« January 2022 | Main | March 2022 »

8 posts from February 2022

February 28, 2022

Latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated): Jeter leaves Marlins, MLB impasse, Inter Miami opens, Heat hot, Cats slump. See who's No.1 and what else falls where this week; plus new Greg Cote Show ;podcast drops Monday, personal news & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28. Farewell, February, "Shorty" to the other months. See you next year. 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): MLB has bigger problem that labor impasse, Mickelson tempest mirrors sports' blind eye on human rights, Top 15 non-athletes in Miami sports history, new Greg Cote Show podcast.

CoteshowGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE WITH RYAN LOMBERG OUT NOW!: Our 10th episode of 2022 and 101st overall is out Monday. 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. Find all 100 we've done so far HERE, free. In our newest pod, we welcome in the Florida Panthers' 5-9 dynamo hitman, Ryan Lomberg. Fun chat with an interesting dude. Guaranteed, you don't need to be a Panthers fan or a puckhead to enjoy the conversation. 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).

ApseMebeardA PERSONAL NOTE, AND THANKS: I was very honored this week to once again be named by Associated Press Sports Editors as a national Top 10 columnist in the major-outlet category. The Miami Herald also was honored as a Top 10 daily section, and earned a Top 10 in special projects for ours on the 5-year annniversary of the Jose Fernandez tragedy, a project in which I also was involved. (I have included a recent photo of myself that seems somber and somewhat unflattering; it is my 'serious journalist' look). Some of you have asked, so: These are the four nominated columns from 2021 (earliest to most recent) that won us the APSE distinction for column writing:

Inter Miami’s David Beckham and Qatar a budding, avoidable controversy

Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson knows biggest victory happened in own family

Scorned, but does he deserve empathy, too? Behind who Aubrey Huff became

Miami Dolphins sabotaging Tua, season with misguided interest in Watson

Our most recent columns: Players Are On Right Side In Labor Dispute, But MLB Has Far Bigger Problem To Fix / Mickelson's Support Of Saudi Tour Mirrors Sports' Blind Eye to Human Rights / Top 15 Figures (Non-Athletes) In Miami Sports History / and Who Dolphins, With Windfall To Spend, Should Target In Offseason To Fix Offense Fast. Also: Hall of Fame Keeps Saying No, But Zach Thomas Keeps Feeling Gratitude / and McDaniel Overcame Much In Own Life, Now Must Overcome Dolphins' Turmoil And Win.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (FEBRUARY 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. The latest HB10:

1. MARLINS: Jeter steps down as CEO: Derek Jeter abruptly resigned Monday after four seasons as Miami Marlins CEO in what was called a mutual parting. Said Jeter: "The vision for the future of the franchise is different than the one I signed up to lead." [NEW COLUMN ON JETER LEAVING].

HButton2. MLB: Marlins, sport on edge, season on hold as CBA deadline hits: Monday is MLB's deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement with the players union or, says Commissioner Rob Manfred, the season will not start on time or be the full 162 games. MLB says games would not be made up and players would not be paid full-season salaries. Spring training already is delayed; Opening Day (as of now) is still March 31. The two sides will meet in Jupiter today/Sunday for a seventh straight day of talks.

3. INTER MIAMI: Herons open MLS Year3 with home draw: David Beckham's squad opened season tres Saturday night with a 0-0 tie vs. Chicago Fire before 16,080 fans in Fort Lauderdale. Miami retooled its roster after disappointing last year at 12-17 with five draws and tied for second-fewest goals in league, and it may be playoffs-or-bust for coach Phil Neville to stay employed. Gonzalo Higuain tops returning players, with newcomers led by midfielder Jean Mota from Santos (Brazil) and U.S. national team defender DeAndre Yedlin. Meantime the city of Miami' vote on team's  propsoed new stadium was delayed (again) to March 9.

4. HEAT: Bam! Miami regains lead in East: Miami is 40-21 and back in front in the NBA East after Saturday's 133-129 home win over San Antonio fueled by Bam Adebayo's 36 points. Heat host second place Chicago Monday. Meantime Jimmy Butler got fined $25,000 by NBA for not meeting postgame media obligations after the All-Star Game. (Clearly, playing only nine minutes and scoring two points did not have Jimmy in a good mood).

5. PANTHERS: Florida loses third straight in rare slump: Florida is 35-13-5 and now only one point out front in the NHL Atlantic Division after Saturday night's 4-3 home loss to Edmonton. The third straight loss is the Cats' longest skid since mid-December. Panthers are now off until hosting Ottawa on Thursday. 

6. UM BASKETBALL: Canes men, women chasing NCAA bids: Canes men are 20-9 (12-6 ACC) and seeming safe for an NCAA Tournament bid even afgter Saturday's 71-70 loss to Virginia Tech in UM's regular season home finale. They now close at Boston College Wednesday and Syracuse Saturday. UM women are 17-11 (10-8 ACC) after Sunday's regular season finale vs. Clemson, a 76-40 UM win. ESPN's Bracketology has the Canes women in its "last four in" category for an NCAA invite.

7. POLITICS: Sports world reacts to Russian invasion of Ukraine: UEFA moved its May 28 Champions League final from Saint Petersburgb to Paris, and Formula One canceled its Russian Grand Prix set for September: Other response has included Ukrainian former heavywight champion Wladimir Klitschko saying he will join the fight; condemnation of Russian by the IOC; and Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic saying their March World Cup qualiftyng matches should be moved from Russia.

8. NFL: Dolphins prep for this week's pre-draft Scouting Combine: The NFL Scouting Combine, league's biggest event between the Super Bowl and Draft, takes the field in Indianapolis this coming Thursday through next Sunday, with 324 invited draft prospects seen by scouts from all 32 teams. Miami hopefuls invited are three former Hurricanes -- QB D'Eriq King, DB Bubba Bolden and DL Jonathan King -- along with former FIU RB D'vonte Price. Dolphins scouts should be especially keen on Friday, when running back and offensive line prospects take the field.

9. GOLF: Mickelson's Saudi backing draws backlash: Four longtime sponsors including Callaway And Amstel Light have now dumped Phil Mickelson in the wake of the six-time major champion's comments backing the Saudi Arabia-backed attempted breakaway league. Mickelson said he supports the league as leverage to force changes in the PGA Tour, despite also saying, "We know they killed [Washington Post reporter Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay."

10. HURRICANES: Countdown 7 days 'til spring football: UM's first on-field work under new coach Mario Cristobal will be a week from Monday, March 7, with the first of 15 spring practice work days. Season opens September 3 vs. Bethune-Cookman.

Missing the HB10 cut: Little-known Austrian Sepp Straka won the PGA Tour's Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens ..... The eight-team USFL spring football league, back and launching April 6, held its draft and SoFla guys selected included former Canes WR Jeff Thomas (by Pittsburgh) and ex-FIU QB Alex McGough (Birmingham). Also taken: FIU WR Maurice Alexander and CB Ike Brown, and FAU OT Calvin Ashley, RB B.J. Emmons and S Andrew Soroh ..... The USWNT win the SheBelieves Cup, its youthful roster beating Iceland 5-nil in the final ..... No. 24-ranked Canes baseballis is 6-1 and hosts Harvard today in rubber game of three-game series ..... UEFA Champions League plays resumes March 8 with Bayern Munich vs. Salzburg and Liverpool vs. Internazionale. The eight teams left after the round of 16 will be in a quarterfinal draw on March 18 ..... And speaking of hell: Art Briles! Way to embarrass yourself, Grambling State ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,583 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

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

ARCHIVES

Select other recent columns: An Inside Preview Of Le Batard Show's Upcoming Musical. Yes, Musical / The Lesson For Dolphins in Rams-Bengals Super Bowl Result / Ranking Flores/Ross Bombshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals / Ross Should Be Done As Fins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True  / The G.O.A.T. We Never Saw Coming: From 199th Drafted To History, A Salute To Tom Brady Like Him Or Don't, Antonio Brown Not Always To Blame -- And Wasn't In Bucs Divorce / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemens A Shame on Voters, Baseball / Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be / Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom /Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / 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.

Select other columnsDolphins 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 /  Hey, America, After 7th Straight Win, Do Miami Dolphins Have Your Attention Yet?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 /  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 /  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 / College Football and FSU Lose a Treasure In Passing Of Bobby Bowden /  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 AliveMarlins 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 again this year 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).

February 26, 2022

Why MLB has bigger problem than labor impasse. New column; plus Mickelson's Saudi mess mirrors sports' blind eye on rights, Top 15 non-athletes in Miami sports history, new Greg Cote Show podcast out now, APSE honors us as top-10 sports columnist & more

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

Apse1) It's SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26. I'm humbled to have been named a national top-10 sports columnist in the Division A (major outlets) category once again by the Associted Press Sports Editors. Big honor. Thanks, readers! 2) Programming note: Was back on with Le Batard Show this week. Check out Wednesday's show podcasts, including a new Back In My Day. 3) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on TwitterInstagram and now TikTok, too! 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Dolphins' offseason map to improvement, new Greg Cote Show podcast.

CoteshowGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW 100TH EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 9th episode of 2022 and 1andmark 100th overall is out now! A new pod hits every Monday at 7 ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all 100 we've done so far HERE, free. In our most recent episode, we throw a party for our 100th ep, recap the annual PFPI Gala, discuss recent big Le Batard Show news and more. 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).

LockoutMLB PLAYERS ARE ON RIGHT SIDE IN LABOR DISPUTE, BUT BASEBALL HAS FAR BIGGER PROBLEM TO FIX: Major League Baseball slogs, regrettably, avoidably, toward the eighth season in its history to suffer a reduced schedule and shortened season. The first in 1918-19 and the most recent before now in 2020 had pretty good excuses: A world war and a global pandemic. Every one in between, including this one, were rooted in money and played out at the intersection of avarice and intractability. So this should be opening weekend for spring training. Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, training camp of the Marlins 90 minutes north of Miami, should be lively, anticipation in the air. Instead the place is quiet but for the exchange of rancor between MLB executives and players union reps (including the Marlins’ Miguel Rojas) meeting there and failing to solve this. Stalemate. Nobody wins. Fans lose. Baseball loses. Plainly, players are on the right side here — the workers, not the baseball barons who pay them. But here’s the thing, and it’s quite remarkable: This acrimonious lockout that is turning off fans and almost certainly will truncate the season — it isn’t even MLB’s biggest problem. For our full latest column: Players Are On Right Side In Labor Dispute, But MLB Has Far Bigger Problem To Fix.

MICKELSON'S SUPPORT OF SAUDI  GOLF LEAGUE SADLY MIRRORS SPORTS' BLIND EYE TO HUMAN RIGHTS: Phil Mickelson did it. He did it with a perfect precision to equal the finest golf shot he ever sculpted. With one comment, he pretty much explained why the sports world is clueless on how to deal with the real-world matter of human rights. He was speaking of the Saudi PhilArabian government’s aim to start the Super Golf League, a huge-money new professional tour to rival the PGA Tour. The comments, public this week, are from a forthcoming book by Alan Shipnuck, “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar.” “They’re scary motherf------ to get involved with,” Mickelson said, of the Saudi government. “We know they killed [Washington Post reporter Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider [their new league]? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates. The Saudi money has finally given us that leverage.” So there it is: Mickelson, with legacy-damaging clarity, speaking for sports at large in the unseemly exchange of principle for pay. Most other golfers have rebuked the Saudi effort and pledge allegiance to the PGA Tour. Rory McIlroy called Mickelson’s comments “naive, selfish, egotistical and ignorant. Just very surprising and disappointing. Sad.” Mickelson has caused a firestorm not only because he’s the enormously popular “Lefty,” one of the game’s all-time greats, but because athletes as individuals rarely are willing to put their name on being OK with human rights abuses so long as the money is right. Normally that is left to sports’ governing bodies and to television networks to play that sordid game with such aplomb — to follow the money with blinders on for everything else. For our full recent column: Mickelson's Support Of Saudi Tour Mirrors Sports' Blind Eye to Human Rights.

Top15MOUNT RUSHMORE ON STEROIDS: THE TOP 15 FIGURES (NON-ATH:ETES) IN MIAMI SPORTS HISTORYPresidents Day on Monday, the national holiday for White House occupants through history, got us thinking about the leaders of distinction across the decades in Miami and South Florida major team 15sports. Franchise owners, team executives and coaches — we’re talking everyone but players themselves. Who have been the most important, influential figures we’ve had, not counting athletes, all sports and all time? There was a passing-of-the-baton quality to the timelines of the two men highest on our list, as Pat Riley was introduced in Miami by the Heat in September 1995, just a couple of months before Don Shula retired from the Dolphins. I fancy myself something of a Miami sports historian, so I think I have a strong top 15 here. Then again, Presidents Day can’t seem to decide if there’s an apostrophe in there, so nothing is certain. (I would fight you on my first two, though). For the full column including the list of top 15 non-athletes in Miami team sports history: Top 15 Figures (Non-Athletes) In Miami Sports History.

Other latest columns: Who Dolphins, With Windfall To Spend, Should Target In Offseason To Fix Offense Fast. Also: An Inside Preview Of Le Batard Show's Upcoming Musical. Yes, Musical / The Lesson For Dolphins in Rams-Bengals Super Bowl Result / Hall of Fame Keeps Saying No, But Zach Thomas Keeps Feeling Gratitude / and McDaniel Overcame Much In Own Life, Now Must Overcome Dolphins' Turmoil And Win.

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

ARCHIVES

Select other recent columns: Dolphins New Coach McDaniel Must Win, Heal Broken Franchise / Ranking Flores/Ross Bombshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals / Ross Should Be Done As Fins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True  / The G.O.A.T. We Never Saw Coming: From 199th Drafted To History, A Salute To Tom Brady Like Him Or Don't, Antonio Brown Not Always To Blame -- And Wasn't In Bucs Divorce / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemens A Shame on Voters, Baseball / Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be / Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom /Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / 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.

Super Bowl With a Smirk quintet: SMIRK V ($1 million party ticket). SMIRK IV (Hip-hop halftime). SMIRK III (Last members of been-to-every-game club). SMIRK II (Joe Nickname, SB commercials). SMIRK I (City wars: L.A. glitz vs. Dull Cincy).

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

February 21, 2022

Latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated): Olympics end, NBA ASG, Panthers, Inter Miami opening week. See who's No. 1 and what else lands where this week; plus new Greg Cote Show podcast drops Monday, Dolphins offseason targets (latest column) & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21. Programming note: Will be back on with Le Batard on Wednesday this week, not Tuesday. 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): Le Batard The Musical?, 5 lessons Dolphins can take from Super Bowl, Greg Cote Show podcast, new NASL doc with Greg among those interviewed.

CoteshowGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW 100TH EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 9th episode of 2022 and 1andmark 100th overall is out now! A new pod hits every Monday at 7 ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all 100 we've done so far HERE, free. In our most recent episode, we throw a party for our 100th ep, recap the annual PFPI Gala, discuss recent big Le Batard Show news and more. 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).

Newest column: Who Dolphins, With Windfall Top Spend, Should target In Offseason To Fix Offense Fast. Other most recent columns: An Inside Preview Of Le Batard Show's Upcoming Musical. Yes, Musical / The Lesson For Dolphins in Rams-Bengals Super Bowl Result / Hall of Fame Keeps Saying No, But Zach Thomas Keeps Feeling Gratitude / and McDaniel Overcame Much In Own Life, Now Must Overcome Dolphins' Turmoil And Win.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (FEBRUARY 20-21): 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:

HButton1. OLYMPICS: U.S. fifth in medals at Winter Games: The Winter Olympics in Beijing wrap up today with the Closing Ceremines. Team USA finished fifth in totals medals with 25, including eight golds. Many disappointments, including neither hockey team winning gold and Maekala Shiffrin fizzle on the slopes, but highs, too, including Elana Meyers Taylor becoming the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history, with five medals.

2. HEAT: Miami tied atop East at break for Sunday's absurd All-Star Game: Miami is 38-21 and tied with Chicago atop the Eastern Conference at the break. All-Star Game on Sunday in Cleveland saw a 163-160 defesve struggle, with Team LeBron topping Team Durant. Lone Heat rep Jimmy Butler hda a quiet two points in nine minutes. Miami returns to action this Friday at the New York Knicks.

3. PANTHERS: Cats stay hot, raise their road game: Florida remains atop the NHL East at 35-10-5 after Sunday's 5-2 win at Chicago. Florida has been nearly unbeaten at home and fallible away but has picked up its road game lately, winning seven of past nine away. Cats open five-game homestand Tuesday vs. Nashville.

4. INTER MIAMI: Big week as team opens MLS Year 3: David Beckham's team has disappointed its first two seasons but hopes are high for Year 3 opening at home in Fort Lauderdale this coming Saturday vs. Chicago Fire. But first: A key commission vote Wednesday on the team's propsoed new Miami stadium complex near the airprort.

5. UM BASKETBALL: Canes men, women chasing NCAAs: March Madness nears and the Canes men sit 19-8 (11-5 ACC) after Saturday's home stumble against Virginia. Team should qualify for NCAAs but Saturday hurt. Surging UM women are at 16-10 (9-7), with NCAA hopes enchanced by Sunday's upset win at No. 16 Georgia Tech.

6. DOLPHINS: McDaniel completes (mostly) new coaching staff: New Fins coach Mike McDaniel completed a 27-man coaching staff with 19 new faces and eight holdovers, including defensive coordinator Josh Boyer. Notable additions include offensive coordinator Frank Smith, former Dolphins star cornerbacks Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain, and Wes Welker. Elsewhere, fired Dolphins coach Brian Flores got hired by the Steelers as senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach. 

7. HURRICANES: Schedule set for Cristobal's first spring practice: University of Miami set its 15-day spring football schedule, which will begin March 7 and end with the spring game on April 16. The first spring game under new coach Mario Cristobal will be held at Inter Miami's stadium in Fort Lauderdale because of construction at the Hard Rock Stadium site.

8. NASCAR: Vroom! Daytons 500 launches season with surprise: The Daytona 500, first major race of the new NASCAR seasons, ran on Sunday with Kyle Larson beginning defense of his 2021 season championship but little-known Austin Cindric, 23, taking the checkered flag. It was second straight D500 surprise, after last year's race was won by 66-1 longshot Michael McDowell.

9. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Playoff stays as is at least through '25: Months of debate about expansion amounted to zero as College Football Playoff said it will remain at four teams through end of its 12-year contract expiring after 2025 season. Staying at four teams for four more years will cost the 10 FBS conferences (and Notre Dame) an estimated $450 million in potential revenue.

10. MLB: Labor dispute now officially delays spring training: The MLB lockout, nearing three months old and a continuing stalemate, will delay the start of spring traoning games at least until March 5. Most teams including the Miami Marlins had been set to open February 26.

Missing the HB10 cut: Canes baseball swept Towson State in its four-game season-opening home series ..... So, apparently, the folks running Hard Rock Stadium and the Dolphins built the garage and pit area at the new Formula One racetrack on top of a sewer main, meaning it would block access to pipes for any needed repairs and raise the possibility of noxious gases seeping through manholes into the building. Oh, and they did it despite being warned of the hazards ..... USWNT opened the SheBelieves Cup tournament with a 0-0 draw vs. Czech Republic and plays New Zealand on Sunday in L.A. U.S. is using a young roster including rising star Trinity Rodman (Dennis' kid) ..... Los Angeles held a Super Bowl victory parade for the Rams. Highlight: Brief diversion from nightmare that is the Lakers season ..... The reborn eight-team USFL holds its first draft this Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of its spring startup. First pick belongs to coach Jeff Fisher and the Michigan Mustaches. Over/under on the USFL announcing it will fold is summer '23 ..... Manu Ginobili and former Heat star Tim Hardaway are among 11 finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ..... Awful week for PR guys. Former Angels communications director Eric Kay was found him guilty of distributing fentanyl and causing the death of former pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019. And it was reported the Cowboys in 2015 paid $2.4 million to settle a cheerleaders' claim that former club executive Rich Dalrymple filmed them changing ..... The NFL, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and likely future owner Bruce Beal all have lawyered up to fight the allegations in the Brian Flores lawsuit ..... Marlins place seven players (four of them pitchers) in ESPN's 2022 ranking of MLB's top 100 prospects, though none higher than righty pitcher Max Meyer at No. 33 ..... Marlins Park on Tuesday night hosts Ye: Donda 2 Experience Performance, a Kanye West concert. Be interesting to see what Marlins Park looks like with a big crowd ..... A Maine woman recognized as the Patriots' oldest fan, Myrtle Milledge, died at 106. She rooted for the Pats since 1960, Tom Brady's rookie season ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,590 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

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

ARCHIVES

Select other recent columns: Dolphins New Coach McDaniel Must Win, Heal Broken Franchise / Ranking Flores/Ross Bombshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals / Ross Should Be Done As Fins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True  / The G.O.A.T. We Never Saw Coming: From 199th Drafted To History, A Salute To Tom Brady Like Him Or Don't, Antonio Brown Not Always To Blame -- And Wasn't In Bucs Divorce / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemens A Shame on Voters, Baseball / Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be / Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom /Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / 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.

Super Bowl With a Smirk quintet: SMIRK V ($1 million party ticket). SMIRK IV (Hip-hop halftime). SMIRK III (Last members of been-to-every-game club). SMIRK II (Joe Nickname, SB commercials). SMIRK I (City wars: L.A. glitz vs. Dull Cincy).

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

February 19, 2022

Who Dolphins should target in to fix offense fast. New column; plus 'Dan The Musical'? On Le Batard Show's ambitious new project; also, new NASL documentary, Lessons for Dolphins in Super Bowl result, Greg Cote Show podcast 100th episode out Monday & more

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

1) It's SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19. Was back on Le Batard Show this week. Check out Tuesday's show podcasts -- especially the one with my new Back In My Day (Super Bowl commercials!), which met with rave reviews.  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): Super Bowl Sunday with pick, Hot Button Top 10, Greg Cote Show podcast.

CoteshowGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 8th episode of 2022 and 99th 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. Find all 99 we've done so far HERE, free. In our new episode, Chris reports live from Radio Row in L.A. as the guys discuss the Super Bowl and halftime show. And in a nod to Valentine's Day we bring you a special Mount Gregmore of favorite love songs! 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).

DavadamsWHO DOLPHINS, WITH WINDFALL TO SPEND, SHOULD TARGET IN OFFSEASON TO FIX OFFENSE FAST: Can the wheezing old franchise keep up, catch up, get back in the game? The Miami Dolphins are the South Florida flagship team that’s been leaking and listing and hardly moving for 20 years. Stuck. Now comes the latest reboot with the latest new hope-seller in Mike McDaniel, never before a head coach at any level, as the Dolphins try to get back to relevance in the NFL but first in their own market. All of this under the powder keg cloud of an owner, Stephen Ross, being investigated by the league for allegations he offered former coach Brian Flores bribes to lose intentionally in 2019, a seismic scandal if true, a major, distracting embarrassment if not. All of it makes the coming NFL offseason the most critical in Dolphins’ history as the team prepares for a make-or-break season for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in an evolving, empowered AFC so deep even the once lowly Bengals just made the Super Bowl. And the heat is on, broiler-high. It is on Ross, fighting for his reputation and his right to be owner. It is on McDaniel,. to justify Miami’s gamble on him. It is on general manager Chris Grier, who many thought deserved to get the sack instead of Flores. The Dolphins have $63.8 million in cap space to spend this offseason — most in the NFL. For our full latest column: Who Dolphins, With Windfall Top Spend, Should target In Offseason To Fix Offense Fast.

Danstu‘DAN THE MUSICAL'? NEXT STOP, BOADWAY? AN INSIDE PEEK AT LE BATARD SHOW'S BIG NEW PROJECT ABOUT NFL: In the South Beach studios of the Miami-based Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz — the same room where ESPN’s “Highly Questionable” TV show once was produced, Atlantic ocean the backdrop — there is a hand-drawn sign that jokingly reads “professional recording studio,” with an arrow on it. It points to a far corner of the room, where, behind makeshift cardboard walls, is an area slightly smaller than a cruise ship bathroom. There is a mic stand. This is where the magic happens. Or the ridiculousness, as the case may be. The Le Batard Show is producing a musical. You read that right. “It’s a super ambitious attempt to make a tried and true musical,” says the show’s executive producer, Mike Ryan Ruiz. “It’s a Herculean lift.” For the full story: An Inside Preview Of Le Batard Show's Upcoming Musical. Yes, Musical.

RamsGRADING SUPER BOWL ADS AND HALFTIME -- AND 5 LESSONS RAMS-BENGALS CAN TEACH TEAMS LIKE DOLPHINS: There are lessons other NFL teams -- like the Miami Dolphins, for instance -- may glean from the Super Bowl won by the Los Angeles Rams over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night. (And, yes, it hasn’t sunk in yet, and might never, but the Bengals really were in the Super Bowl). To the football game and its lessons momentarily, but, first, the important stuff: The commercials and the halftime show. For our review of both and the 5 Lessons: The Lesson For Dolphins in Rams-Bengals Super Bowl Result.  

Other most recent columns: Hall of Fame Keeps Saying No, But Zach Thomas Keeps Feeling Gratitude / and McDaniel Overcame Much In Own Life, Now Must Overcome Dolphins' Turmoil And Win.

REMEMBER FORT LAUDERDALE STRIKERS? THEN THIS IS FOR YOU: 'Big-Time Soccer: The Remarkable Rise & Fall of the NASL,' is a new documentary just out and streaming now on Amazon Prime. The original Fort Lauderdale Strikers, big from 1977-83 after moving from Miami, are a significant part of the doc. I covered the Strikers way back when and was honored to be interviewed for the project -- and to have somehow dodged the cutting room floor and actually made into the documentary! Thanks to Rachel Viollet, director, for giving me a small part in a valuable doc on the too-forgotten league that was the seed for soccer in America and for the rise of MLS.

Select other recent columns: Dolphins New Coach McDaniel Must Win, Heal Broken Franchise / Ranking Flores/Ross Bombshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals / Ross Should Be Done As Fins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True  / The G.O.A.T. We Never Saw Coming: From 199th Drafted To History, A Salute To Tom Brady Like Him Or Don't, Antonio Brown Not Always To Blame -- And Wasn't In Bucs Divorce / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemens A Shame on Voters, Baseball / Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be / Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom /Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / 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.

Super Bowl With a Smirk quintet: SMIRK V ($1 million party ticket). SMIRK IV (Hip-hop halftime). SMIRK III (Last members of been-to-every-game club). SMIRK II (Joe Nickname, SB commercials). SMIRK I (City wars: L.A. glitz vs. Dull Cincy).

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

February 13, 2022

Happy Super Bowl: Rams beat Cincy in last minute; plus latest Hot Button Top 10 (jam-packed); also, new Greg Cote Show podcast out now!, Zach Thomas and other latest columns & more

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

Valday1) It's MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14. Happy Valentine's Day, sweethearts! 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): Zach Thomas on missing Hall again, Dolphins introduce Mike McDaniel, Super Bowl predictions, Smirk Week, Greg Cote Show podcast.

Coteshow MevalentineGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 8th episode of 2022 and 99th 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. Find all 99 we've done so far HERE, free. In our new episode, we continue The Greg Cote Show Non-Sport Olympics, but with a live audience, and talk Super Bowl, Brian Flores suit, and new Dolphins coach Mke McDaniel. Also in the the latest ep: Drake (!) makes brief appearance; Greg’s business lunch with LeBron James; Greg brags about leaving big tip; Would you rather lick toad or toe?; Chris can’t believe Flores turned down lunch with Tom Brady; and Farding (not farting; farding). And, on a serious note, Greg's tribute to a dear friend who recently died unexpectedly. 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).

PicksOUR BENGALS-RAMS SUPER BOWL PICK: We nailed it! (Sort of). We called the Rams' win. But had them covering 3 1/2 points, so missed that by a point. For our full predix capsule, who'll win and why: Super Bowl Gem.

ZachFlurry of recent Dolphins-related columns: Hall of Fame Keeps Saying No, But Zach Thomas Keeps Feeling Gratitude / and McDaniel Overcame Much In Own Life, Now Must Overcome Dolphins' Turmoil And Win. Also: Dolphins New Coach McDaniel Must Win, Heal Broken Franchise / Ranking Flores/Ross Bombshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals / and Ross Should Be Done As Fins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True.

Super Bowl With a Smirk quintet: SMIRK V ($1 million party ticket). SMIRK IV (Hip-hop halftime). SMIRK III (Last members of been-to-every-game club). SMIRK II (Joe Nickname, SB commercials). SMIRK I (City wars: L.A. glitz vs. Dull Cincy).

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (FEBRUARY 13-14): 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:

1HButton. NFL: Rams reign on Super Bowl Sunday!: L.A. Rams are champs after beating Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the last minute. A so-so game was redeemed by the exciting finish. Halftime show tried valiantly but could not leave up ot the enormous expectations. Commercials disappointed except for a few. And I have the Super Bowl flu. God Bless America! 

2. DOLPHINS: Miami officially introduces new coach Mike McDaniel: The guy replacing fired Brian Flores met the media for first time. Owner Stpehen Ross and GM Chris Grier took no questions (unfortunately but predictably), but first question to McDaniel was about the Flores-lawuit allegations againast Ross. McDaniel said it raised "no red flags" for him. Points to the new guy for blinders-on against the controversy and making it football-only. His new staff in progress notably added Wes Welker as receivers coach.

3. OLYMPICS: Chen, Kim leading Team USA gold rush: Team USA has climbed to third place in the medal count at the Winter Olympics in Bejing, with 16 total including seven golds into Monday's action. Nathan Chen in figure skating singles, Chloe Kim in snowboarding halfpipe and most recently Erin Jackson in 500m speedskating lead the gold rush. Elsewhere, Kamila Valieva's controversy, Mikaela Shiffrin's disappointment and Shaun White's farewell have made headlines.

4. HEAT: Miami quiet at deadline, but not on court with 5th W: Heat did nothing big before NBA trade deadline, but why should they? Miami is 37-20 and in first place in the East on the court after a fifth straight win Saturday, tyig a season-long streak. Miami is back on the floor Tuesday as Dallas visits.  

5. NBA: Harden-Simmons tops deadline deals: The Brooklyn-Philly trade-deadline blockbuster essentially sends James Harden to 76ers and Ben Simmons and two first-round picks to Nets as boht try to improve their disappointing standing in the East. Other deadlines moves of note: Kristaps Porzingis to Wizards, Serge Ibaka to Bucks and old Heat favorite Goran Dragic to Spurs.

6. HALLS OF FAME: Canton shuts out Zach Thomas, Canes trio: Pro Football Hall of Fame let in a slew in its 2022 class -- Tony Boselli, LeRoy Butler, Sam Mills, Richard Seymour, Bryant Young, Cliff Branch, Art McNally and Dick Vermeil -- but Canton forgot all about Miami. No (again) to Dolphins great Zach Thomas. And no to the hopeful ex-Canes trio of Devin Hester, Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne.

7. HURRICANES: 5-Star QB, Ruiz's dream keep momentum going: Canes football momentum since the Mario Cristobal hire is palpbale. The latest: The hiring of Josh Gattis as offensive coordinator now has UM a serious contender for 2023 five-star quarterback Dante Moore. Meanwhile John Ruiz, the Miami billionaire lawyer and mega-donor, now includes Tropical Park as the latest possibility for a new Canes football stadium.  

8. PANTHERS: Cats finally return to ice this week: Florida is atop the East at 32-10-5 but will there be rust when Panthers to to the ice this Wednesday at Carolina? Between the NHL All-Star break and a mandatory one-week midseason bye, this will be the Cats' first game since February 1, a 15-day break.

9. AWARDS: MVP Aaron Rodgers top NFL Honors show: Three thoughts from the NFL Honors show: 1) What exactly is that hairstyle of MVP Aaron Rodgers' called?; 2) What's with the NFL's concerted but failed effort to covince us the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for community service is its biggest prize?; and 3) Christian Wilkins' 310-pound worm celebration made the night. But, when did we start calling a celebration a "celly"?

10. UM BASKETBALL: Canes men making case for NCAA invite: As March Madness nears, Canes men are 17-7 (10-4 ACC) and considered on inside edge of an NCAA Tournament invite after Saturday's 76=72 comeback win at Wake Forest. Jim Larranaga's guys are back at it Wednesday at Louisville with seven games left in regular season. UM women are 13-10/6-7 after Sunday's home win over nemesis Florida State, kindling hope for a late rally into contention for the NCAAs.

Missing the HB10 cut: No. 25-ranked Canes baseball opens its season with a home series vs. Towson State starting this coming Friday ..... The MLB lockout continues, now more than 70 days in and with the late-February start of spring training games in peril. Commissioner Rob Manfred said a delay of Opening Day would be a "disastrous outcome" ..... The SheBelieves Cup in women's soccer kicks off this Thursday in California. The USWNT faces Iceland on February 23 in Texas ..... NASCAR's first major event of the new season, the Daytona 500, is next Sunday ..... A Pele' rookie card from 1958 sold for $1.33 million, the first soccer card to top $1M ..... Twin countdown for Inter Miami: Stadium vote on February 23, opening of team's MLS Year 3 on February 26 ..... The HBCU Legacy Bowl next Saturday concludes the run of college all-star showcase games ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,597 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

Select other most recent columns: The G.O.A.T. We Never Saw Coming: From 199th Drafted To History, A Salute To Tom Brady Like Him Or Don't, Antonio Brown Not Always To Blame -- And Wasn't In Bucs Divorce / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemens A Shame on Voters, Baseball / Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be / Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom /Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / 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.

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

ARCHIVES

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

February 12, 2022

Hall says no again, but Zach Thomas feels gratitude. New column; plus Fins intro McDaniel, Our Bengals-Rams pick, Latest Greg Cote Show podcast, Super Bowl With a Smirk V ($1 million ticket to Shaq's party) & more

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

1) It's SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12. Was back in on Le Batard Show this week. Check out Tuesday's show podcasts. 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, Columns on Dolphins' McDaniel hire and Flores/Ross scandal, new Greg Cote Show podcast.

Coteshow DrakeGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 7th episode of 2022 and 98th 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 98 we've done so far HERE, free. In our most recent episode, we continue The Greg Cote Show Non-Sport Olympics, but with a live audience, and talk Super Bowl, Brian Flores suit, and new Dolphins coach Mke McDaniel. Also in the the new episode: Drake (!): makes brief appearance on our podcast; Greg’s business lunch with LeBron James over Lobos Tequila; Greg brags about leaving a big tip; Would you rather lick a toad or a toe?; Chris can’t believe Brian Flores turned down lunch with Tom Brady; and Farding (not farting; farding. Get your mind out of the gutter). And, on a serious note, Greg's tribute to a dear friend who recently died unexpectedly. 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).

PicksOUR BENGALS-RAMS SUPER BOWL PREDICTION: We tell you why we think this is an intriguing, better-than-average SB matchup, and why one team has the edge. For our full predix capsule, who'll win and why: Super Bowl Gem.

ZachfamHALL OF FAME SAID NO AGAIN. BUT DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR ZACH THOMAS: By the night of the big announcement Zach Thomas had already moved on with real life, with the wonderful, glorious routine of what folks do, what parents do if they’re lucky, when the fame has subsided and the cameras are no longer watching, and when the Pro Football Hall of Fame has said no yet again. Zach, now 48, one of the greatest and most popular players in Miami Dolphins history, was in the stands Thursday night at a soccer practice watching one of his and wife Maritza’s three kids play. They are 12, 10 and 6 now, two girls and a boy. The little one has already gotten a red card or two for physical play. “Sticks up for herself,” Dad says, his smile coming through the phone. Thomas had already been given the news ahead of Thursday night’s live announcement on the NFL Honors awards show leading up to Sunday’s Bengals-Rams Super Bowl in Los Angeles. They don’t want you flying in for a coronation that once again isn’t coming to you. He has gotten used to the call that doesn’t come, the one where they congratulate you for being inducted, for heading to Canton. This was the ninth year in a row Thomas was eligible to be called but was not -- the third straight year as one of 15 finalists. Was he disappointed? Is he human? Of course he was. But what flowed from him was gratefulness. For our ful latest column: Hall of Fame Keeps Saying NO, But Zach Thomas Keeps Feeling Gratitude.

Mike mcdMIKE MCDANIEL FOUND HEALING STRENGTH IN OWN LIFE. NOW HE MUST FIX BROKEN DOLPHINSHere they are, trafficking again in the only drug that’s readily available, totally free and yet sometimes so hard to get hold of, that most powerful of all medicines: Hope. The promise of it is, a promise oft broken, is really all the Miami Dolphins have to offer their fans, and so the beleaguered team introduced the latest healer Thursday inside the massive training center on the grounds of Hard Rock Stadium. Mike McDaniel looks a bit like a pharmacist, oddly enough. He could be in a white smock. He is nobody’s stereotype of an NFL head coach. He gives off nerdy professor vibes. He is a slight, personable and youthful 38, barely 5-9, and no way going the 180 pounds the bio claims. For the full column: McDaniel Overcame Much In Own Life, Now Must Overcome Dolphins' Turmoil And Win.

BOMBSHELL WEEK FOR DOLPHINS: FLORES' NFL SUITTARGETS ROSS, MIAMI HIRES McDANIEL AS NEW COACH: Dolphins New Coach McDaniel Must Win, Heal Broken Franchise / Ranking Flores/Ross Bombshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals / and Ross Should Be Done As Fins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True

THE RETURN OF 'SUPER BOWL WITH A SMIRK'!"Super Bowl With a Smirk returns again this year with a daily needling of the self-important NFL and the gravitas of its big game. Flying under the banner, “Make Fun, Not War,” Smirk is an annual Super Bowl Week feature in the Miami Herald years we remember to do it.

Smirk V (5th of V) -- Here's what you get for a $1 million ticket (!) to Shaq's Fun House Super Bowl party. Also, pregame TV glut, Lion picks Rams, anthem scandal? and plastic zip ties for Eddie the Loon: SMIRK V.

HalftimeSmirk IV (4th of 5) -- How the high-powered Super Bowl hip-hop halftime show is goung to great lengths (and noise) to keep its Sunday setlist a secret. Also, NFL Honors, counterfeiting, Ross: SMIRK IV.

Smirk III (3rd of V) -- Sweet story, or sad? The dwindling last members of the been-to-every-Super Bowl club. Also Goodell's state-of, SB's global reach, Qanon?, public safety, Puppy Bowl: SMIRK III.

Tarantula WillsmithSmirk II (2nd of V) -- Bengals' Joe Nickname, sneak peek at Super Bowl ads (shocker: a Clydesdale!), America's rooting interest, Brady visits Waffle House?, casting Rams movie, Madden back from dead to pick winner, Cambodian fried tarantula: SMIRK II.

Goodell BettedavisSmirk I (1st of V) -- L.A.’s glitz, Cincinnati’s dullness, a Shula, Al Golden and a dead gorilla. Also, Hazmat suit, Cindernati, Mike McDaniel, SB Experience, chicken wings and Hollywood golden-age actress Bette Davis: SMIRK I.

Select other most recent columns: The G.O.A.T. We Never Saw Coming: From 199th Drafted To History, A Salute To Tom Brady Like Him Or Don't, Antonio Brown Not Always To Blame -- And Wasn't In Bucs Divorce / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemens A Shame on Voters, Baseball / Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be / Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom /Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / 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.

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

ARCHIVES

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

February 07, 2022

Dolphins new coach McDaniel must win, help heal broken franchise. New column; plus latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated); also new Greg Cote Show podcast out now (with Drake) & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7. Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on TwitterInstagram and now TikTok, too! 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Flores/Dolphins scandal: Top 10 all-time Dolphins scandals and where this ranks, plus Ross should be done as owner if allegations prove true; also, new Greg Cote Show podcast.

CoteshowGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 7th episode of 2022 and 98th 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 98 we've done so far HERE, free. In our most recent episode, we continue The Greg Cote Show Non-Sport Olympics, but with a live audience, and talk Super Bowl, Brian Flores suit, and new Dolphins coach Mke McDaniel. Also in the the new episode: Drake (!): makes brief appearance on our podcast; Greg’s business lunch with LeBron James over Lobos Tequila; Greg brags about leaving a big tip; Would you rather lick a toad or a toe?; Chris can’t believe Brian Flores turned down lunch with Tom Brady; and Farding (not farting; farding. Get your mind out of the gutter). And, on a serious note, Greg's tribute to a dear friend who recently died unexpectedly. 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).

RossfloresBOMBSHELL WEEK FOR DOLPHINS: FLORES' NFL SUIT TARGETS ROSS, MIAMI HIRES McDANIEL AS NEW COACH:

NEW: Dolphins New Coach McDaniel Must Win, Heal Broken Franchise

Ranking Flores/Ross Bombshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals

Ross Should Be Done As Dolphins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True

Select other most recent columns: The G.O.A.T. We Never Saw Coming: From 199th Drafted To History, A Salute To Tom Brady Like Him Or Don't, Antonio Brown Not Always To Blame -- And Wasn't In Bucs Divorce / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemens A Shame on Voters, Baseball / Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be / Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom /Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / 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 (FEBRUARY 6-7): 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:

HButton1. DOLPHINS: Flores lawsuit implicates Ross, Fins hire McDaniel as new coach: Miami on Sunday evening hired 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, the frontrunner, as new head coach. But it's the man he's replacing making the biggest headlines. Fired coach Brian Flores is taking on the NFL over racist hiring practices in an explosive lawsuit that also accuses Dolphins owner of Stephen Ross of attempting to bribe Flores to intentionally lose games in 2019. [My three related columns are feature-linked above].

2. NFL: Super Bowl Week opens shadowed by lawsuit and Brady: The Bengals-Rams Super Bowl in Los Angeles is next Sunday, but is forced to share the NFL marquee with the recent retirement of icon Tom Brady and now with Brian Flores' lawsuit over racist hiring practices in the league. The NFL initially called the suit "without merit," but in a Saturday memo to teams commissoner Roger Goodell pivoted and called results of the NFL's coaching diversity efforts "unacceptable."

3. HEAT: Butler named All-Star reserve as Miami jockeys for East lead: Jimmy Butler was named an East reserve for the February 20 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland, the only Miami player selected (though some thought Tyler Herrro had a shot). Miami is 34-20 and tied for first in the East entering tonight's/Monday's game at Washington.  

4. HURRICANES: Cristobal lands big OC in Gattis from Michigan: The Canes recruiting class was ranked 19th nationally by ESPN -- third in the ACC after North Carolina and Clemson -- after this week's second (and lesser) of two national signing days. Bigger news: UM and Mario Cristobal on Sunday hired offensive coordinator Josh Gattis away from Michigan, where he won 2021 Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach. He joins new defensive chief Kevin Steele to give the Canes a formidable coordinator duo.

5. OLYMPICS: U.S. women's hockey team early darling of Beijing Games:  Snowboarder Julia Marino won silver -- the first U.S. medal of the Winter Olympics -- but the dominating 3-0 start for U.S. women's hockey suggest a shot at gold as the Games continue despite calls for boycotts over China's human righst record. Team USA entered Monday 10th in the medals table with three silvers. 

6. PANTHERS: NHL confirms Cats will host 2023 All-Star Weekend: What was first reported my own scoop in the Herald last summer was confirmed this week by NHL: Panthers will host the '23 All-Star Game next February 4 and Skills Challenge the day before. Florida last hosted event in 2003. Cats were supposed to host in 2021 but COVID canceled game. Florida again was supposed to host this year's ASG held on Saturday (and including FLA's Jonathan Huberdeau) but it went to Vegas instead. East-leading Cats do not teturn to action until February 16.

7. SOCCER: U.S. men's soccer wins in World Cup qualifier: U.S. is in 2-1 in qualifying games fot the 2022 Qatar World Cup after this week's 3-0 rout of Honduras, played in sub-zero conditions in St. Paul, Minnesota. Team's next qualifier is March 24 vs. rival Mexico.

8. SOCCER: Rapinoe, Morgan left off USWNT roster: U.S. women's national soccer team coach Vlatko Andonovski named a squad that mixes youth and experience for this month's SheBelieves Cup, leaving out big names like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan in favor of up-and-comers. The 23-player squad will compete in the USWNT's first games of 2022 in facing Czech Republic, New Zealand and Iceland in the SheBelieves Cup February February 17-23 in California and Texas.

9. UM BASKETBALL: Men slump, women face big stretch: As March Madness looms nearer, Hurricanes men are 16-7 and 8-4 in ACC but have lost two straigt entering a Wednesday game vs. Georgia Tech. Miami's women are 12-9/5-6 and in a big three-game stretch that began Sunday with a crushing 85-38 loss at No. 24 North Carolina. Continues Thursday at 20-Notre Dame, then next Sunday vs. rival Florida State.

10. INTER MIAMI: Stadium vote, season opener near: February 23 is the date set for Miami-Dade to vote whether to go ahead with or scrap plans for MLS team Inter Miam's proposed 73-acre commercial and professional sports complex featuring a new soccer stadium. The club's third season opens February 26.

Missing the HB10 cut: James Harden for Ben Simmons? It's been the big NBA trade rumor ahead of league's Thursday's deal deadline ..... The 2022 Miami Marathon and Half Marathon was back this weekend for its 20th edition on the streets of downtown Miami, Miami Beach and Coconut Grove. COVID canceled the event last year, to the delight of motorists inconvenienced by the annual event causing myrad road closings for hours ..... NFL Pro Bowl is today in Las Vegas, and, if you're like most of America, you can't wait to not watch! ..... The MLB lockout impasse worsened as talks stalled, and the MLBPA rejected owners' proposal to involve a federal mediator. For the first time a delay to the start of spring training seems very likely, also suggesting a delay to the regular season. The Marlins spring opener is scheduled February 26 ..... Canes baseball is ranked No. 25 in preseason poll as it prepares to open season February 18 vs. Towson State ..... NASCAR opens its 2022 season Sunday with Joey Logano winning the Clash at the Coliseum in L.A., a warmup of sorts before the main schedule opens with the February 20 Daytona 500 ..... Trade rumors involve Dolphins receiver DeVante Parker as NFL Tuesday trade deadline looms ..... The NFL team formerly known as the Redskins are now the Washington Commanders, explaining, "All of the good nicknames were already taken" ..... Frank Gonzalez, a partner at the accounting firm BDO USA, LLP, was named the 84th president of the Orange Bowl Committee ..... Life Is Good dominated likely 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go to win the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park ..... The spate of college football postseason showcase games continued with Saturday's Senior Bowl. Still to come: the HBCU Legacy Bowl February 19 ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,604 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

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

ARCHIVES

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

February 05, 2022

Dolphins' Top 10 all-time scandals and where Flores/Ross bombshell ranks. New column; plus Fins owner Ross must sell team if Flores allegations in explosive NFL lawsuit prove true; also, latest Greg Cote Show podcast out now & more

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

1) It's SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5. Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on TwitterInstagram and now TikTok, too! 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): G.O.A.T. out of nowhere: A salute to retiring Tom Brady, Hot Button Top 10, new Greg Cote Show podcast.

CoteshowGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NON-SPORTS OLYMPICS, NFL, BRADY, LE BATARD. NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 6th episode of 2022 and 97th overall is out now. A new pod is delivered 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 97 we've done so far HERE, free. In our newest episode, we introduce The Greg Cote Show Non-Sports Olympics, and offer a hotline for you to call and leave a message offering your own categories. And Greg disrespects a beloved Winter Olympics sport. Also in the new episode: Minnie Mouse in a pantsuit, the Mount Gregmore of Silliest Winter Olympics Sports, and Greg's escalation of his beef with Buzzkill Billy Corben is interupted by a phone call from Dan Le Batard. The latest episode wraps up in the Le Batard Show studio studios as we talk Super Bowl matchup and Tom Brady's (reported) retirement. 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).

DOLPHINS' TOP 10 BIGGEST SCANDALS AND WHERE THE FLORES/ROSS BONBSHELL RANKSThe Miami Dolphins are moving toward their 57th season as a franchise, so, naturally, through the decades, South Florida’s flagship team has weathered its share of scandals, embarrassments and controversy. In the immortal words of former coach Adam Gase — just after one of his Rossfloresassistants had been seen snorting cocaine from his desk before a practice in 2017: “That’s the NFL, man. It’s a league of distractions. Move on.” But what’s happening right now, the bombshell that just detonated -- across football but mostly in Miami — well, “distraction” doesn’t quite cover it. And if this is the NFL, man, then the NFL needs to change, fundamentally, systemically, and now. Is this a football league with inbred, ongoing racism in its hiring of head coaches and general managers? Is this a league that has teams plotting to intentionally lose games to better their draft position? Does the NFL have an integrity crisis? These questions are all fairly on the table now, even as America’s biggest and most popular sport prepares to celebrate its crown jewel, the Super Bowl. As we await an outcome that might not come anytime soon, we put this in the context of the times in club history the Dolphins have made the biggest headlines for the most unfortunate reasons. Disproportionate dysfunction and dirt has sullied the franchise since Ross became controlling owner in January 2009 — and that’s beyond the sub-mediocre product on the field under his aegis. The 96-113 overall record. The mere three winning seasons. The one playoff appearance, a quick exit. The four different head coaches (six counting interims) and four general managers. There was plenty to choose from in researching the most dubious Top 10 in Dolphins history. Put it this way: Miami’s No. 1 pick Laremy Tunsil seen smoking from a bong on draft night 2016 didn't even make it. Nor did the franchise-worst 1-15 season of 2007, the Cam Cameron nightmare after which Miami drafted a lineman No. 1 instead of future Hall of Fame quarterback Matt Ryan. Six instances in our top 10 unfortunate franchise episodes, including the top three, have come during Ross’ ownership. Four our full latest column including the Top 10 Dolphins scandals, visit: Ranking Flores/Ross Bomshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals.

DOLPHINS OWNER ROSS MUST SELL TEAM IF FLORES' ALLEGATION IN EXPLOSIVE NFL LAWSUIT IS TRUE: On the day Black History Month began, Brian Flores took a stand and delivered a statement that might qualify as historic as it takes direct aim at the mighty NFL in an explosive lawsuit alleging “systemic racism” in hiring practices. The suit filed in Manhattan federal court Floresseeks class-action status and damages from the league, the Miami Dolphins — who fired Flores last month — the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and unnamed individuals. One allegation in the suit, if proved true, should lead to Dolphins owner Stephen Ross immediately stepping down from his role running the franchise. The suit alleges that Ross offered Flores a $100,000 bonus for every game lost in the 2019 season, the coach’s first with Miami, in an intentional effort to “tank” the season and get the overall No. 1 draft pick, and that the owner was angry when the Dolphins won enough games to only get the fifth overall pick. From the lawsuit: “When the Dolphins started winning games ... Mr. Flores was told by the team’s general manager, Chris Grier, that ‘Steve’ was ‘mad’ that Mr. Flores’ success was ‘compromising’ [the team’s] draft position.” If true, it would help explain why Ross last month fired Flores despite the coach leading the Dolphins to their first consecutive winning seasons since 2003. Ross has been a failed owner by most measures including the won-lost ledger under his leadership. His firing of Flores was an unjustifiable disgrace. But if it comes out in court that he offered his head coach bonus money to, in essence, intentionally lose games, that’s a scandal ranking with any in South Florida sports history. And the lawsuit and that allegation against Ross together are a scandal-sized embarrassment for the NFL, which prepares for its biggest stage: the February 13 Super Bowl between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams. For our full recent column, visit Ross Should Be Done As Dolphins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True.

Brady retirement and other most recent columns: The G.O.A.T. We Never Saw Coming: From 199th Drafted To History, A Salute To Tom Brady / Like Him Or Don't, Antonio Brown Not Always To Blame -- And Wasn't In Bucs Divorce / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemsn A Shame on Voters, Baseball / and Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be. Also: Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom /Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / 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.

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

ARCHIVES

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