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

1) It's SATURDAY, JANUARY 29. I was back on Le Batard Show this week -- a new Back In My Day in hand. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, new Greg Cote Show podcast.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NFL! ROBOT UMPIRE! M&M SCANDAL! NEW EPISODE OUT NOW: Our 5th episode of 2022 and 96th 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 96 we've done so far HERE, free. In our brand new episode, Chris and Greg exalt over the NFL's most exciting playoff weekend ever, and have an exclusive 1-on-1 chat with a Robot Umpire. Also in the new ep: Bomb dog retires;  M&Ms scandal; Greg apologizes to Newlywed Mark for referring to a part of his wedding as a 'nightmare' on Le Batard Show; Yeti reports live from a hospital bed. 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).

NFL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND PLAYOFF PICKS: 4 TEAMS LEFT. 2 SUPER BOWL TICKETS. HERE'S WHO's GOING: Had a rough week in the Divisional Round and a perfect example of our luck was Bills blowing that lead (and a win for me) with 13 seconds left. Oh well. Move on. Finish strong. Our picks for Sunday's Bengals-Chiefs AFC Championship Game and 49ers-Rams NFC title game: NFL Championship Playoff Gems. Previous: NFL Divisional Playoff Gems, NFL Wild-Card Playoff Gems.

LIKE HIM OR DON'T, ANTONIO BROWN NOT ALWAYS TO BLAME -- AND WASN'T IN BUCS DIVORCE: The most memorable, talked-about play of this NFL season — the one that didn’t happen on the field — lives on. It does so in the legal action being pursued. It does so in the wondering whether Tom Brady and Tampa Bay might be playing Sunday, still chasing a second straight Super Bowl win, if it hadn’t happened. The spectacle resonates, too, because it dances on the periphery of the brain trauma football can cause, and the discussion of mental health becoming more and more open in sports. And in the altogether unsurprising idea that a head coach might sometimes place winning ahead of a player’s health on his list of priorities. I know: Antonio Brown is easy to dislike, largely through his own actions through the years. No dispute. But it doesn’t means he’s wrong here. “The trigger was telling me I’m not allowed to feel pain,” he said. “I acknowledge my past. But that doesn’t make me a second-class citizen. My past does not forfeit my right to be heard when I am in pain.” Today Brown is 33 and at least temporarily unemployed, turning 34 when training camps start this summer. Today he is a man still trying to explain why, during a game few weeks ago, Bucs at Jets, Brown abruptly left the bench in anger, peeled off his jersey and pads, tossed them into the crowd, put up a peace sign with his fingers, and trotted off, turning his back on his team, profession and the NFL. For our full latest column, visit 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: David “Big Papi” Ortiz, Boston Red Sox icon and one of four men in MLB history to hit 500 home runs and win three World Series, was elected Tuesday into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with distinction as a first-ballot honoree. It wasn’t the biggest news to come out of the announcement. This was: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens -- arguably the greatest hitter and pitcher to ever play the game -- were denied the Hall in their 10th and final year of eligibility to appear on the ballot. And Miami-raised Alex Rodriguez was dealt a massive rebuke in his first year of eligibility, despite career numbers that by themselves suggested he might sail into Cooperstown in a landslide vote. Baseball’s Steroids Era lives on. It is still taking names and meting out punishments. Lifetime sentences, apparently. That Bonds and Clemens were turned away for the 10th year in a row defies fair logic and conveys a vindictiveness that does not serve well either MLB, the Hall of Fame or the voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, of whom I am one -- proudly, usually, but less so as the 2022 class was announced. For our full recent column, visit Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemsn A Shame on Voters, Baseball. 

MAHOMES-ALLEN AIR SHOW A FACE-SLAP REMINDER HOW FAR DOLPHINS, TUA STILL HAVE TO GO: We watch NFL games through our own prism, right? From the vantage of how our own team compares. For a Miami Dolphins fan this exercise is called “torture.” But never quite like it was Sunday night, in the astounding crescendo to the single greatest weekend in the league’s playoff history -- led by an epic duel between Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills offenses were unstoppable in the hands of two premier quarterbacks who took mere seconds to trade points until finally Mahomes and the Chiefs prevailed in overtime 42-36. It was the greatest possible advertisement for the NFL. But from where Miami sits, alas, Sunday night was depressing. Sobering. Enough to make a Dolfan set the alarm for around 2034, which might be about when the two quarterbacks now most in their way are finally retired or at least in decline. Mahomes is 26. Allen is 25. And there is not a single Chiefs or Bills fan today — not one, anywhere — wondering if their team has the right quarterback. If he’s good enough or maybe possibly someday could be. Allen pilots the new king of the AFC East, Miami's division. Mahomes leads the king of the AFC, Miami’s conference. These are the two quarterbacks, and teams, the Dolphins have to figure out how to be better than for any chance to reach the Super Bowl in the foreseeable future. For our full recent column, visit Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be.

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

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

1) It's SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 2022. HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2) R.I.P. Betty White, gone on New Year's Eve. She missed 100 by 18 days. 3) R.I.P., John Madden. A football legend in so many ways. Had a chance to interview him once many years ago and he could not have been more generous or giving of his time. 4) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 5) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, NFL Week 16 picks, Greg Cote Show podcast.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: SPECIAL EPISODE WITH BELOVED HUMORIST DAVE BARRY OUT NOW!: Our 49th episode of 2021 and 91st overall is out now -- and it's must-hear special. A new pod drops Mondays at 7 ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all 91 we've done so far HERE, free. In our latest episode: Pulitzer Prize-winning author and humorist Dave Barry (pictured) joins us for a lengthy conversation ranging from the inanity of his 2021 Holiday Gift Guide to a serious talk about some of the personal tragedy he's lived through and how that has influenced his humor. Also in the new episode: My Dolphins Christmas song, Fins' winning streak, Greg's Lobos update 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). We're taking the holiday week off -- no new episode out this week -- so it's the perfect time to catch up on our latest episode or back catalog!

NFL WEEK 17 PICKS: DOLPHINS-TITANS, 2 BIG UPSETS, ALL THE REST: Our second-half heater resumed in Week 16 as went a big 12-4 overall and a solid 10-6 against the spread. Nailed Titans’ upset of Niners and Colts’ miniupset of Cards, and also had Lions-with-points covering at Atlanta. Had some bad luck related to the fact our picks are locked in on Thursdays. That has hurt us some related to Covid protocols and also injuries, such as Lamar Jackson still with a shot to play when we picked last week. Anyhow, no excuses. With two weeks to go our overall season total has risen and our number against the Evil Betting Line is now above what it was a year ago. Time to finish strong! This week we call two more outright upsets. For those, our Game of the Week, our pick for Dolphins-Titans and all the rest, visit NFL Week 17 Gems.

A BASEBALL HALL OF FAME VOTER (ME) EXPLAINS HIS 2022 BALLOT: The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, is a quaint place lost in time. It’s a village with an estimated 1,750 people actually living there. It is a Norman Rockwell painting. You aren’t sure what decade you’re in. The Hall’s address is Main Street, although that might have gone without saying. Getting into the Hall of Fame is rather a quaint process, too. As if the Internet did not yet exist. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America mails the latest ballot every December to the 440 voting members — I am honored to be one — and they are due back by December 31. You fill out the paper ballot by hand. Old school, a self-addressed, stamped return envelope is included. For 53 cents (pre-paid), my ballot is mailed to an address in Bayside, New York, an upscale neighborhood in Queens, where a BBWAA official will count them by hand. Results will be announced January 25 and the 2022 induction held July 24. But who gets into sports’ most famous Hall of Fame and why — that is not simple, or quaint. Used to be, before steroids, when a voter had the luxury of just crunching stats, but all that changed with performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and their great influence over said stats. I reveal and discuss my 2022 ballot in my latest column. This is the final year for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens' eligibility and the first for Alex Rodriguez (pictured), so the vote will be under particular scrutiny. For my full column, visit: Revealing And Discussing My 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot.

Column off Georgia's Orange Bowl rout of Michigan: Georgia Wins 88th Orange Bowl. The Bad News? 'Bama Is Next.

Column off Dolphins' Monday night win: Hey, America, After 7th Straight Win, Do Miami Dolphins Have Your Attention Yet? 

Most recent other columns: Duuuuuke Lifts Fins to 6th Straight Win, .500 / Canes Land Grand Prize In Cristobal, So No Excuses Left. New Glory Days A Must / 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 / 50 Years At the Herald For Me -- And a Lifetime Of Gratitude

(*) OUR PICKS: BIG WEEK AS STRONG FINISH CONTINUES: Our recent hot streak resumed in Week 16 as went a big 12-4 overall and a solid 10-6 against the spread. Nailed Titans' upset of Niners  and Colts' miniupset of Cards, and also had Lions-with-points covering at Atlanta. Had some bad luck with timing of Covid stuff (our picks are in on Thursdays), but still did well overall.

(*) GREG'S LOBOS: A WIN SENDS US ONTO THE CHAMPIOSNHIP GAME!: After a first-round playoff bye the Lobos won big in the semifinal game last week, 139-121, over my nephew Joe, led by 40 points from Joe Burrow, a last-minute sub for injured Lamar Jackson. We are now in the championship game of PFPI Fantasy, our 10-team friends 'n family league. My opponent? Eldest son Christopher. He's going for his third league title and me my first. Go Dad!

(*) HERALD NFL QB RANKINGS: BURROW SOARS TO SEASON-BEST WEEK: Cincinnati's Joe Burrow wins Week 16 with a season-best 71.25-point game and Tampa's Tom Brady grows his overall lead in the Miami Herald's updated rankings. Details and the latest Top 25: NFL Week 16 QB Rankings.

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

1) It's SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27. HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEKEND! Hope y'all had a glorious Bird Day! 2) I was back on the Le Batard Show with a soup recipe Tuesday. Check out that day's show podcasts. 3) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, new Greg Cote Show podcast, NFL Week 11 picks, columns off Dolphins and Canes wins & more.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: WORST THANKSGIVING FOODS, DOLPHINS' NO. 1 FAN! NEW EPISODE OUT NOW: Our 45th episode of 2021 and 87th overall is out now! 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 87 we've done HERE, free. In our newest episode: Meet orange-bearded Marc Angelo, the Miam Dolphins' nominee for 2021 NFL Fan of the Year. And Greg, Chris and Yeti share their picks for worst Thanksgiving foods -- the ones that should be kicked off the table. Plus, Chris' empty bags vs. Greg's umbrella misuse; Chris rips Scottie Pippen, Dolphins keep rollin', Lobos update and Quirk Line for you to call in. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Most podcasts are off this week for the holiday. NOT US!!! Please listen, rate, review and follow. (Our pod simulcasts on Sirius XM every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET).

OUR NFL WEEK 12 PICKS!: Might not seem like it but this was the 16th year of Thanksgiving Day tripleheaders as Americans competed to see what they would be more full of come midnight: food, or football. The NFL has wrapped itself in the holiday since 1925, and the 1934 Bird Day game was the first to be broadcast nationally. Traditional host Detroit played in its 82nd game on the holiday, and Dallas hosted for the 44th straight year. Chicago made its 37th Thanksgiving appearance, Buffalo its 10th, the Raiders their eighth and New Orleans its fourth. Got all that? Quiz in the morning. We did lousy on our Bird Day picks, going 1-2 overall (got Buffalo's win) and 1-2 against the spread (got Detroit's cover). Hope we do better with the main schedule ahead. For all of this week's pick, visit NFL Week 12 Gems.

THIS THANKSGIVING MARKS 50 YEARS AT THE HERALD FOR US. AND A LIFETIME OF GRATITUDE: My mentor on these pages, the great Edwin Pope, left us almost five years ago at age 88. He used to write these heartfelt Thanksgiving columns every year that (full disclosure) made some of the younger writers roll our eyes a little bit. We loved and admired our leader so much, and yet we would smirk. We called these his annual “smell of new-mown grass” columns. The cynic would delight to note that the fresh-cut lawn scent we all know actually is produced by molecules released when plants including grass are damaged by insects, disease or other forces — like lawnmower blades. In effect, that pleasant smell is your lawn screaming it has just been cut in half. But I digress. The point is: Edwin had it exactly right. You appreciate the little things. You don’t overanalyze. You let your heart lead you to where your thankfulness and gratitude should go. You have faith it it will steer you right. I love Thanksgiving for the family and food and football, but mostly because it is the one holiday whose reason for being is to encourage that we stop, pause, reflect and appreciate. That can be tough at times. We have been surrounded by so much the past couple of years. The horrific COVID-19 pandemic we are still trying to get free of. The racial injustice and national discord that has turned civil to vile. Just Monday we awakened to the terrible headline involving a deranged SUV driver and a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The antidote is in the smile of my first grandchild, in her laughter and dance. She is not quite 4, and everything good and hopeful about the world and future radiate from her. She calls me “Pop.” I melt. For my full latest column -- a very personal one on a very special week: 50 Years At the Herald For Me -- And a Lifetime Of Gratitude.

Our other most recent columns: They're Alive! Dolphins, Tua Beat Jets For 3rd Straight As Revival Continues / and Diaz Smiles Through Rain & Pain As Canes Win,  Reach Bowl Game He May Not Be Around To Coach. Also: Hurricanes, Too Beholden to Past and UM Family, Need to Go Outside for new AD Hire / UM And Blake James Parted Ways With Class -- Which Butch Davis Didn't Get From FIU / and How Miami Dolphins Are Poised to Transform Their 1-7 Start Into Playoff Contention.

NFL WEEK 11 RESULTS:

(*) OUR PICKS: A STRONG WEEK BOTH WAYS FOR US: A down season for us so far, but an uplifting Week 11 both ways as we went 10-5 straght-up and 9-6 against the spread. That included a third straight bull's-eye on our Upset of the Week with Washington winning at Panthers, along with three other 'dogs-with-points covers.

(*) GREG'S LOBOS: LEAGUE-LEADING AND A 5TH STRAIGHT WIN!: The close games keep going our way. Lobos won 99-97 last week over Christie (Chris's wife), led by 21 points from Keenan Allen and 20 from Mike Evans. We are now 9-2 after five straight wins and alone in first place in the PFPI Fantasy regular season, our 10-team friends 'n family league, with three weeks left in the regular season.

(*) HERALD NFL QB RANKINGS: McCOY, BRADY AND TUA ON THE MARQUEE: Cardinals backup Colt McCoy wins Week 11 honors, the Bucs' Tom Brady maintains the No.1 spot overall, and Do,lphin Tua Tagovailao leaps five big spots in the Herald's updated rankings. Details and the latest Top 20: NFL Week 11 QB Rankings.

xxx

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

1) It's SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30. We were back in-studio with Le Batard Show this week. Check out Tuesday's show podcasts. 3) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Fins lose 6th stright, Canes and Diaz get huge win, new Greg Cote Show podcast & more.

Canes at Pitt. Column coming:UM at Pittsburgh today for a noon kickoff. Watch for my column off the game online today soon after game edns (estimate 4 p.m.) and Sunday in print.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 41st episode of 2021 and 83rd overall is out now! 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. You can find all 83 we've done HERE, free. In our new episode: Amin El Hassan (pictured) and Juju Gotti sit in with us as we discuss sports, bad acting and lots more. Also, Chris takes us around the world drinking, latest Hard Knocks/Greg's Lobos episode, Yeti debuts a new rap parody song, 'Breakfast Flan,' 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).

NFL WEEK 8 PICKS: DOLPHINS-BILLS, GAME OF WEEK, UPSETS AND ALL THE REST: We pivot to NFL Week 8 and our picks for Dolphins-Bills, our Game of the Week and Upset of the Week along with an additional upset and all the rest. Got off to a mixed start Thursday night. Lost the pick outright with Arizona losing but nailed it against the spread because we had Green Bay covering. For all of our latest picks: NFL Week 8 Gems.

QUENNEVILLE OUT AS PANTHERS COACH -- DESERVEDLY -- OVER ROLE IN 2010 CHICAGO SCANDAL. NEW COLUMN: The past was rushing in on Joel Quenneville, and it was taking dead aim. It was coming hard enough that it looked like it might end his time with the Florida Panthers and his storied career in the National Hockey League. And that it should have. And now, it has. This controversy pointed Quenneville — second in all-time NHL coaching victories — to being fired by the Panthers, or allowed to resign. Or to an NHL suspension, or banishment. On Thursday night, at about 9:45, the Panthers announced he had resigned. He was given that courtesy, rather than being fired. Assistant coach Andrew Brunette will serve as the interim coach, a source told the Miami Herald. In any case the end was just. Quenneville, 11 years ago, took no action when a former player of his alleged a sexual assault by a member of his coaching staff. This was the biggest scandal involving a sitting head coach of a South Florida professional sports team. Thursday night the Panthers aimed to put it in the past by parting ways with their star coach. What engulfed Quenneville, 63, happened in Chicago in 2010 and had nothing to do, then, with the Florida Panthers. Oh, but it did now. Because Quenneville was the Panthers coach now, in his third season here. And the long-secret mess he was implicated in was interrupting Florida’s dream season with a bombshell nightmare. Fo our full latest column, visit Quenneville Rightly Sacked as Panthers Coach Over 2010 Chicago Scandal.

DOLPHINS SABOTAGING TUA, THIS SEASON WITH MISGUIDED INFATUATION OVER WATSON: Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, in 2011, surreptitiously flew into San Francisco on his private jet to meet with and woo coach Jim Harbaugh. One problem: Ross already had a coach, Tony Sparano, under contract. Word got out, as secrets often do. The Fins got shafted by Harbaugh, who signed with the 49ers. An embarrassed, bitterly angry Sparano stayed. Ross, then a fairly new NFL owner, had to apologize. Ten years later, Ross’ Dolphins are engaging in the same kind of secretive-but-not-really display of classlessness — only this is far worse. Then, the targeted prize, Harbaugh, was a coveted free agent coach who had just led Stanford to an Orange Bowl win. All it took to get him was money. Now, the “prize” is Deshaun Watson. All it will take to get him is a ton of money, a future-crippling three first-round draft picks and more, and the hope he doesn’t end up in jail or serving a lengthy league suspension. Then, the victim of Ross’ dubious ethic was Sparano, a journeyman coach who’d had two straight losing seasons. Now, the victim is Tua Tagovailoa, the young quarterback of great, budding promise. The No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 Draft. A guy who in the past two games has completed 65 f 87 passes for 620 yards and six touchdowns — despite the surrounding megadistraction of his team’s blatant pursuit of Watson. What a [bleep]ing mess. A debacle. A national embarrassment. For our full recent column, visit Dolphins A National Embarrassment With Sabotaging Of Tua Over Infatuations With Watson.

TOP 10 WAYS DOLPHINS' TUA TAGOVAILOA IS UNLUCKIEST MAN ON EARTH: When one Googles the phrase, “life is not fair,” a picture of Tua Tagovailoa should appear. His given first name is Tuanigamanuolepola. It must be Samoan for “cursed and luckless.” As his Miami Dolphins languish at 1-6 after six consecutive losses and reports swirl that the team already is shopping for his replacement, here are the 10 ways Tagovailoa is the unluckiest man on Earth. Or at least in the NFL. The collective weight of them is the boulder he drags, but we’ll rank, because people like a list. (Love the David Santiago photo here, by the way). For our full recent column including the Top 10 list, visit As Dolphins' Dysfunction Surrounds Him, 10 Ways Tua Is The Unluckiest Man On Earth.

Our other most recent columns:

Dolphins: Tua Shuts Off Noise, Throws 4 TDs, But It Still Isn't Enough.

Hurricanes: Canes, Embattled Diaz Show The Fight Left In Them.

Heat: State of the Art: Heat, Miami's Best-Run Franchise, Sails In Opener,

Panthers: 'Time to Hunt': Cats' Hyped Season Off to Wild, Winning Start.

NFL WEEK 7 RESULTS:

(*) OUR PICKS: AWFUL ... AND REALLY GOOD: The awful: A 6-7 mark overall, sub-.500 straight-up an historical rarity for us. The really good: 8-4-1 against the spread. On four outright misses we correctly had the 'dogs covering: Dolphins, Titans, Colts and Seahawks. (The push/tie was Browns winning by 3).

(*) GREG'S LOBOS: ANOTHER WIN ... BUT BARELY: Lobos won 134-133 over my wife (uh oh) to make us 5-2 and tied for first place at the midpoint of the PFPI Fantasy regular season, our 10-team friends 'n family league. Got 36 from golden rookie Ja'Marr Chase, 31 from Mike Evans and 22 from Lamar Jackson. Also got lucky: Wife had Alvin Kamara Monday night, but his big 34 fell a couple shy of what she needed.

(*) HERALD NFL QB RANKINGS: CARR WINS, BRADY ON TOP, TUA STILL RISIING: Raiders' Derek Carr wins Week 7 honors, Bucs' Tom Brady holds onto No.1 overall, and Fins' Tua Tagovailoa jumps four more spots in the Herald's updated rankings. Details and the latest Top 20: NFL Week 7 QB Rankings.

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

1) It's SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. Twenty years ago today, the world changed, and an attacked America stood strong. NEVER FORGET! 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): Hot Button Top 10, latest Greg Cote Show podcast, links to newest columns & more.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: TIME TO CATCH UP ON OUR WHOLE CATALOG!: Our 34th episode of 2021 and 76th 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. You can find all 76 we've done HERE, for free. In our most recent episode: Join the Cote family and friends and hear all the fun banter during the PFPI Fantasy Draft featuring Greg's Lobos, and emceed by Greg, followed by a Paella Party. You'll feel like you're there! Also: Greg discusses the Dolphins, and we debut a new song about Greg's Lobos. No new episode this week because we were on vacation. Perfect time to catch up with our whole catalog. Watch for a new episode out September 13! 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 on Channel 145).

NFL Week 1 picks: The Upset Bird and I are back for (hard to believe) our 31st season of NFL picks in the Miami Herald. It's debut week! Visit NFL Week 1 Gems for our pick for Dolphins-Patriots, our Game of the Week, Upset of the Week and all the rest. We peg three big upsets out the gate. Is a Fins win one of them? Got off to a mixed start last week, had Patriots beating Dallas and covering 8 points. They won but failed to cover.

THE BURDEN ON TUA AS DOLPHINS OPEN AT PATRIOTS? LIFT A TEAM, A FRANCHISE, A CITY. NOW: With the Miami Dolphins’ season opener at New England on Sunday we begin to step into an AFC East we haven’t seen since 1985. No current Dolphins player was alive then. Coach Brian Flores was a 4-year-old toddling around Brooklyn. This year,
for the first time since then, four starting quarterbacks in one division are under the age of 26 to open a season, with the Fins’ Tua Tagovailoa at 23 and Pats rookie Mac Jones also 23, along with the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen at 25 and New York Jets rookie Zach Wilson at 22. Last time four starting QBs were under 26 in any NFL division in Week 1 was the AFC East in ‘85. Then it was some 23-year-old guy named Dan Marino in Miami, along with the Pats’ Tony Eason at 25, Jets’ Ken O’Brien at 24 and Colts’ Art Schlichter at 25. (Some divisions including Miami’s were five teams then, before realignment. The Bills’ starter that year, Vince Ferragamo, was 31). This is notable now in a way it wasn’t then because, now, passing rules the NFL. The quarterback is king. And as if we required more evidence, Tom Brady and Dak Prescott on Thursday night combined to complete 74 of 108 passes for 782 yards and seven touchdowns. The running backs were hood ornaments, largely unnecessary. My point in all of this? For Miami to become a power in its division and ultimately a championship contender, Tagovailoa must prove good enough to be as good or better than Allen, Jones and Wilson. Six of 17 games each season (35 percent) will be head-to-head against his instant rivals. And it could be thus for the next 10-plus years. Tagovailoa must prove that, on the franchise-steering night of April 23, 2020, the Dolphins made the right choice in drafting him fifth overall — one spot ahead of the Chargers selecting Justin Herbert. The proving starts late Sunday afternoon in Foxborough, Massachusetts. And the proof must come in 2021, and it must be unequivocal. For our full latest column, visit: Tua's Burden as Dolphins Open at Pats? Lift a Team, a Franchise and a City. Now.

Our football special-section stuff:

Hurricanes: Chasing Giants & Ghosts: Miami Hurricanes' 20-year search for return to glory

Dolphins: Miami Herald's 2021 NFL Team Rankings: You Won't Believe Where Dolphins are 

Other most recent columns: Canes Can Shock the World and Beat Alabama. Here's How [Update: Oops!] / Belichick Must Be Smiling As Dolphins Deal With Rumors And Tua With Doubt / and Fins' Faith In Tua Will Be A Lie If They Sell Soul, Spend Big For Watson. Also: There Is Only One Way an ACC/Big Ten/Pac-12 Alliance Can Out-SEC the SEC / Time to Finally Start Believing in Tua, Flores and Miami Dolphins / 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 / Dolphins' 'Big Picture' Begins To Emerge With Unveiling Of Year 2ua / Unraveled: The Story Behind Who Aubrey Huff Became / and What Lionel Messi's Sudden, Stunning Move Means For Inter Miami

WE'RE BACK FROM OUR WONDERFUL BUT SPECTACULARLY ILL-TIMED VACATION: I say ill-timed because I missed the Canes-Alabama season opener in Atlanta. Then again (caught a bit of the game and saw the final score), what did I really miss except the usual not-there-yet agony? Missed that to spend five recent days funning at various Disney parks in Orlando with my wife, son Christopher, his wife and 3 1/2-year-old daughter, and son Michael and his girlfriend. The seven of us all stayed at the Animal Kingdom hotel, where giraffes, zebra and myriad other animals roamed in our backyard. It was terrific fun. Seeing the joy in my granddaughter's face throughout was the best of it. Although the "Pandora: The World Of Avatar" ride was a close second. It was awesome! So was Space Mountain, but in the terrifying category. Here is the phenomenon of Disney: It's really expensive. It's really, really hot. On a typical day you wait about three hours in lines for about 25 minutes of actual rides. And you love it! We did, anyway. My wife and I hadn't been in about 20 years, and it was fun to go back. Also happy to be home now and back to work. I'll be at the Dolphins' season opener in New England on Sunday. 

PODCAST AND LE BATARD SHOW UPDATES: Because of vacation we did not have a new Greg Cote Show podcast out Monday as usual this week. We'll be back with a new one on September 13. Meantime here is the entire 76-pod catalog so you can listen to our most recent episode, any you may have missed, or relive old favorites. I also expect to be back on the Le Batard Show September 14 in my regular Tuesday slot.

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

1) It's SATURDAY, AUGUST 28. R.I.P., Charlie Watts (pictured), gone at 80. He was the drummer/backbone of the Rolling Stones, the dapper elegance in the maelstrom. 2) I was back on the Le Batard Show on Tuesday for the first time in a few weeks due to a holdout. I would refer to the holdout as suspended, not ended. Still no contract or payment from Meadowlark. 3) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Time to start believing in the Dolphins, new Greg Cote Show podcast & more.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW 'FANTASY FOOTBALL PREPISODE' OUT NOW!: Our 33rd episode of 2021 and 75th 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. You can find all 75 we've done HERE, for free. In our new episode: Hear fantasy football expert Sia Nejad, pictured lower-right (CBS Sports, Sirius XM, Win Daily Sports show) share tips to help your dominate your draft and league. (Can he save Greg's Lobos?) Greg shares detailed update on his holdout from the Le Batard Show. Pet peeves at the roulette table. And two new 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 on Channel 145).

THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY AN ACC/BIG TEN/PAC-12 ALLIANCE CAN OUT-SEC THE SEC. HERE'S THE PLAN: How to summarize the shifting of tectonic plates in the Power 5 college conferences? Here it is in a nutshell (and I use the word with care because this whole thing seems a little nutty): ▪ The Southeastern Conference , already reigning and preening on account of the Alabama dynasty, gets appreciably stronger, more prestigious and richer by poaching traditional powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 effective in 2025 at latest. ▪ The suckerpunched Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten and Pac-12, scrambling in the wake of the SEC’s audacious power grab, meet and quickly form an “alliance” as everybody else scrambles to figure out exactly what that will mean. ▪ The already diminished Big 12, bracing to lose its two biggest football programs and drop to eight schools, and left out of the ACC/Big Ten/Pac-12 alliance, drifts like a forlorn tumbleweed through a ghost town. Is any of this good for college football? No. Instability seldom is. What this is good for is the SEC and its soon-to-be-enriched 16-team super-conference, and everybody else be damned. It’s a time of tumult in college football beyond teams switching conferences. The NCAA oligarchy is losing power by degrees. The NIL law (name, image, likeness) means college athletes can be paid. The College Football Playoff weighs major expansion. So now the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 join hands and start singing “Kumbaya” in a show of solidarity. But why? to what end? For our full latest column, visit There Is Only One Way an ACC/Big Ten/Pac-12 Alliance Can Out-SEC the SEC. 

WHY IT'S TIME TO GO ALL-IN, FINALLY START BELIEVING IN TUA, FLORES AND MIAMI DOLPHINS: Faith can be a tricky thing. Sometimes it takes a leap to get there. Whether it’s falling in love, going all-in on a bet or trusting that this is finally the year for your team, you have to believe in something. Your heart. Your gut. Just a wisp of a feeling. Something. It gets complicated when, for example, your football team has mostly let you down for the past 20 years or so. When your franchise’s best days are your father’s memories, not yours. That is when optimism gets calloused, replaced by cynicism. When the easiest thing to trust is that your team will let you down again. What I am about to say, in this context, comes from both the innately skeptical veteran journalist and from the young boy who attended that first ever home game with his Dad in the Orange Bowl in 1966 — because those two are the same. It is time to start believing in the Miami Dolphins again. Believing that last year’s 10-win season was not a mirage. Believing that Brian Flores is just the right coach. Believing that Tua Tagovailaoa’s doubters are falling away, one by one. Believing that a corner has (finally!) been turned. For our full recent column, visit Time to Finally Start Believing in Tua, Flores and Miami Dolphins.

Other most recent columns: Why Dolphins, Canes Should Be Taking Lead In Requiring Fans To Be COVID-Vaccinated and An Appreciation of Udonis Haslem As He Re-Ups For 19th Heat Season. Also: Dolphins' 'Big Picture' Begins To Emerge With Unveiling Of Year 2 Tua / Unraveled: The Story Behind Who Aubrey Huff Became / and What Lionel Messi's Sudden, Stunning Move Means For Inter Miami.

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

1) It's SATURDAY, AUGUST 21. Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, new Greg Cote Show podcast, recent columns & more.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: GREG TALKS LE BATARD SHOW HOLDOUT ON NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 32nd episode of 2021 and 74th overall is out now! 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. You can find all 74 we've done HERE, for free. In our newest episode: Greg reveals details about his holdout from and future on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz. And, as Greg's Lobos gird for another fantasy football season, we welcome in a special guest named ... Greg Lobo! Also in the new ep: Greg's thoughts on the Dolphins' preseason-opening loss and on Armando Salguero leaving the Miami Herald. Also, a new Mount Gregmore! 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 on Channel 145).

WHY DOLPHINS, HURRICANES SHOULD BE TAKING LEAD IN REQUIRING FANS TO BE COVID-VACCINATED: The NFL’s New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders are the adults in the room at the moment. There is room for others to join them. We are waiting for that. Only those two franchises (so far) will require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for fans to attend games this season. Unvaccinated? Stay home. The Saints and Raiders, at the risk of upsetting some fans, are facing head-on the reality America is facing: A new and deadly surge in the coronavirus pandemic caused by the Delta variant. The Miami Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes, who both play at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, have more cause than most teams to follow suit and require vaccinations for fans to attend games in the season now upon us. Both should. There is no indication either will. And the risk of both teams’ home games becoming super-spreader events among the unvaccinated is real. Brown University School of Public Health’s recent risk assessment research put Florida in the “red” category, the most dangerous of four, with Miami-Dade and Broward counties a major contributor. White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said “one in five [new] cases are occurring in Florida alone.” The school boards of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — more adults in the room — mandated teachers and students wear protective masks for the school year just begun. That’s putting health, safety and children first in direct-but-morally sound opposition to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order banning mask mandates.The Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium (both owned by Stephen Ross) and the Hurricanes have every right — every obligation, I would argue — to welcome in only vaccinated fans if they chose. Instead they will be one of the root causes if we see a further leap in new COVID cases from perhaps thousands of unvaccinated fans among large crowds at games. For our full latest column, visit 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: Sometimes things happen in sports that just make you smile. They aren’t necessarily big things, or major news. But they tug at the heart a little bit. I felt that sentimental pull Sunday night when the Miami Heat announced Udonis Haslem had re-signed for a 19th season to play in the city where he was born and raised. The news was no huge surprise. Neither is sunrise, but it’s still a wonderful thing to behold. When everything around us is changing so fast, there is reassurance in sameness — especially in sports, where athletes spending an entire long career with one franchise is a dying breed. I was 6 years old when my boyhood idol, Carl Yastrzemski, was a Red Sox rookie. When Yaz retired 22 seasons later I was alone in my first apartment watching what everybody knew would be his final game. In his final at-bat, I cried. It felt like a symbolic farewell to my childhood.I was 15 when Don Shula arrived in Miami. I turned 40 and was a father of two when he left. That kind of same-city longevity doesn’t happen in sports anymore. But it s happening with the Heat and U.D. For our full recent column, visit An Appreciation of Udonis Haslem As He Re-Ups For 19th Heat Season.

Most recent other columns: Dolphins' 'Big Picture' Begins To Emerge With Unveiling Of Year 2 Tua / Unraveled: The Story Behind Who Aubrey Huff Became / and What Lionel Messi's Sudden, Stunning Move Means For Inter Miami.

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

1) It's SATURDAY, AUGUST 7. I was back on the Le Batard Show this week with a new Back In My Day. Check out Tuesday's show podcasts. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, new Greg Cote Show podcast & more.

Jimmy Johnson X 2: Podcast and column: You'll want to listen and read as we feature the only man to be head coach the Hurricanes and Dolphins on the week of his enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of fame on Saturday. You'll hear plenty in the podcast that isn't in the column, including Jimmy's appraisal of today's Canes and Fins. And you'll read lots in the column that isn't in the podcast -- including Jimmy on the struggles of one of his sons, and an interview with Chad Johnson, the son whose triumph over some 20 years of alcoholism helped repair a family and make this the happiest time of Jimmy's life.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE WITH JIMMY JOHNSON OUT NOW!: Our 30th episode of 2021 and 72nd overall is out now! 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. You can find all 72 we've done so far HERE, for free. In our newest episode: The great former coach Jimmy Johnson, on the week of his enshrinement into the Pro Footballl Hall of Fame, joins us for a fun, candid and at times poignant reflection on his passions: Football, family, fishing and Fox. We also ask J.J. for an appraisal of Manny Diaz and the Canes and Brian Flores and the Dolphins. Also in the new ep: Greg, Chris and Yeti discuss the small details of any marriage or relationship. Also: Simone BIles, MLB trade deadline and NBA free agency and the Heat. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, rate, review and follow! (Our pod simulcasts on Sirius XM, too, every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET on Channel 145).

HALL OF FAMER JIMMY JOHNSON KNOWS BIGGEST VICTORY OF HIS LIFE HAPPENED IN HIS OWN FAMILY: He is up in the dark at 4:30 most mornings. By sunrise he is aboard his 39-foot SeaVee, “Three Rings,” named for his national championship with the Miami Hurricanes and two Super Bowl wins with the Dallas Cowboys. Jimmy Johnson is usually alone. “If I’m out there by myself there’s no pressure to catch any fish,” he says, smiling. “If I entertain people I feel kind of obligated to catch a big fish for ‘em.” He fires up the diesel engines and heads maybe 25 miles offshore as the sun is chasing the dark away. Before long he will have five active lines out in search of mahi (“What they call dolphin down here”), tuna, maybe amberjack or wahoo — “Whatever gets on the hook,” he says. Jimmy’s fishing bona fides are for real. He has caught and released five huge blue marlin in the 300-pound range, some after near two-hour struggles. He hosts the annual J.J.’s Championship Fishing Week that has included Michael Jordan among anglers. His house includes a separate room full of offshore-grade rods and reels and plastic boxes full of lures and hand-tied rigs. He cleans and vacuum-seals his own fish. (Doesn’t cook ‘em, though. His wife Rhonda handles that).But Johnson’s passion for fishing isn’t just about what he catches. He is out there fishing for more than that. “It’s peaceful out there,” he says. “It’s relaxation.” It gives a man time to think. He just turned 78. It can be an age that invites reflection. Johnson reaches the pinnacle of his professional life this coming weekend: the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The enshrinement ceremony for the Class of 2020, delayed to this summer by the pandemic, is on Saturday. More important, this feels to Johnson like the best his life has been, period, above and beyond sports or the fame he achieved in football or for the past 20 years as a studio analyst on “FOX NFL Sunday.” “I used to say the most fun time of my life was was those five years at the University if Miami. It was that way for a long time,” he says. “Winning back-to-back Super Bowls was rewarding as well. But, really, the greatest time of my life is now. The most fun time of my life has been right now.” It wasn’t football that got him to this place. It wasn’t fishing, or Fox TV. It was family. Johnson in reflection knows it was at great cost he achieved all he did in football. A divorce. Missing so much of his two sons growing up. Being far away, in headsets on sidelines, as his parents aged and passed away. Even the most successful people can feel tinges of guilt or regret. For our full latest column, visit Biggest Victory Of Hall Of Famer Jimmy Johnson's Life Was Getting His Son Back. Pictured: Jimmy out fishing with his son Chad.

Our Hurricanes' Edgerrin James to Canton column.

Our most recent other columns: Xavien Howard Right To Feel Disrespected, And Dolphins Need To Fix This Mess / Biles' Withdrawal For Mental-Health Reasons Merits Empathy, Not Scorn / and Top 10 NFL Storylines Entering Training Camp (Where's Tua?).

Other recent columns: 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 / It's Selfish, Me-First Athletes Who Are Refusing the COVID Vaccine / Hot Seat Scale: Ranking Miami's Biggest Coaches By Most to Least Job Security / Peril vs. Possibility: Should the Heat Gamble and Try to Fix Ben Simmons? / Tokyo Olympics Should Be Delayed Again But It's Too Late. Why? Money / 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 / Time For Sports To Quit Hiding, Stand Up And Lead The Pro-Vaccine Fight / and Nassib Coming Out As Gay NFL Player A Milestone In Sports History.

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

1) It's SATURDAY, MAY 29. Check out Tuesday's Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz podcasts for way too much of me, including (improbably) my belly button. 2) The Greg Cote Show podcast is now separately on Twitter and Instagram. Join us on both! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Heat and Panthers playoffs, new episode of Greg Cote Show podcast, Happy birthday Bob Dylan & more. 4) Join me on Twitter and Instagram. 

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: INTERACTIVE MAIL SACK IN LATEST EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 20th episode of 2021 and 62nd overall is out now. 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. You can find all 62 HERE for free. Our latest episode features a fun, interactive Greg's Mail Sack in which listeners ask questions on the air. Also, Greg says don't count out Panthers, even down 3-1, and talks Heat. Some Phil and Tebow chatter, too. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, rate, review and follow! (Our pod now simulcasts on Sirius XM, too, every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET on Channel 145).

PLAYOFFS IN SOUTH FLORIDA: CATS OUT, HEAT ALL BUT

Heat get swept in best-of-7 for only 2nd time ever -- Coming off a 34-point loss in Milwaukee in their NBA first round playoff series, the Heat returned home and lost by "only" 29 Thursday night. Miami was in deep trouble in a 3-0 series hole and needed today/Saturday to avoid being swept. They did not, in a 120-103 home loss. My column from the Game 4 loss: Swept! Heat, With No Answers, Lose Game 4 At Home To Bucks.

Panthers done and out with Game 6 loss in Tampa -- Florida fell 4-0 in Tampa on Wednesday night to exit the NH playoffs with a 4-2 series loss to the Lightning, in an unfortunately harsh first-round matchup for Florida. No Game 7 now, just an offseason to try to figure out how to get a good team great. My column off the game: Another Early Panthers Playoff Exit Ends An Encouraging Season Too Soon.

Other Heat/Panthers playoff run columns: Heat Fans Showed Up For Game 3. Their Team Did Not / Time For Heat Fans To Help Lift Their Team Back Into This Series / Heat Fall, Panthers Need Miracle On Ice As Both Lose On Big Day for Miami Sports / Panthers, Hopes Of Fans In Peril After Game 2 Loss, 2-0 Series Hole / Chasing Respect, Florida Panthers' 5-4 Home Loss A Crushing Start to Playoffs / and This Looks Like Best Florida Panthers Team Ever. But The Proving Starts Now 

Other most recent columns: Hall of Fame Snubbed Chris Bosh Last year. Time To Make it Right /Aging Ex-Dolphins Reflect On Own Mortality One Year After Shula's Death / Aaron Rodgers' Packers Drama Involves Miami (Of Course). But Here's Why It Won't Happen / and Grade-A Draft Feeds Momentum For Team-On-the-Rise Dolphins.

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Select other recent columns: Talk Of U.S. Olympic Boycott A Reminder Sports, Politics Are Entwined -- And That's Good / How And Why the Miami Heat Landing Kawhi Leonard This Summer Could Happen / The Miami Dolphins' Six Can't-Lose Options For a Great No. 6 Pick in NFL Draft / Even After Playoffs In '20, Marlins Still 'Bottom Feeders' Fighting For Respect / Special Opening Day as Marlins Welcome Back Fans, Feeling Of Hope / In History And In Hearts, Howard Schnellenberger Will Matter For All Time / Beckham Keeps Name-Dropping Messi, Ronaldo For Inter Miami. Can He Deliver? / Women Keep Accusing Deshaun Watson of Sexual Misconduct. But Will It Matter to NFL Teams? / No-Splash Free Agency Indicates Dolphins Going All In On Upcoming Draft -- And Tua / Phil Reflects on 25-Year Rivalry/Friendship With Tiger As Honda Classic Tees Off / Reality, Loss, Comeback: How Sports Has Been Guiding Light In America's Awful Past Year / Heat Should Parts Ways With Meyers Leonard Over Anti-Semitic Slur / 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 / Quit Lecturing LeBron On Activism And His Own Conscience / Michael Jordan, Pitbull Signal Needed New Era as NASCAR Returns to Homestead / Doesn't Matter If Tiger Woods Never Wins Again. We Are Lucky He's Alive / Loss at Aussie Open Leaves Serena's Legacy Firm Yet Still Unfinished / Marlins Stick With Youth As Rest Of NL East Spends Big / Inter Miami's Beckham Risks Stepping Into Massive, Avoidable Mess / Put Brady In Sports' All-Time Pantheon. But He Has Company / 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.

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

1) It's SATURDAY, APRIL 17. We were back on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz on Tuesday. Find that day's show podcasts, including a new Back In My Day. One of the reasons I love being on Dan's show is the fans. They are super loyal, engaged and talented. Example: Dan jokes on-air that I should adopt a royal persona and walk into press boxes carrying a scepter. So a bunch of stuff related to that turns up online including the photo shown. So sublimely ridiculous. Love it. 2) The Greg Cote Show podcast is now separately on Twitter and Instagram. Join us on both! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top10, Greg Cote Show podcast with Dave Parker and Roy Bellamy & more. 4) Join me on Twitter and Instagram.

Song of the Week: "Chosen Family," Rina Sawayama with Elton John.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE WITH DAVE PARKER, ROY BELLAMY OUT NOW!: Our 15th podcast of 2021 (57th overall) is out now! 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. You can find all 57 we've done HERE for free. In our new Ep15 we welcome in two special guests: Former Pittsburgh Pirates star Dave Parker (pictured in his swaggery days), and, from the Le Batard Show, Roy Bellamy. Parker has a new autobiography out and he speaks about being denied the Hall of Fame, his fight with Parkinson's disease and more. And get to know the inscrutable Bellamy in a fun chat about his bucket list, what scares him and more. (And do we get Roy to sing? Find out). Also: The Mount Gregmore of all-time best food genres and dishes. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, subscribe, rate and review! (Our pod now simulcasts on Sirius XM, every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET on Channel 145).

SOMBER SURROUNDINGS FOR JACKIE ROBINSON DAY '21. NEW COLUMN: Jackie Robinson would be 102 years old today, had fate given him a longevity of life to approach the importance and magnitude of the one he led. Instead he died much too soon, at 53, of a heart attack in his home in 1972. Heart disease and diabetes had left him barely able to see by middle age. Tens of thousands of mourners, fans and admirers lined the streets of his funeral procession in Brooklyn. And the mind wonders, on this day of all days: What would this American hero, the man who broke the color line in Major League Baseball and died nearly blind — what would he be thinking if he could see what was happening now? In the America he worked to change by being on the front lines against racism and prejudice? In the America that still hasn’t changed nearly enough 74 years after this man endured the death threats aimed at the first Black man allowed into baseball’s highest level. Thursday is Jackie Robinson Day in MLB, the annual day of reflection when baseball honors his legacy on the anniversary of his MLB debut. When throughout the majors, so many players who had it a little easier because of him wear his number 42 to say thanks. What would Jackie Robinson be thinking as a jury verdict neared in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin? For our full latest column, visit Progress? Or heartache? What Would Jackie Robinson Think About Race In America Today?

MIAMI DOLPHINS NEED TO MAKE ONE MORE BOLD DRAFT TRADE AND GO ALL-IN FOR THIS PLAYER: The Miami Dolphins have been the most interesting, active player in the buildup to the NFL Draft, trading down from the third overall pick to the 12th and then moving back up to the sixth. But their work shouldn’t be done. The Fins’ aggressiveness and daring have one bold move left before they are on the clock in the first round come April 29. Miami should do what it must to get in the Atlanta Falcons’ ear and trade up two spots to the fourth pick, and there should be a determined urgency for one reason: Kyle Pitts. There is no one in this draft who would be a greater difference-maker for the Dolphins over the next 10-plus years because there is no one else in this draft who would be a greater difference-maker in what quarterback Tua Tagovailoa becomes. His Florida Gators coach, Dan Mullen, called Pitts a “unicorn.” I’d call him a generational talent who had to have been created in the laboratory or imagination of some day-dreaming offensive coordinator. For our full recent column, visit The Case For Dolphins Trading Up, Going All-In For Kyle Pitts.

WON'T FIX THE WORLD, BUT MATSUYAMA'S MASTERS WIN LIFTS JAPAN IN A TIME OF ANTI-ASIAN HATE: Sometimes sports delivers us a result that just feels right, like there is a heart behind the hand of fate. The Masters golf tournament did that for us Sunday. Hideki Matsuyama did that. You couldn’t help but feel good, for the player, for the Japanese people — and for more than that — as he wrapped himself into the most beautiful ugly green jacket in the history of men’s wear. No event in sports means to tug at the heartstrings or does it better than the Masters, an air of history and reverence within golf’s singular cathedral, the gentle description of CBS’ Jim Nantz the perfect soundtrack. The troika of treachery called Amen Corner. The riotous bloom of azaleas. The impossible quaintness of Butler Cabin. The Masters unfurls as a visually stunning tableau, an oil painting come to life. An infamous past is a part of the portrait. For too many decades Georgia’s Augusta National Golf Club was a society open only white men. Blacks and women need not have applied. The Masters deserves little praise for being goaded reluctantly to join the 21st Century. That is why this particular Masters felt special. Different. It felt that way in Thursday’s annual ceremonial start, when old-timers Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were joined on the first tee by Lee Elder, who 46 years earlier had become the first Black man permitted to play this tournament. Now 86, Elder was not up to hitting a tee shot but rose elegantly from his chair, with help, to acknowledge the applause of onlookers. The ceremonial honor given Elder, better late than never, was book-ended Sunday when Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to win the Masters — the first man from golf-mad Japan to win any major. In a time of anti-Asian racism and hate, this victory lifted the spirits of a nation. And that felt right. For our full recent column, visit It Won't Fix the World, But Matsuyama's Masters Win Lifts Japan In Time Of Anti-Asian Hate.

Our most recent other columns: Talk Of U.S. Olympic Boycott A Reminder Sports, Politics Are Entwined -- And That's Good / How And Why the Miami Heat Landing Kawhi Leonard This Summer Could Happen / and The Miami Dolphins' Six Can't-Lose Options For a Great No. 6 Pick in NFL Draft. Also: Even After Playoffs In '20, Marlins Still 'Bottom Feeders' Fighting For Respect / Special Opening Day as Marlins Welcome Back Fans, Feeling Of Hope / and In History And In Hearts, Howard Schnellenberger Will Matter For All Time.

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