GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND
1) It's MONDAY, DECEMBER 13. R.I.P., Michael Nesmith. 2) Make me feel better. Tell me you haven't started your Christmas shopping yet. 3) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Canes land grand prize in Cristobal, NFL Week 14 picks, Frank Gore on boxing, Week 13 NFL results for picks/Lobos/QB rankinsg, Greg Cote Show podcast.
Note to readers: I've burning a bunch of unused vacation days in December so am having fewer columns out lately. But am still producing occasional columns and regular staples such as the weekly NFL picks, the podcast and this blog.
GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: DOLPHIN MACK HOLLINS ON NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 48th episode of 2021 and landmark 90th overall is out now! 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. Find all 90 we've done HERE, free. In our latest episode: Mack Daddy! Mack the Knife! Miami Dolphins receiver Mack Hollins joins us and delights with his splendid unusualness. Quick hints: Sings Sinatra. Owns an 11-foot boa. Owns no car. Fun dude. Also in the new episode: Important discussion about ear wax; Greg apologizes to a dearly departed Monkee; Friday afternoon driving songs; Goodbye Manny Diaz; an ominous Lobos update and more! Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Most podcasts were off this past week for the holiday. NOT US!!! Please listen, rate, review and follow. (Our pod simulcasts on Sirius XM every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET).
NFL Week 14 picks: Still alive for our 6th straight (!) Upset of the Week bull's-eye: NFL Week 14 Gems.
Our most recent columns: Canes Land Grand Prize In Cristobal, So No Excuses Left. New Glory Days A Must / UM Legend Frank Gore Talks NFL Future, Cristobal, Boxing As He Prepes For Ring Debut / Tua Keeps Showing Dolphins How Silly They Were To Doubt Him So Soon / and 50 Years At the Herald For Me -- And a Lifetime Of Gratitude.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (DECEMBER 12-13): 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. The latest HB10:
1. HURRICANES: Early faculty-blowback against Cristobal's mega-deal: Ink was barely dry on Mario Cristobal's new $80 million deal to be UM's new head coach -- not to mention Dan Radakovich's big new contract to be athletic director -- when faculty on campus began loudly complaining about the athletic spending in the context of cutbacks elsewhere. Worse, Cristobal has been in charge nearly a full week now and the Canes still have yet to win a single football game!
2. PANTHERS: Cats welcome back Barkov, stay atop East despite loss: Florida is 18-5-4, still atop the East and had won four of past five games before Sunday's loss at tough Colorado. And Aleksander Barkov is back from injury and on the ice. Despite the unexpected coaching-change turmoil, hopes for this season remain so high they should be illegal.
3. HEAT: Miami wins second straight despite missing stars: Miami has shed a 1-4 slump and is 16-11 after two straight wins, including Saturday's over Chicago depiste star Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler both missing with injuries. Adebayo underwent surgery on his right thumb is is not expected to return before mid-January.
4. OLYMPICS: U.S. to have diplomatic boycott of Beijing Games: President Biden said U.S. will not send a diplomatic delegation to Beijing Winter Games in two months to protest China's human rights violations such as abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang and crackdown in Hong Kong. The U.K., Australia nd Canada also will not end diplomats. U.S. athletes still will compete.
5. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: FIU hires coach, Diaz lands on his feet: FIU hired former Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre as its sixth head football coach, replacing the let-go Butch Davis. Penn State hired deposed UM coach Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator, giving him a Power 5 landing spot. Also, Florida State promoted another ex-Canes coach, Randy Shannon, to the same role.
6. GOLF: Tiger Wood makes his comeback this week, sort of: Tiger Woods will compte ealongside son Charlie beginning next Saturday in the PNC Championship, just 10 months after his February car crash that left his right leg mangled and Woods doubting he'd ever play golf again. Low-stakes, fun event -- but great to see Tiger back nonethless.
7. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Oh my God, bowl season has begun!: We are nine bowl games in and 35 yet to go in the 44-game glut called bowl sesaon, culminating with the CFP national championship game January 10 in Indianapolis. Only state FBS teams bowling are the Canes December 31 vs. Washingotn State in the Sun Bowl, and Florida-UCF Dec. 23 in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa. That's one of seven bowls within the state -- led by the December 31 Georgia-Michigan CFP national semifinal in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock.
8. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: 'Bama QB Young wins Heisman Trophy: Alabama quarterback Bryce Youg won the Heismna Trophy in a landslide Saturday, he Tide's sixth winner and second in a row. Lemme guess. It's kn his contract. Nick Saban get another raise.
9. DOLPHINS: Hot Fins carry 5-game win streak into bye: Some say the late bye week is needed for well-deserved rest. Others say it's ill-time and could derail Miami's momentum. Greg Cote says he's just happy for a damned weekend off.
10. SOCCER: New York City wins MLS Cup: New York City beat the Portland Timbers 4-2 in penalties after a 1-1 match Saturday to win its fiurst Major League Soccer championship in Portland, denying home fans a repeat fo their 2015 title. NYC coach Ronny Deila kept a promise by (please, God, no) stripping down to his underwear doing pushups on the field.
Missing the HB10 cut: Gymnast Simone Biles is Time's 2021 Athlete of the Year, for "rasing the volume" on mental health awareness. Good choice ..... U.S. women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe was left unprotected and is available to be taken in this week's NWSL expansion draft on Thursday ..... Six days until the Jake Paul fight in Tampa that includes the pro boxing debut of former Canes and NFL star Frank Gore on the undercard ..... Reigning women's basketball Player of the Year Paige Bueckers of UConn may be out longer than expected as she considers surgery on her injured left knee ..... Strong starts for Canes basketball. Men are 7-3, 1-0 in ACC. Women are 6-3, with ACC opener December 19 vs. No. 19 Duke ..... Jeff Bezos‘ rocket company, Blue Origin, launched another private flight, this one including former NFL star Michael Strahan aboard ..... MLB lockout continues, and nobody will give a flying crap until the start of the regular season is threatened ..... NBA trade window opens on Wednesday ..... Hey, Urban Meyer. Missin' the college campus yet? ..... R.I.P., Al Unser Sr., four-time Indy 500 winner, gone at 82, and former Broncos star Demaryius Thomas, unexpectedly at 33 ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode Monday at 7 a.m. ET ..... Update: Countdown now 1,660 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: UM And Blake James Parted Ways With Class -- Which Butch Davis Didn't Get From FIU / How Miami Dolphins Are Poised to Transform Their 1-7 Start Into Playoff Contention / Miracles Happen: Huge Defense, Tua Off Bench Help Fins Stun Baltimore / Oh Brother! Heat-Nuggets' Family Feud Spices Season / Dolphins' Watson Lust Ruined Season, Damaged Tua. And That Starts With Owner Ross / Buffalo's Late Classlessness Aside, Miami Out Of Answers In 7th Straight Loss / U-Turn: UM Season, Diaz Future Looking Up With 2nd Straight Big Win / Quenneville Rightly Sacked as Panthers Coach Over 2010 Chicago Scandal / As Dolphins' Dysfunction Surrounds Him, 10 Ways Tua Is The Unluckiest Man On Earth / State of the Art: Heat, Miami's Best-Run Franchise, Sails In Opener / 'Time to Hunt': Cats' Hyped Season Off to Wild, Winning Start / Dolphins Fans, Ex-Players Gather For Emotional Farewell to Don Shula, Father of the Glory Days / If Sports Had A Spine, Kyrie Irving & Other Anti-Vaxxers Wouldn't Be Playing / Kyle Lowry Must Channel 'Doctor Of Greatness' If Heat Is To Chase NBA Title / Fairy Tale With Wrong Ending: Remembering Jose Fernandez 5 Years Later / Loss In Tampa Has Dolphins Season In Free Fall As Embarrassments Pile Up / Why It's Too Soon, And Dumb, To Quit On Tua As Dolphins Answer / Year Of Reckoning, And Impatience, For Slow-Starting Dolphins & Canes / With Ghosts Of Glory Days Watching, Dolphins Showed Inept Effort in Third Straight Loss / Hope And Hype Are Sky-High. Time For Florida Panthers To Finally Deliver / Miami Herald's 2021 NFL Team Rankings: You Won't Believe Where Dolphins are / 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 / Unraveled: The Story Behind Who Aubrey Huff Became / College Football and FSU Lose a Treasure In Passing Of Bobby Bowden / Biggest Victory Of Hall Of Famer Jimmy Johnson's Life Was Getting His Son Back / Biles' Withdrawal For Mental-Health Reasons Merits Empathy, Not Scorn / 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 / Hot Seat Scale: Ranking Miami's Biggest Coaches By Most to Least Job Security / 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 / 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 / Where's Tua? Ranking Our Top 15 South Florida Pro Athletes 25 And Younger / Pythons, Peppers, Pirate Flag Raised. Inside Le Batard's 24-Hour Triumph / 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 / In History And In Hearts, Howard Schnellenberger Will Matter For All Time / Women Keep Accusing Deshaun Watson of Sexual Misconduct. But Will It Matter to NFL Teams? / Reality, Loss, Comeback: How Sports Has Been Guiding Light In America's Awful Past Year / 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 / Doesn't Matter If Tiger Woods Never Wins Again. We Are Lucky He's Alive / 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. / 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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