« The new Hot Button Top 10: Guess who's No. 1 and what else ranks where this week?; plus We grade all of Miami's biggest teams. New column; also, NFL playoff picks, new Greg Cote Show podcast drops Monday & more | Main | NFL Divisional Round playoff picks. 8 teams, 4 games, 1 big upset; plus Time Is Now For MLB To Reinstate Pete Rose. New column; also, Greg Cote Show podcast: Greatest TV sitcom characters in new episode & more »

Greg Cote Show podcast: Greatest all-time TV sitcom characters! New episode out now!; plus Florida Panthers a team that would not be derailed and Djokovic has only himself to blame. 2 latest columns & more

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

1) It's THURSDAY, JANUARY 20. I was back in with Le Batard Show yesterday. Check out the show's Wednesday podcasts, especially the Local Hour. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on TwitterInstagram and now TikTok, too! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, State of Miami Sports as we grade all the teams, Greg Cote Show podcast.

Coteshow SitcomsGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: GREATEST TV SITCOM CHARACTERS! NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 4th episode of 2022 and landmark 95th overall is out now. A new pod drops every Monday morning at 7 ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all we've done so far HERE, free. In our latest episode, Greg, Chris, younger son Michael and guest Alex Benson from the Shut The Funk Up podcast argue, debate and give their verdicts on the greatest all-time TV sitcome characters. Spoiler alert: Greg wins. Hear why. Also in the new episode: Ranking best friends; Panthers are best hockey team on Earth; Bills' perfect game; and Greg's live report from a wedding on Amelia Island. 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).

CatsFLORIDA PANTHERS AT MIDSEASON: THE TEAM THAT WOULD  OT BE DERAILEDIt was minus-5 degrees outside but not as cold as it had been when we spoke Wednesday, Bill Zito on the phone from Edmonton. Even for a hockey man raised in Wisconsin winters, western Canada in January is its own kind of freezing. Zito is the general manager in charge of the best hockey team on the planet, or at least the one that leads the NHL in goal scoring and sits atop ESPN’s power rankings. It is a Florida Panthers team that believes it can win the first Stanley Cup in the franchise’s 28 seasons. Ask Zito if he knew going in that his team might be this good. There is a long pause. “As a manager I loathe to answer the question honestly,” he says. “It’s like asking a supermodel, ‘Do you think you’re attractive.’ “ When he does get around to that honest answer: ”Yes.” For our full latest column: 'There Was A Pall On Us.' The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed.

DjokovicDJOKOVIC OUT OF AUSSIE OPEN OVER NO-VACCINE? SERVES HIM RIGHT: The year’s first tennis major, the Australian Open, is underway in Melbourne. The world’s best tennis player, defending champion Novak Djokovic, isn’t in it. He very much wanted to be. He’s healthy. But they kicked him out against his will. Deported him, in fact. Good riddance. Enjoy your stay in the 19th Century, Novak, when science and medicine were not yet reliable things. Enjoy the pointless crusade of yours and others like you, a crusade one might call Quixotic. It qualifies as that for the impracticality, though clearly not for the idealism, or for any shred of nobility. For our full column: No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consquences, as Djokovic Was Reminded.

Our most recent other columns: The State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom / Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / Also: Dolphins Win, Finish 9-8, Now Must Commit To Build Around Tua / Why Saban 'What-If' Still Haunts Miami 15 Years later/No Playoffs And No Idea Yet On Tua Worst Possible Way For Dolphins To End Season / Revealing My 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot / Canes Land Grand Prize In Cristobal, So No Excuses Left. New Glory Days A Must and 50 Years At the Herald For Me -- And a Lifetime Of Gratitude.

NFL WILD-CARD ROUND PLAYOFF RESULTS:

Picks(*) OUR PICKS: DECENT START TO PLAYOFFS: We went 4-2 straight-up and 3-3 against the spread on Wild-Card Weekend to begin our playoff run. Two of our wins were near Exactos. Bengals won 26-19; we had it 27-20. And Bucs won 31-15; we had 31-13. But we misfired badly on picking an upset by Cardinals, and did not see the Cowboys loss coming. Onward, upward! Watch for our Divisional Round picks online Thrsday afternooon and in print Friday.

(*) GREG'S LOBOS: STILL CELEBRATIN' OUR CHAMPIONSHIP!: Happened two weeks ago but it bears repeating: Greg's Lobos are PFPI Fantasy champions for the first time in the league's 13-year history!

(*) HERALD NFL QB RANKINGS: BUCS' BRADY WEARS CROWN: Tampa's Tom Brady won Week 18 to seal a runaway 2021 season championship to end our 24th year of rankings in the Herald. Miami's Tua Tagovailoa finished No. 22. In case you missed it: NFL Week18/Season Final QB Rankings.

-- * -- * -- * -- * -- * -- * --

ARCHIVES

Select other recent columnsGeorgia Crushes Michigan in OB. The Bad News? 'Bama Next / Party, Meet Hangover: Tua, Dolphins Out Of Playoff Chase With Loss at Titans / Hey, America, After 7th Straight Win, Do Miami Dolphins Have Your Attention Yet? / Duuuuuke Lifts Fins to 6th Straight Win, .500 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 / 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 / Dolphins' Watson Lust Ruined Season, Damaged Tua. And That Starts With Owner Ross / 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 / Why It's Too Soon, And Dumb, To Quit On Tua As Dolphins Answer / Year Of Reckoning, And Impatience, For Slow-Starting Dolphins & Canes / 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

Comments