GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND
1) It's MONDAY, DECEMBER 19. Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): NFL Week 15 ;picks, Greg Cote Show podcast, Mount Gregmore of columns.
Note to readers: I have had fewer columns this month because I have lots of vacation time to use before the end of the year. Still doing the blog, NFL picks, QB rankings and Dolphins games, just fewer general columns for now.
GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE WITH DAVE BARRY OUT NOW!: Our 53rd episode of 2022 and 144th overall is out now! New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 144 we've done so far HERE. Our newesy episode welcomes in special guest Dave Barry, the Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist and Miami legend. We chat up his annual Holiday Gift Guide, an array of ho-ho-horrible yet delightful gifts you can still get. Also in the new ep, we discuss the epic World Cup final, the Dolphins' loss in Buffalo and more. Hit up GCS2253 for the full story on latest ep, and watch our weekly YouTube preview. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review and follow. We simulcast on Sirius XM, too, Mondays from 5-6 p.m. ET. Now our podcast has a website and merch store! Check it out at TheGregCoteShow.com and visit store by clicking 'Shop'. New items including Greg's Lobos T-shirts and hats -- and there's a holiday sale going on! Also check out our podcast's YouTube channel.
NFL WEEK 15 PICKS: TONIGHT'S RAMS-PACKERS GAME AND ALL THE REST: Visit NFL Week 15 Gems for all of our latest picks including tonight's Monday game.
MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:
NEW! Dolphins See Playoff Hopes In Peril With 3rd Straight Loss in Buffalo NEW!
Loss In L.A. Puts Pressure on Dolphins -- And Tua -- To Rise Up In Final Month
Griner Freed, But Others Still Held, And WNBA Responsibility Remains
Reality-Check for Dolphins, Tua In San Fran -- But Don't Quit On Miami
Le Batard On New Mas Miami, First DocuSeries -- And Next Big Move
Hilltop: The five columns before that: Miami Needs To Seal Deal On Messi Or It'll Be Fans Who Should Feel Jilted / Dolphins Rout Texans, but How Good Are Fins, Really? We're About To See / Miami Hurricanes End No-Bowl Season 5-7 With Home Rout-Loss To Pitt / Thanksgiving 2022: In Sports As In Life, Little Feeds Spirit Like Gratitude / Canes' 40-0 Loss At Clemson Harsh Measuring-Stick Result For Cristobal. Note: Mount Gregmore includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on newest podcast are not included.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (DECEMBER 18-19): 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. SOCCER: Argentina, Messi rule the World (Cup); After Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 in Saturday's third-place consolation match, we got breakfast in Qatar with the 10 a.m. ET Sunday finale between Lionel Messi's Argentina and the reigning champs, France, with Kylian Mbappe. And it lived up to all hype, Argentina winning on penalty kicks after a 3-3 match to deliver Messi the only trophy his resume' and legacy had been missing.
1a. DOLPHINS: Blown-lead in Buffalo for 3rd straight loss has playoff hopes teetering: At Buffalo on a frigid, snowy December Saturday night seemed like an awful setting for Miami and Tua Tagovailoa to bust lout of their two-game slump. And it proved so in a 32-29 Miami loss, although Fins led 29-21 in the fourth quarter before falling. Fins remain alone in sixth place at 8-6 in the jockeying for seven AFC playoff spots -- but with a trio of 7-6 teams chasing.
3. HEAT: Finally! Miami over .500 after 4-0 road trip: Miami is 16-15 after four straight wins on road, including Thursday's over Houston that saw a career-high 41 points and Heat record-tying 10 3's from Tyler Herro, then a win Saturday at San Antonio. Now it's four straight at home starting Tuesday vs. Chicago. Heat got fined $25,000 by NBA for violating the league's injury reporting rules by failing to disclose an accurate game availability status for several players prior to its game vs. Oklahoma City December 14.
4. PANTHERS: Cats win but face big, bad Boston next: Florida is 15-17 (15-13-4) after Saturday's 4-2 win at New Jersey on Sam Reinhart's two and goals and Sergio Bobrovsky's 29 saves. Cats are back on the ice Monday for a big test at Boston, which has the best record in the NHL.
5. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Gore rises, Gators fall in first wave of bowls: It's nine games in and 34 still to go in bowl season. Notable in the first wave: Florida Gators were embarrassed 30-3 by Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl, and Frank Gore Jr. ran for a bowl-record 329 yards for Southern Mississippi in a 38-24 win over Rice in Mobile, Alalbams.
HB10 cut: No. 25 Hurricanes men's basketball is 10-1 but faces its biggest test yet in hosting No. 2 Virginia Tuesday. The 702 Canes women open their ACC schedule Wednesday at FSU ..... Ten months in Russian captivity will not end Brittney Griner's pro basketball career. Griner, freed last week in a high-level prisoner exchange, said she is "grateful" to be back in the U.S. and planning to be back in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury this coming season ..... An autopsy revealed soccer journalist Grant Wahl died from a ruptured aortic aneurysm while covering he World Cup. There was no foul play ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,268 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.
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ARCHIVES
Thank you!: Was honored to have again been named by Associated Press Sports Editors as national Top 10 columnist for 2021 in '22 judging. The four nominated columns that won: 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? Behind who Aubrey Huff became and Dolphins sabotaging Tua with interest in Watson
Select other recent columns: Jimmy Johnson Had To Give Up Football To Get His Life Back / R.I.P. Chuck Carr: Remembering Marlins' Speedy First Star / Dolphins At 7-3: It's Beginning To Feel A Little Bit Magical Around Here / Canes' Easy Win At Georgia Tech A Late Lift On Down Year For Cristobal, UM / Dare To Dream, Dolphins Fans. Why Miami Is a Legit Super Bowl Contender / Shula To Miami And 17-0 Should Not Have Happened. It Was Luck ... Or Fate / Kyrie Irving's Anti-Semitism Mess Bigger Than Him. It's Symptom Of What Ails America / Shootout Win In Chicago Shows Dolphins Are What They Haven't Been in Years: Exciting / Canes Are No-Shows in 45-3 Home Loss To FSU In Latest New Low For Cristobal / Has Dolphins' Trade For Chubb Sent Team's Super Bowl Shot 'To The Moon'? / Pawns Chasing Saudi Blood Money Come To Doral As LIV Golf Ends 1st Season / Epic New Low For Cristobal: 8 Turnovers in 45-21 Home Loss To Duke / Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat Disappoint In Season-Opening Home Loss / Csonka, ‘Heart’ Of Dolphins Glory Days, On Life Of Adventure — And Perfection / Canes Lose ACC Opener, Fall To 2-3 As Misery Continues For Mario Cristobal / Five Years In, Miami Marlins Rebuild Isn't Working. Here Is The Solution / Dolphins Fall In Cincy, But Tua Hospitalized Puts Result In Perspective / No. 1 Dolphins, Fans Bask in National Attention, Ditch 20 Years' Irrelevance / Gamble Of Inaction: 5 Answers Will Judge Heat's Quiet Offseason / What's Going On Here!? Dolphins Beat Rival Bills, Improve to 3-0 / Cristobal Honeymoon Ends With Thud As Canes Lose To Middle Tennessee / Zero To Perfect: How Glory Days Dolphins Put Miami on National Sports Map / Our 2022 NFL Team Ranking. Wait. Miami Dolphins Are WHERE!? / Why Hill & Waddle Are Dolphins' Best WR Duo Since Clayton/Duper / UM's Van Dyke Had Epic Year. Now His Encore Will Define Start Of Cristobal Era / Serena's Week At U.S. Open One For Ages As Tennis' Queen GOAT Defies Time / Tribute: Community Was One Place Dolphins Won Big -- Because of Jason Jenkins / Watson Punishment Will Go Way Beyond HIs Extended NFL Suspension / Butch Davis On Retiring, His 50-Year Career -- & Canes Twice Almost Bringing Him Back / Miami Raised Mario Cristobal. Payback? Come Home & Make Canes Football Matter Again / Ross NFL Cheating Scandal A New Low For Owner Who Embarrasses Dolphins / 11 NBA Titles Not Where Bill Russell's Legacy Starts. Tribute To An Epic Life / Ranking South Florida's Top 20 Biggest Sports Stars (2022 Edition) / If Miami Marlins Trading For Juan Soto Sounds Laughable -- That's The Problem / Dolphins' Tua: The Disrespected Underdog QB About To Prove Everybody Wrong / How Matthew Tkachuk Brings Needed Swagger, Bravado To Panthers / How Messi-to-Miami Became the Biggest, Longest Tease In Sports / Cy Young Alert: Marlins' Ace-On-Fire Sandy Alcantara Does It Again / The End Isn't Here, But It's Coming. Miami Sports Has Had Nobody Like Heat's Pat Riley / Title IX Empowered Women. The Supreme Court Has Done The Opposite / Why'd World Cup pick Miami? Thank Dolphins Founder & Unlikely Soccer Visionary Joe Robbie / Whatever Happened To Don King? Famed Boxing Promoter Back At 90 For Last Bow in Miami / A Lesson In Sioux City: Sports And Real Life In Age Of Mass Shootings / ‘Centerpiece of futbol in world’: Dream is green-lit. Now can Inter Miami deliver? / Could Have Died. Nearly Lost a Leg. Tiger Playing Masters Means He's Already Won / Marlins Owner Sherman Said He'd Spend. Payroll Says It Hasn't Been Enough / Crushing End Short Of Final Four, But Miami Hurricanes' NCAA Run Was Exhilarating Milestone / Tyreek Hill Trade, Terron Armstead Signing A Win-Now Power Play By Dolphins / When Spoelstra Joined Heat's 'Inner Circle' And Became Riley's Next Coach / Why Brittney Griner Is Lost In Russia / Top 15 Figures (Non-Athletes) In Miami Sports History / Hall of Fame Keeps Saying No, But Zach Thomas Keeps Feeling Gratitude / McDaniel Overcame Much In Own Life, Now Must Overcome Dolphins' Turmoil And Win / An Inside Preview Of Le Batard Show's Upcoming Musical. Yes, Musical / Ross Should Be Done As Fins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True / 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 / 50 Years At the Herald For Me -- And a Lifetime Of Gratitude / Dolphins Fans, Ex-Players Gather For Emotional Farewell to Don Shula, Father of the Glory Days / Fairy Tale With Wrong Ending: Remembering Jose Fernandez 5 Years Later / 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 / Nassib Coming Out As Gay NFL Player A Milestone In Sports History / In History And In Hearts, Howard Schnellenberger Will Matter For All Time / Reality, Loss, Comeback: How Sports Has Been Guiding Light In America's Awful Past Year / Time-Travelling To 1960s And Childhood, When The Baseball Card Was King / 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 2021 writing awards again ranked the blog's author a Top 10 national sports columnist in '22 voting 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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