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Latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated): Carl Nassib, Surfside tragedy, NBA playoffs, looming Olympics. See who's No. 1and what else falls where this week; plus new Greg Cote Show podcast out now! & more

GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND

1) It's MONDAY, JUNE 28. I was back on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz this past Tuesday, though briefly because I didn't feel well. Check out that day's show podcasts . 2) Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast on Twitter and Instagram. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Bosh X Bosh with new podcast and column, Why Carl Nassib is sports' most significant 'first' since Jackie Robinson in 1947, Greg Cote Show podcast & more. 4) Join me on Twitter and Instagram.

CoteshowGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 25th episode of 2021 and 67th 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 67 we've done so far HERE, for free. In our latest episode Greg and veteran TV reporter Ari Odzer of WTVJ-NBC6 discuss the Surfside tragedy, and Ari shares stories from victims' families. And ESPN's Izzy Gutierrez stops by the pod to discuss the significance of the Raiders' Carl Nassib becoming he NFL's first openly gay active player. Iz also talks NBA playoffs, and scoffs at a Ben Smmons-to-Miami rumor that Chris tries to float. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, rate, review and follow! (Our pod simulcasts on Sirius XM, too, every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET on Channel 145).

Our most recent columns: Nassib Coming Out As Gay NFL Player A Milestone In Sports History / Fate Snatched Basketball From Chris Bosh. His new Book Is Part of His Journey Of Healing / Here's What Else Must Go Right (Besides Tua) For Dolphins To Continue Momentum / Rumors, Speculation and the Truth on Spoelstra, Lillard and Heat / and Wanted: A 'Next Big Thing' In Men's Tennis, Golf.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (JUNE 27-28): 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. SURFSIDE TRAGEDY: Heat lends aid in deadly condo collapse: Heat guard (for now) Tyler Herro was working out Thursday morning with assistant coaches Chris Quinn and Eric Glass when word spread of the tragic Surfside condo collapse that has killed at least nine but with more than 150 others still unaccounted for and feared dead. The three headed to the site 15 minutes north of the arena and lent aid any way they could, including helping load a truck with food, water and other essentials.

HButton2. CARL NASSIB: Finally! NFL Has first openly gay, active player: The Las Vegas Raiders defensive end is a journeyman 28-year-old with his third team in five years. But this week, forever more, Carl Nassib was to be defined for his history making more than his football. Not since Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947 has sports had amore groundbreaking 'first.'

3. NBA: Suns, Bucks take leads in conference finals: Bucks took a 2-1 lead on Hawks Sunday in the East, while Suns won again Saturday for a big 3-1 lead over Clippers and can clinch series win Monday. Meanwhile in the NBA Draft lottery Detroit won the No. 1 overall pick on July 29, with Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham expected to be the top choice.

4. OLYMPICS: Heat's Bam Adebayo makes stacked U.S. team: Bam Adebayo reps Miami on the gold-favored U.S. Olympic team as the squad preps for its Summer Games opener July 25 against France in Tokyo. Kevin Durant, seeking his third gold medal, will be the only returning member of the 2016 team that won it all in Rio. Others on the roster include all-stars Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker.

5. SOCCER: U.S. women set Olympic roster; why mess with success?: The gold-favored U.S. women will send proven chappions to the delayed-from-'20 Tokyo Games next month. Carli Lloyd (at 39 the oldest U.S. soccer Olympian ever) and Tobin Heath will be fourth-time Olympians, while stars Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan head the list of three-time Olympians.

6. TENNIS: Depleted Wimbledon begins today: Year's third of four tennis majors took a  major star hit when both Naomi Osaka, defending champion Simona Halelp and Rafael Nadal all withdrew. Novak Djokovic is now the odds-on men's betting favorite, with Ashleigh Barty a narrow women's pick over Serena Williams. Tourney runs Monday through July 11. (Serena meanwhile said she would not compete in the Summer Olympics). 

7. NHL: Oh Canada! Its a Montreal-Tampa Bay Final: Montreal upset Vegas 4-2 in one Stanley Cup semifinal and reigning NH: champ Tampa Bay won a Game 7 Friday over New York Islanders to set up a Canadians-Lightning best-of-7 starting today/Monday. No team from Canada has won the Stanley Cup since Montreal did in 1993, and none has reached the Final since Vancouver in 2011.

8. SOCCER: Euro '20 moves on toward quarterfinals: With group play done, round-of-16 matches continue through Tuesday, with survivors advancing to the quarterfinals July 2-3. Semifinals are set July 6-7, with the championship match July 11. Italy, Belgium and Netherlands were the only three teams to go through group play an unscathed 3-0.

9. MARLINS: Max tops Sandy; now Fish hit the road: Marlins are 33-44 after Sunday's 5-=1bhome loss to Washington -- Max Scherzer outdueling Sandy Alcantara. Miami now sets out on a six-game roadie. Finalists in All-Star Game voting were announced Sunday. No Marlins made it; Jesus Aguilar came closest. But Miami may yet have a pitcher or two selected.

10. INTER MIAMI: Struggles continue for Team Beckham: A 2-1 home loss to rival Orlando Friday night left Inter Miami 2-6-2 after a fourth straight loss, and 11th in the 14-team MLS Eastern Conference. Off the field, after 2 1/2 years of negotiations, the controversial no-bid deal to build a $1 billion soccer stadium complex for Inter Miami  still faces many obstacles, according to internal documents obtained by the Miami Herald.

Missing the HB10 cut: Simone Biles made the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics team. Or, did that go without saying? ..... The Tour de France got underway with all the excitement you'd expect as a fan jutting a giant sign into the racecourse caused a massive collision and pileup of bikes ..... Cole Beasley, what an odd hill you have chosen to die on ..... After missing last year because of the pandemic, Canes football's Paradise Camp was back Saturday in an annual recruiting-aimed tradition begun by Mark Richt and continued by Manny Diaz. Paradise Camp is a made-up event/marketing tool intended to woo recruits but has taken on legitimacy with excessive and fawning media coverage ..... It's A Vanderbilt-Mississippi State College World Series best-of- 3 finals starting Monday in in Omaha ..... Proposal for an expanded 12-team College Football Playoff inched closer to reality when the 11 college presidents with final say over the format authorized the 10 FBS commissioners to "begin a summer review phase" to determine feasibility and how and when it might be implemented ...... Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a ruling that provides for incremental increases in how college athletes can be compensated and opens door for future legal challenges to NCAA's current business model ..... Wander Franco did not disappoint when the Rays called up MLB's top prospect. First game: Doubled, home run, three RBIs ...... Two matches Sunday and two more Monday close group play in Copa America, with quarterfinals beginning July 5 ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is out with a new episode dropping Monday at 7 a.m. ET ..... Update: Countdown now 1,828 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: Where's Tua? Ranking Our Top 15 South Florida Pro Athletes 25 And Younger / As Teams Like Miami Pray For Right QB, Packers' Disrespect Of Rodgers Is Galling / Messi-to-Miami Is Shot of Hope David Beckham's Troubled Soccer Club NeedsMiami Heat, With No Answers, Put Out of Misery In Game 4 Loss To Milwaukee / Another Early Panthers Playoff Exit Ends An Encouraging Season Too Soon / Pythons, Peppers, Pirate Flag Raised. Inside Le Batard's 24-Hour Triumph / The Curious, Complicated Drama Of Naomi Osaka's French Open Withdrawal / Hall of Fame Snubbed Chris Bosh Last year. Time To Make it Right / Aging Ex-Dolphins Reflect On Own Mortality One Year After Shula's Death / Aaron Rodgers' Packers Drama Involves Miami (Of Course). But Here's Why It Won't Happen / Grade-A Draft Feeds Momentum For Team-On-the-Rise Dolphins /  Le Batard Bet On Himself And His Audience -- And Won Big / 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? /  It Won't Fix the World, But Matsuyama's Masters Win Lifts Japan In Time Of Anti-Asian Hate / 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 / 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 / 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? / Phil Reflects on 25-Year Rivalry/Friendship With Tiger As Honda Classic Tees Off / 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 / 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 /  Inter Miami's Beckham Risks Stepping Into Massive, Avoidable Mess / Put Brady In Sports' All-Time Pantheon. But He Has Company / Final Herald NFL 2020 QB Rankings / 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 / Don Shula, 1930-2020, R.I.P. / and What Shula Meant to a Father & Son. The Boy Was Me.

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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

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