GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND
1) It's SATURDAY-MONDAY, JANUARY 15-17. I'm off to a wedding for a couple of days. Be back around sometime Monday. 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): State of Miami Sports as we grade all the teams, Dolphins firing Flores an unjustifiable travesty, NFL Wild-Card playoff picks, Greg Cote Show drops 2 (!) new podcasts, NFL Week 18 results for picks/final QB rankings.
GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT MONDAY MORNING!: Our 4th episode of 2022 and landmark 95th overall is out Monday. 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. We dropped two episodes this past week. Our main, regularly scheduled epsiode features a fun conversation with friend Ron Magill of Zoo Miami, and a season-finale Hard Knocks celebrating Greg's Lobos' PFPI Fantasy championship. A shorter bonus episode -- the first we've ever done -- is on the Dolphins' sudden, illogical firing of coach Brian Flores. Dan Le Batard joins us. 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).
Our NFL first-round postseason picks: NFL Wild-Card Playoff Gems.
STATE OF MIAMI SPORTS: GRADES FOR FINS, HEAT, PANTHERS, MARLINS, INTER MIAMI AND CANES FOOTBALL & MEN'S HOOPS: One team is in sudden flux with an unforeseen coaching change. One is chasing a championship and another might be. One has new life after major changes. One is the comeback story nobody’s talking about. Two others are still searching for the elusive map to victory. This is our sort-of annual New Year’s State Of Miami Sports, in which we grade each of our Big Seven teams based on where they are right now and the short-term, but also put in the context of the broader, bigger picture. We identify the Big Seven as the Miami Dolphins, Heat and Marlins, Florida Panthers, Inter Miami soccer and Miami Hurricanes football and men’s basketball. Sorry if we left your favorite team out. (But not that sorry). Here are our grade rankings, high to low, best to worst. For our full latest column including the team-by-team grades, visit The State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom.
Most recent other columns: 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.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (JANUARY 16-17): 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. DOLPHINS: Off-course Fins searcing for new coach, respectability: Most agree Brian Flores did not deserev to be fired after three seasons -- the last two with winning records totaling 19-14. As Stephen Ross tries to save face we await the replacement, likely someone now in the playoffs, with offensive coordinators Brian Daboll of Bills and Mike McDaniel of 49ers among those being mentioned.
2. NFL: Six Wild-Card games begin road to Super Bowl: Will Tom Brady and Tampa be NFL's frst repeat champ in 17 years? As top-seed Packers and Titans wait with byes, the other 12 playoff teams play must-win games this weekend. It's Raiders-Bengals and Patriots-Bills Saturday; Eagles-Bucs, 49ers-Cowboys and Steelers-Chiefs Sunday and Cardinals-Rams Monday night.
3. HEAT: Imagine Miami with a healthy roster?: Miami was at 26-15 at the midpoint in the schedule, on a 3-game win streak and tied for second in the East entering the weekend. And much of that has been wthtout stars Bam Adebayo or Jimmy Butler healthy. Erik Spoelstra better be on your coach of the year short list.
4. TENNIS: Djokovic vaccine drama, no Serena cloud Aussie Open: The year's first tennis major, the two-week Australian Open, begins Monday, but likely without reigning men's champ Novak Djokovic, whose visa was revoked over his failure to meet the country's COVID vaccination mandates. And Serena Williams won't play on medical advice.
5. PANTHERS: Huberdeau named all-star as high-flying Cats near midseason: Jonathan Huberdeau will represent Florida on NHL All-Star Weekend February 4-5 in Las Vegas, and Aleksander Barkov still might if he wins a last-man-in vote. Panthers entering the weekend had won six-of-seven and were fighting for best record in East, perhaps inspired by Twerkin Kodak Black?
6. HURRICANES: Cristobal mania grows, but no poll love just yet: Excitement is growing around new Canes football coach Mario Cristobal as he fills out his staff, but it hasn't translated to high expectations for the 2022 season -- not yet, at least. UM is nowhere to be found in ESPN's way-too-early first Top 25, which did include ACC teams N.C. State, Clemson and Wake Forest.
7. INTER MIAMI: Year 3 open with start of training camp Monday: With a roster shakeup following two losing seasons, David Beckham's guys begin Year 3 in Major League Soccer with start of training camp Monday. The regular season opens at home, back in Fort Lauderdale again, on February 26.
8. CANES BASKETBALL: UM men poll-bound, but can they solve Florida State?: Canes men at 13-4 and 5-1 in ACC are poll-bound after beating No. 2 Duke, even though they then lost to FSU for eighth straight time. UM faces North Carolina Tuesday then has a rematch with Noles. The 8-5 Canes women host ranked GeorgiaTech and Duke Sunday and Tuesday.
9. MLB: Dear Baseball: Get your ass in gear!: First paragraph of a story I read: "On Thursday, MLB's owners and players had their first CBA negotiations since the lockout began on December 2. Owners made a proposal, but it doesn’t seem any common ground was found. The session lasted about an hour." Delayed season, here we come!
10. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Anybody else worried sport has created a transfer monster?: Will the last college football player to not enter the transfer portal please turn out the light?
Missing the HB10 cut: The champion Georgia Bulldogs planned to celebrate their first national football crown since 1980 with a parade leading to a stadium party on Saturday. Nick Saban will not attend ..... Colombia and Honduras play a soccer friendly Sunday at Inter Miami's stadium in Fort Laudderdale ..... With the Baseball Hall of Fame reveal January 25, latest voting trends made public suggest David Ortiz is the only man a strong bet to get in. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are tracking to get in on their last year of eligibility, but both have lost support as more votes are known. Stay tuned ..... In soccer, FA Cup competition resumes February 4 ..... The Hurricanes were shut out on the 2002 College Football Hall of Fame induction reveal. Ken Dorsey, Bryant McKinnie and coach Larry Coker were finalists but none made it ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday, January 17 at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,625 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: Georgia 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: 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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