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 Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Super Bowl Sunday with pick, Hot Button Top 10, Greg Cote Show podcast.
GREG 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).
WHO 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.
‘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.
GRADING 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 columns: Dolphins Win, Finish 9-8, Now Must Commit To Build Around Tua / Why Saban 'What-If' Still Haunts Miami 15 Years later / No Playoffs And No Idea Yet On Tua Worst Possible Way For Dolphins To End Season / Revealing My 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot / Georgia Crushes Michigan in OB. The Bad News? 'Bama Next / Party, Meet Hangover: Tua, Dolphins Out Of Playoff Chase With Loss at Titans / Hey, America, After 7th Straight Win, Do Miami Dolphins Have Your Attention Yet? / Duuuuuke Lifts Fins to 6th Straight Win, .500 / / UM Legend Frank Gore Talks NFL Future, Cristobal, Boxing As He Prepes For Ring Debut / Tua Keeps Showing Dolphins How Silly They Were To Doubt Him So Soon / UM And Blake James Parted Ways With Class -- Which Butch Davis Didn't Get From FIU / How Miami Dolphins Are Poised to Transform Their 1-7 Start Into Playoff Contention / Dolphins' Watson Lust Ruined Season, Damaged Tua. And That Starts With Owner Ross / Quenneville Rightly Sacked as Panthers Coach Over 2010 Chicago Scandal / As Dolphins' Dysfunction Surrounds Him, 10 Ways Tua Is The Unluckiest Man On Earth / State of the Art: Heat, Miami's Best-Run Franchise, Sails In Opener / 'Time to Hunt': Cats' Hyped Season Off to Wild, Winning Start / Dolphins Fans, Ex-Players Gather For Emotional Farewell to Don Shula, Father of the Glory Days / If Sports Had A Spine, Kyrie Irving & Other Anti-Vaxxers Wouldn't Be Playing / Kyle Lowry Must Channel 'Doctor Of Greatness' If Heat Is To Chase NBA Title / Fairy Tale With Wrong Ending: Remembering Jose Fernandez 5 Years Later / Why It's Too Soon, And Dumb, To Quit On Tua As Dolphins Answer / Year Of Reckoning, And Impatience, For Slow-Starting Dolphins & Canes / Hope And Hype Are Sky-High. Time For Florida Panthers To Finally Deliver / Miami Herald's 2021 NFL Team Rankings: You Won't Believe Where Dolphins are / Why Dolphins, Canes Should Be Taking Lead In Requiring Fans To Be COVID-Vaccinated / An Appreciation of Udonis Haslem As He Re-Ups For 19th Heat Season / Unraveled: The Story Behind Who Aubrey Huff Became / College Football and FSU Lose a Treasure In Passing Of Bobby Bowden / Biggest Victory Of Hall Of Famer Jimmy Johnson's Life Was Getting His Son Back / Biles' Withdrawal For Mental-Health Reasons Merits Empathy, Not Scorn / Where Dolphins Rank Among Teams With Longest Championship Droughts / Dolphins Owner Ross Unveils New $135 Million Training Site As Another Reason Team Must Win Now / Hot Seat Scale: Ranking Miami's Biggest Coaches By Most to Least Job Security / May Sha'Carri Richardson Be Last Victim Of Olympics' Archaic Marijuana Rules / 'I'm D'Eriq King For College Hunks Hauling Junk!' It's Strange New World in College Sports / Nassib Coming Out As Gay NFL Player A Milestone In Sports History / Fate Snatched Basketball From Chris Bosh. His new Book Is Part of His Journey Of Healing / Where's Tua? Ranking Our Top 15 South Florida Pro Athletes 25 And Younger / Pythons, Peppers, Pirate Flag Raised. Inside Le Batard's 24-Hour Triumph / Le Batard Bet On Himself And His Audience -- And Won Big / Justice For George Floyd Helps Heal Our Shaken Faith, But Fight For Equality Goes On / In History And In Hearts, Howard Schnellenberger Will Matter For All Time / Women Keep Accusing Deshaun Watson of Sexual Misconduct. But Will It Matter to NFL Teams? / Reality, Loss, Comeback: How Sports Has Been Guiding Light In America's Awful Past Year / Beckham's Resolve Tested By Tumult As Inter Miami Nears 2nd MLS Season / Time-Travelling To 1960s And Childhood, When The Baseball Card Was King / Doesn't Matter If Tiger Woods Never Wins Again. We Are Lucky He's Alive / Final Herald NFL 2020 QB Rankings / Marlins Hit History-Making Home Run With Kim NG Hire As GM / In a Pandemic-Battered Season For FIU, Butch Davis' Love Of Coaching Survives / Don Shula, 1930-2020, R.I.P. / What Shula Meant to a Father & Son. The Boy Was Me.
Revisit this blog often because it updates regularly. The Associated Press Sports Editors writing awards ranked the blog's author a Top 10 national sports columnist in the major-outlet category. Greg is also a regular on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz.
Finding Greg: Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Columns. Podcast. Podcast on Twitter. Podcast on Instagram. LeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).
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