GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND
1) It's SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. Was back in with Le Batard Show this week. Check out Tuesday's show podcasts for way too much of me. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Lost weekend as Dolphins and Canes fall hard, new Greg Cote Show podcast & more.
GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: JASON JACKSON, LE BATARD ROAST IN NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 36th episode of 2021 and 78th overall is out now! A new pod drops every Monday at 7 ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. You can find all 78 we've done HERE, for free. In our newest episode: Jason "Jax" Jackson is on with us to talk about his new role as Miami Heat play-by-play voice, and about the roast his foundation is putting on next month with Dan Le Batard as the roastee. Also: Season debut of Hard Knocks' behind the scenes look at Greg's Lobos, and the guys discuss the woeful weekend for the Dolphins and Canes, and an ode to Turd Ferguson. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, rate, review and follow. (Our pod simulcasts on Sirius XM every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET).
NFL WEEK 3 PICKS: DOLPHINS-RAIDERS, BUCS-RAMS AND ALL THE REST!: Enjoyed a big 12-4 mark straight-up in NFL Week 2, with a second straight solid 9-7 against the spread. That included a second straight bull's-eye on our Upset of the Week call with Cowboys over Chargers. Nailed a second outright upset with Panthers over Saints. Through two weeks we're 4-for-6 in outright upset calls. Also had a trio of ‘dogs-with-points last week with covers by Giants, Vikings and Titans. Now we turn the page to Week 3 and our picks for Dolphins-Raiders, Bucs-Rams Game of the Week, our Upset of the Week and all the rest. Got off to a great, near-perfect start on Thursday night. Had Carolina (-8) winning and covering at Houston and nailed it. My pick: Cats, 24-10. Final score: 24-9. Check out NFL Week 3 Gems all our latest picks.
A FAIRY TALE WITH WRONG ENDING: REMEMBERING JOSE FERNANDEZ 5 YEARS LATER: The phone in David Samson’s dark house rang about 5:30 that Sunday morning. Michael Hill, the Miami Marlins’ director of baseball operations, was on the line. “He sounded weird. Quiet and weird,” recalls Samson, then the team president. “Nothing good happens when he calls me at that hour. It means a player’s got arrested. I said, ‘Mike, what’s up? Are you OK?’ He said, ‘I have someone on the phone from Fish and Wildlife. There’s been an accident.’ ” A Florida Fish and Wildlife officer, at the scene, said there had been a boating accident overnight, a crash into the jetty rocks off Government Cut. Full column: Fairy Tale With Wrong Ending: Remembering Jose Fernandez 5 Years Later.
TUA'S RIB INJURY IN KEEPING WITH WEIRD, ROCKY START TO QB'S DOLPHINS CAREER: You heard the news Wednesday that Tua Tagovailoa will miss the Miami Dolphins game this Sunday at Las Vegas because his rib injury is worse than first thought, and, if you have followed this young man’s travails, the reaction had to be: Of course it is. What, exactly, has gone right for Tagovailoa in the year and a half since Miami drafted him in the first round out of Alabama? Anything?Some day he’s going to look back and laugh at his unimaginably weird entree into the NFL. We can only hope because that would mean this will have all worked out in the end — an eventuality presently unknowable and open to vigorous debate. Full column: Tua's Rib Injury In Keeping With Weird, Rocky Start to QB's Dolphins Career.
HOPE AND HYPE ARE SKY-HIGH AS FLORIDA PANTHERS OPEN CAMP. TIME TO FINALY DELIVER: There was none of this feeling in 1995. I was around. I know. The Florida Panthers were a third-year NHL expansion team with a new coach and a rag-tag roster of young prospects and others teams’ discards. As training camp opened there was zero expectation that this team, this team, might make it into the 1996 Stanley Cup Final with a shower of plastic and rubber rats for confetti. Fast-forward a quarter of a century and now the expectations are on this team. Big and heavy. Entering the franchise’s 28th season, and for the first time, Florida opens training camp Thursday with playoffs a must, a deep run in them expected, and the club’s first league championship a plausible dream. Full column: Hope And Hype Are Sky-High. Time For Florida Panthers To Finally Deliver.
The Lost Weekend: On Dolphins, Canes' crushing home losses: Dolphins' Shutout Loss in Home Opener a New Low For Flores Era / Miami Hurricanes Aren't Very Good -- And Keep Proving It / and The Big Question About Canes, Fins After Ugly Home Losses.
OUR RESULTS ON NFL WEEK 2 PICKS: BIG REBOUND OVERALL, SOLID VS. SPREAD: Bounced back from an 8-8 overall mark in upset-strewn Kickoff Weekend to card a nifty 12-4 mark in Week 2. Against the spread, we held steady and solid with a second straight 9-7. Highlights: Nailed two of three outright upset picks for the second straight week with Cowboys coming through against Chargers in our Upset of the Week and Panthers surprising Saints. Also had another trio of 'dogs-with-points in covers by the Giants, Vikings and Titans.
GREG'S LOBOS: BIG, BIIIG WEEK 2 WIN IN PFPI FANTASY: Lobos dropped their opener but surged back with a huge 153-94 Week 2 win over Christie (Chris' wife). Got 40 points (!) from Aaron Jones, 32 from Lamar Jackson and 24 from Mike Evans to lead the high-scoring affair. A week earlier we had only one player reach 20 points. We put a Lobos Mint under our pillow, dreamed big, and awoke to renewed championships hopes!
HERALD NFL WEEK 2 QB RANKINGS: CARR, MURRAY TAKE CENTER STAGE: Cardinals' Kyler Murray takes Week 2 honors while Raiders' Derek Carr surges into the overall season lead as we dig in to the Miami Herald's 24th season of NFL quarterback rankings. Story and updated Top 20 chart here: Dolphin Tua Tagovailoa is outside our initial Top 20. The good news? He outranks Aaron Rodgers! Story and chart here: NFL Week 2 QB Rankings.
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ARCHIVES
Other most recent columns: Xavien Howard Deserved the Money and Respect He Wanted -- This Was Why / Canes' Offense Dangling Like a Cat And Needing Help / Tua's Burden as Dolphins Open at Pats? Lift a Team, a Franchise and a City. Now / Chasing Giants & Ghosts: Miami Hurricanes' 20-year search for return to glory / Miami Herald's 2021 NFL Team Rankings: You Won't Believe Where Dolphins are / Canes Can Shock the World and Beat Alabama. Here's How [Update: Oops!] / Belichick Must Be Smiling As Dolphins Deal With Rumors And Tua With Doubt / Fins' Faith In Tua Will Be A Lie If They Sell Soul, Spend Big For Watson / There Is Only One Way an ACC/Big Ten/Pac-12 Alliance Can Out-SEC the SEC / Time to Finally Start Believing in Tua, Flores and Miami Dolphins / Why Dolphins, Canes Should Be Taking Lead In Requiring Fans To Be COVID-Vaccinated / An Appreciation of Udonis Haslem As He Re-Ups For 19th Heat Season / Dolphins' 'Big Picture' Begins To Emerge With Unveiling Of Year 2ua / Unraveled: The Story Behind Who Aubrey Huff Became / and What Lionel Messi's Sudden, Stunning Move Means For Inter Miami
Bobby Bowden tribute column: College Football and FSU Lose a Treasure In Passing Of Bobby Bowden. Hall of Fame quartet: Biggest Victory Of Hall Of Famer Jimmy Johnson's Life Was Getting His Son Back / Hurricanes' Edgerrin James / Dillard High's Isaac Bruce / and Coral Springs High's Steve Hutchinson.
Select other columns: Xavien Howard Right To Feel Disrespected, And Dolphins Need To Fix This Mess / Biles' Withdrawal For Mental-Health Reasons Merits Empathy, Not Scorn / Top 10 NFL Storylines Entering Training Camp (Where's Tua?) / Where Dolphins Rank Among Teams With Longest Championship Droughts / Dolphins Owner Ross Unveils New $135 Million Training Site As Another Reason Team Must Win Now / It's Selfish, Me-First Athletes Who Are Refusing the COVID Vaccine / Hot Seat Scale: Ranking Miami's Biggest Coaches By Most to Least Job Security / Tokyo Olympics Should Be Delayed Again But It's Too Late. Why? Money / May Sha'Carri Richardson Be Last Victim Of Olympics' Archaic Marijuana Rules / 'I'm D'Eriq King For College Hunks Hauling Junk!' It's Strange New World in College Sports / Time For Sports To Quit Hiding, Stand Up And Lead The Pro-Vaccine Fight / Nassib Coming Out As Gay NFL Player A Milestone In Sports History / Exhibition Losses Give Team USA Wakeup Call It Needs Headed to Olympics / Better 2 Years Late Than Never, Panthers Get 2023 NHL All-Star Weekend / 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 / 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 Needs / Miami 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 / 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: 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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