Thursday night in Cleveland, with Miami holding sixth overall pick. Will they trade up to get prize TE Kyle Pitts? Will they stay put and get WR Ja'Marr Chase or Devonta Smith or (with luck) Pitts? A trade down, perhaps? Stay tuned. Meantime, Dolphins signed veteran OT/G D.J. Fluker, a 2013 first-round draft pick, lessening the chances they might also have Penei Sewell in mind Thursday night.
2. HEAT: Miami scrambling to avoid play-in as regular season winds down: Heat sit seventh in the East with 11 games left in the NBA's shortened 72-game season. Miami must finish in top six to make the playoffs proper, as teams that finish seven through 10 this year are relegated to a May 18-21 play-in tournament. Miami is 32-29 after Saturday's home win over Chicago. Teams play again here Monday.
3. PANTHERS: Cats top Carolina atop Central: Florida is 31-13-5 and one point back of Carolina in the NHL Central after Saturday's big 4-3 OT win over the Hurricanes. Now it's seven games left in the shortened 56-game season before playoffs begin, starting tonight at Nashville.
4. MARLINS: Fish in rocky start to 10-game roadie: Miami is 9-12 after Sunday's loss in San Francisco. Fish dropped three of four at Giants to start a season-long 10-game road trip that continues Monday in Milwaukee. Miami is ninth in team ERA in all of MLB, but 25th on the offensive end in team OPS.
5. INTER MIAMI: Higuain brothers lift Miami to first win: Inter Miami is 1-0-1 after Saturday night's 2-1 win at the Philadelphia Union, with goals from brothers Gonzalo and Frederico. Following a season-opening 3-2 home loss to the L.A. Galaxy, the win was the first for new coach Phil Neville, and the first time Miami, in its second MLS season, has been .500 or better.
6. SOCCER: R.I.P., European Super League, 2021-2021: The new league was born and died three days later, buried under universal opposition by fans, politicians, other clubs and FIFA. The planned breakaway competition to rival or replace the UEFA Champions League quickly disintegrated when many of the original 12 clubs began pulling out. Super League organizers insist the idea is suspended, not dead. Hmm. OK.
7. SOCCER: Champions League semifinals begin this week: UEFA Champions League's heavyweight final four begins its semifinal round this week, with Real Madrid vs. Chelsea on Tuesday and Paris-Saint Germain vs. Manchester City on Wednesday in first-leg matches. Second-leg games are the following week.
8. AUTO RACING: Formula One in Miami gets the green light: Despite opposition from some Miami Gardens residents, the Miami Grand Prix at Hard Rock Stadium will join the 2022 FIA Formula One calendar as part of a 10-year deal. The date of the race is to be announced. The circuit will be 3.4 miles with 19 corners and three straights, and estimated top speeds of just under 200 mph. Miami will be the 11th city to host a Formula One race.
9. GAMBLING: Is legalized gambling (finally) coming to Florida?: More than half of all states now allow some form of legal sports betting, and Florida could be next if a proposal agreed to in principle between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the state gets approved by the Legislature in the next week. Estimates project an annual revenue of at least $500 million.
10. UFC: Usman dominates Masvidal: Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman dominated Miami's Jorge Masvidal for a second-round knockout in their rematch Saturday night in the main event of UFC 261 in Jacksonville. Usman vs. Colby Covington is now in the offing.
Missing the HB10 cut: FCS small-college football playoffs got underway Saturday with 16 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament for a shot at the title game May 16 ..... Notice how all the Deshaun Watson trade talk disappeared as those 22 women accused him of sexual misconduct? Such a coincidence! ..... NFL Network and NFL RedZone will now be carried on Hulu's live TV subscription streaming service starting in August ..... Heat owner Micky Arison on Dwyane Wade buying an ownership interest in the Utah Jazz: "We had discussed having him join our ownership group after his retirement, but he was not prepared to commit at the time. I am disappointed that he didn’t reconsider" ..... A national effort by conservative state lawmakers to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports now looks to be dead in Florida ...... The now-unranked Canes baseball team is 21-13 and trying to avoid being swept today at North Carolina ..... With Hurricanes spring football practice over, individual single-game tickets to UM's seven home games are now on sale ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast, after a week off, is back with a new episode dropping Monday at 7 a.m. ET ..... Update: Countdown now 1,891 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.
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ARCHIVES:
Select other recent columns: Talk Of U.S. Olympic Boycott A Reminder Sports, Politics Are Entwined -- And That's Good / How And Why the Miami Heat Landing Kawhi Leonard This Summer Could Happen / The Miami Dolphins' Six Can't-Lose Options For a Great No. 6 Pick in NFL Draft / Even After Playoffs In '20, Marlins Still 'Bottom Feeders' Fighting For Respect / Special Opening Day as Marlins Welcome Back Fans, Feeling Of Hope / In History And In Hearts, Howard Schnellenberger Will Matter For All Time / 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 / Why Men's NCAA Tournament Has A Needed Fresh Feel As We Welcome Back March Madness / 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 / Doesn't Matter If Tiger Woods Never Wins Again. We Are Lucky He's Alive / 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 / 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 / Don Shula, 1930-2020, R.I.P. / What Shula Meant to a Father & Son. The Boy Was Me / and Goodell's NFL Response to Floyd Killing Is Hypocrisy At Its Most Ironic.
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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