December 12, 2022

Latest Hot Button Top 10!: Fins lose at Chargers (with column), World Cup final four, Brittney Griner (w/ column), Grant Wahl, MLB spending spree; plus new Greg Cote Show podcast -- live from Mas Miami -- out now & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, DECEMBER 12. Thanks to the hundreds of fans we met Saturday night at the Le Batard Show's Mas Miami 5 event at Wynwood Marketplace. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): NFL Week 14 picks, Brittney Griner freed but story hasn't ended, Greg Cote Show podcast with Dan Le Batard, NFL Week 13 results (picks/Lobos/QB rank), Mount Gregmore of columns.

Coteshow Mas MiamiGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE -- LIVE FROM 'MAS MIAMI' -- OUT NOW!: Our 52nd episode of 2022 and 143rd overall is out now! New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 143 we've done so far HERE. The new episode is a "Live from Mas Miami Special!" We speak with members of the cast, fans and special guests. And why did Greg and Chris have a physical altercation just offstage as Yeti performed "Pebble Drive" live? Also in the new ep: Greg rails against Amazon.com advertising “last-minute stocking stuffers” too soon; Greg, Chris and Yeti discuss Elton John quitting Twitter and whether Elon Musk has made a moral dilemma of that platform; the guys discuss the World Cup final four and the tragic death of Grant Wahl; Rodney Dangerfield vs. Henny Youngman; Greg makes a trade involving Christmas; Dad joke of the week; a new ‘Three Facts, Jack’ segment and more. Hit up GCS2252 for 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 14 PICKS: TONIGHT'S PATS-CARDS GAME AND ALL THE REST: Went 10-4-1 outright and 8-7 against the spread last week. Now here come our picks for Dolphins-Chargers, Game of the Week two upsets and all the rest. f Deshaun Watson, three upsets and all the rest. Visit NFL Week 14 Gems for all our latest picks. We got off to a mixed start Thursday night. Had Vegas winning (wrong) but correctly had the Rams covering the line.

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

NEW! Loss In L.A. Puts Pressure on Dolphins -- And Tua -- To Rise Up In Final Month NEW!

NEW! Griner Freed, But Others Still Held, And WNBA Responsibility Remains NEW!

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

Miami Needs To Seal Deal On Messi Or It'll Be Fans Who Should Feel Jilted

Hilltop: The five columns before that: 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 / Jimmy Johnson Had To Give Up Football To Get His Life Back. Note: Mount Gregmore includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on newest podcast are not included.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (DECEMBER 11-12): 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:

Hb1. SOCCER: Final four! It's Argentina-Croatia, France-Morocco in World Cup semis: On Friday, Croatia stunned mighty Brazil, tying it 1-1 in extra time and winning 4-2 on penalty kicks, and then Argentina also won in PKs over Netherlands, after also squandering a lead late. Saturday, Morocco upset Portugal, 1-nil -- becoming the first African nation to reach the men's semifinals -- then France beat England 2-1. In semifinals, Argentina-Croatia is Tuesday and France faces Morocco Wednesday.

2. DOLPHINS: Tua awful, Herbert shines as Miami falls at Chargers: Fins had their choice of Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert with the fifth pick in the 2020 draft and chose Tua. The Los Angeles Chargers, picking sixth, took Justin Herbert. That makes the two QBs rivals for life. They meet Sunday for the second time (Tua won in 2020) with Miami a narrow road favorite. Just say it didn't go well for Tus in a 23-17 loss. [Column above]

3. BRITTNEY GRINER: WNBA star freed after 10 months in Russian detention: The Phoenix Mercury star had been playing for a Russian club during the WNBA offseason when she tried to return home and was detained on drug charges last February. Thursday, she was freed and reunited with wife Cherelle in a U.S.-Russia prisoner swap. Other Americans remain detained, though, and the reason Griner and so many others play overseas -- low WNBA pay -- remains a problem. [Column above]

4. MLB: Judge stays with Yanks to lead spending spree; Marlins stay quiet: Aaron Judge re-signing with Yankees on a nine-year, $360 million deal headlined an eventful Winter Meetings that saw uniform changes for stars including Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, Xander Boegarts and Trae Young. The Marlins have had a predictably quiet winter about from minor trades, Rule 5 Draft activity and parting ways with Brian Anderson. Updated World Series odds have Miami (ugh) tied for 22nd.  

5. HEAT: Loss to Spurs has Miami still struggling to top .500: Miami is 12-15 after Saturday's home loss to lowly San Antonio and now sets out on a four-game road trip starting Monday in Indiana. Heat started the season 0-2, reached .500 at 7-7 but have yet to have a winning record in an NBA regular season now one-third done. Team is past its injuries, with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo in good form, but needs to go on a run to climb the standings.

6.  GRANT WAHL: Soccer journalist dies while covering World Cup: Respected independent soccer writer Grant Wahl, on assignment for CBS Sports, fell ill during Saturday's Netherlands-Argentina match and later died. He was 48. His brother said Grant was killed, encouraging conspiracy theories against Qatar across social media. Wahl, however, had complained of not feeling well and received medical help earlier in the World Cup.  

7. PANTHERS: Slumping Cats still struggling to get a run going: Florida is 13-16 (13-12-4) after Sunday's 5-2 home loss vs. Seattle, still in search of their first winning record since November 17. Matthew Tkachuk's 37 points and Carter Verhaeghe's 15 goals pace the team. Meantime the February 3-4 NHL All-Star Weekend being hosted by Florida is getting close. Sunrise last hosted the league’s midseason showcase in 2003. FLA is back at it Tuesday vs. Columbus.

8. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: USC's Williams wins Heisman Trophy: Southern Cal quarterback Caleb Williams won the 2022 Heisman Trophy on Saturday night in his first year with the Trojans. It was no surprise. Williams had earlier won Walter Camp Player of the Year award and the Maxwell Award given to the best all-around player in college football.

9. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Countdown 4 days 'til bowl season!: There are 43 bowl games culminating with the January 9 College Football Playoff national championship. The first bowls are this coming Friday. Three state FBS teams are bowling: Florida vs. Oregon December 17 (Las Vegas Bowl), UCF vs. Duke Dec28 (Military Bowl) and FSU vs. Oklahoma Dec29 (Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando). The latter is one of eight bowls in state of Florida. Locally, it's the Dec30 Orange Bowl at Hard Rock (Tennessee-Clemson) and the Dec20 Boca Raton Bowl at FAU (Liberty-Toledo).

10. CANES BASKETBALL: UM men Top 2-bound after beating N.C. State: The nearly ranked Miami men are 10-1 (2-0 ACC) after Saturday's 80-73 conference win over North Carolina State. They are now off until next Saturday vs. St. Francis before hosting No. 3 Virginia. The Canes women are 7-4 after Sunday's overtime home loss to Florida. Their ACC opener is December 21 at Florida State.

HB10 cut: The Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz's fifth Mas Miami fan event packed Wynwood Marketplace with 2,000-plus Saturday night ..... Miami Hurricanes safety Kam Kinchens was named to the All-America first team by CBS Sports and The Athletic. He also was all-ACC first team ..... Marlins Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara unsurprisingly was named to the fourth annual All-MLB first team ..... Hurricanes baseball announced its 54-game regular season schedule would begin February 17 at home vs. Penn State ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,275 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

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

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: R.I.P. Chuck Carr: Remembering Marlins' Speedy First StarDolphins 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

November 21, 2022

Latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated): Qatar World Cup underway, Canes get crushed at Clemson, Fins sail into bye, Sandy takes the Cy, Heat and Cats both struggling; plus NFL Week 11 picks, new Greg Cote Show podcast out now & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21. Happy Thanksgiving Week, all! 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): NFL Week 11 picks, Why Jimmy Johnson had to quit football to get his life back, R.I.P. Chuckie Carr, Dolphins season taking on magical feel, NFL Week 10 results (Herald picks/Lobos/QB rank), Greg Cote Show podcast, Mount Gregmore of columns.

CoteshowGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! PROFESSOR TOENAIL!: Our 49th episode of 2022 and 140th overall is out now. New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 140 we've done so far HERE. Our new welcomes special guest David Covington, "Professor Toenail," a college biology instructor who turns toenails into edible snacks. And we celebrate the start of World Cup soccer with a goal-call challenge. Also in the newest show: Planning an interactive audio for Greg’s future grave site; Fun facts about the Lamborghini, the only transcontinental city in the world, and the fastest roller-coaster on Earth; Greg’s “Baaaaay” is trending!; Dad joke of the week; Jumpin’ Charlie returns from boot camp a new canine; and a big holiday sale at the GCS merch store! Hit up GCS2249 for full story on latest ep, and watch our weekly YouTube preview. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review, follow, subscribe and so forth. 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! Also check out our podcast's YouTube channel.

MepicksNFL WEEK 11 PICKS: COWBOYS-VIKINGS, JETS-PATS, 3 UPSETS AND ALL THE REST: Went 9-5 against the point spread last week, now let's keep it going! It was our fifth straight even or better mark ATS. Dolphins one of four bye teams this week, but visit NFL Week 11 Gems to find all of our latest picks for Game of the Week, three upsets including one big one, and all the rest. Got off to a bad start Thursday night. Thought Green Bay (-3) would win at home and cover the small number, but Tennessee had its way. Find that separate predix capsule here

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

CaneslemsonNEW! Canes' 40-0 Loss At Clemson Harsh Measuring-Stick Result For Cristbal NEW!

NEW! Jimmy Johnson Had To Give Up Football To Get His Life Back NEW!

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

Hilltop: The five columns before that: Dare To Dream, Dolphins Fans. Why Miami Is a Legit Super Bowl ContenderShula 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. Note: Mount Gregmore includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on newest podcast are not included.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (NOVEMBER 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:

Hb1. SOCCER: Qatar World Cup begins, U.S. plays Monday: The men's World Cup begins Sunday with corruptly awarded, human-rights abusing host Qatar vs. Ecuador in the lone match. U.S. debuts Monday in a Group B match vs. Wales. Usual suspects as top five betting favorites: Brazil +400, Argentina +550, France +650, and England and Spain tied at +750. In Group B, after England, odds to win it all are U.S. +10000, Wales +12500 and Iran +50000. Americans' group-stage games after Monday are November 25 vs. England and November 29 vs Iran. No pretense at impartiality from us on this: "Let's gooooo States!"

2. HURRICANES: UM spanked 40-10 in measuring-stick game at Clemson: Miami ran half as many offensive plays and managed a paltry 98 net yards in total offense Saturday in a 40-10 domination by No. 9-ranked host and ACC rival Clemson. UM at 5-6 ends its regular season next Saturday vs. Pittsburgh needing a victory to be bowl-eligible. Canes have lost past four games to Tigers by a combined 178-30.

3. MARLINS: Alcantara wins Cy Young; Carr dies, Conine back: Lots of Fish news for a November. Ace Sandy Alcantara won the NL Cy Young award by unanimous vote, the first Marlin to win that honor. Expansion-era Marlins star Chuck Carr succumbed to cancer at 55. Another early franchise star, Jeff Conine, "Mr. Marlin," is back with the organizaton as a special assistant to principle owner Bruce Sherman. And club promoted Caroline O'Connor to president of business operations -- making Marlins first major U.S. sports franchise to have women serving simultaneously as president and general manager.

4. CANES BASKETBALL: UM finally lose after Larranaga gets No. 700th win: Miami's men were 4-0 after a 74-64 victory over Providence Saturday -- the 700th win of coach Jim Larrnaga's career coming against his alma mater. Game was in first round of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Tip-Off Tournament in Connecticut, where UM faces Maryland Sunday and lost 88-70.  Hurricanes women also are 4-1 after a first loss Sunday, 98-83 at DePaul. 

5. DOLPHINS: Tua, Fins flying high into the bye: Miami is 7-3 after 10 games for first time since 2001 entering its bye week, and will be a big home favorite next week vs. Houston before the schedule toughens. Meantime quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has enter NFL MVP chatter as a top-five candidate. "Pinch me," say Dolfans. "Is this actually happening?"

6. HEAT: Injury-wracked squad still hasn't topped .500: Miami is 7-10 after a third straight loss Sunday in Cleveland in midst of four-game road trip. Heat is injury-wracked with missing starters and has yet to be over the .500 mark this NBA season entering entering Monday night's game at Minnesota. 

7. PANTHERS: Sputtering Cats fall below .500: Florida is 9-10 (9-8-2) and has yet to piece together more than two wins in a row in this still-young NHL season after Sunday's loss at Columbus -- Florida's third straight defeat. Cats host Boston Wednesday.

8. STATE COLLEGES (NON-UM): FSU wins, Florida and UCF lose: No. 19 Florida State crushed Louisiana 49-17 Saturday while Florida lost 31-24 at former punching bag Vanderbilt and No. 20 UCF lost at home to Navy, 17-14. IN other state FBS games (non-UM), FIU lost its shot at bowl-eligibility with a 40-6 at UTEP, FAU fell 49-21 at Middle Tennessee, and South Florida sank to 1-10 with a loss at Tulsa. 

9. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Michigan, TCU escape but seven ranked teams fall: No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 TCU survived close wins Saturday while eight other Top 25 teams lost: No. 5-Tennessee, 10-Utah, 13-North Carolina, 14-Ole Miss, 16-UCLA, 20-UCF, 22-Oklahoma State and 24-N.C. State.

10. NBA: Kyrie returns from suspension, plays Sunday: Brooklyn Nets star guard Kyrie Irving played Sunday in a win over Memphis, scoring 14 points in 26 minutes, in his first game back after a suspension that totaled eight games. Irving was disciplined by the club for social-media support of an Anti-Semitic book and film and for doubling down amid the firestorm of backlash before at last apologizing.

Missing the HB10 cut: Yankees' Aaron Judge and Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt won MVP awards and Astros' Justin Verlander joined Alcanatara (see above) as unanimous Cy Young winners in the biggest of MLBs' 2022 postseason awards. ..... Colombia beat Paraguay 2-nil Saturday night in a friendly at Inter Miami Stadium in Lauderdale. Sam stadium on January 14 will host a friendly between top South American club teams River Plate and Millonarios ..... Thank God! The pickleball war has ended! Major League Pickleball and VIBE Pickleball League are merging ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,296 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

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

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: Has Dolphins' Trade For Chubb Sent Team's Super Bowl Shot 'To The Moon'?Miami-FSU Rivalry Week Leans On Nostalgia As 2 Programs Try To Get Back Up / Tua's Huge Day Leads Dolphins Over Lions in Detroit. But Warning Signs Are There / Not Pretty. OK, It Was Ugly. But Canes' OT Escape At Virginia Keep Bowl Hope Alive / Pawns Chasing Saudi Blood Money Come To Doral As LIV Golf Ends 1st Season / Not Perfect, But Return Of Tua, Big Defense Lift Dolphins Past Steelers / 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 / QB Calamity! 3rd-String Thompson Has Rough Baptism As Dolphins Fall At Jets / 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 / NFLPA Firing Doctor For Concussion Eval May Mean Fins, Tua Are Victims Here / 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, Improved 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

November 07, 2022

Latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated): Fins win shootout (with column), Canes get embarrassed (w/ column), CFP chaos, Astros win, Cats/Heat slumping; plus NFL Week 9 picks, new Greg Cote Show podcast out now with Jimmy Johnson & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7. Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): NFL Week 9 picks, Dolphins' Bradley Chubb trade, UM-FSU preview, new Greg Cote Show podcast with Mina Kimes, NFL Week 8 results, Mount Gregmore of columns.

CoteshowJjbookGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW WITH JIMMY JOHNSON!: Our 47th episode of 2022 and 138th overall is out now! New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 138 we've done so far HERE. Our new episode out now is a must-listen/can't miss with legendary coach Jimmy Johnson (pictured) as he talks about his upcoming new memoir, "Swagger," and his career and life on and off the field. Great stuff if I do say so myself! Also in the new episode: Greg and Chris shares though on Canes-Florida State and Dolphins-Bears; An update on the Tony Kornheiser bet on whether he’ll agree to come on our show; Greg with an out-of-left-field appreciation of a groundbreaking 1963 song by Lesley Gore; Yeti shares what could be way too much information about his new vasectomy; Should you know who Tommie Smith is?; An argument over Friendsgiving; Dad joke of the week; Trying to explain and justify the phrase, “Do what now?” and more. Hit up GCS2247 for full story on latest ep, and watch our weekly YouTube preview. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review, follow, subscribe and so forth. 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! Also check out our podcast's YouTube channel.

MepicksNFL WEEK 9 PICKS: DOLPHINS-BEARS, GAME OF WEEK, 3 UPSETS ALL THE REST: Had a third straight winning week against the point spread last week. Can we keep it going? Visit NFL Week 9 Gems for to find all of our latest picks for Dolphins-Bears, our (controversial) Game of the Week, three more big upsets and all the rest. Got off to a mixed start. Had Eagles (-14) both winning and covering at Houston. Birds won but narrowly missed the cover, 29-17. Find that separate predix capsule at NFL Week 9 Thursday Gem.

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

NEW! Shootout Win In Chicago Shows Dolphins Are What They Haven't Been in Years: Exciting NEW! 

NEW! Canes Are No-Shows in 45-3 Home Loss To FSU In Latest New Low For Cristobal NEW!

Has Dolphins' Trade For Chubb Sent Team's Super Bowl Shot 'To The Moon'?

Miami-FSU Rivalry Week Leans On Nostalgia As 2 Programs Try To Get Back Up

Tua's Huge Day Leads Dolphins Over Lions in Detroit. But Warning Signs Are There

Hilltop: The five columns before that: Not Pretty. OK, It Was Ugly. But Canes' OT Escape At Virginia Keep Bowl Hope AlivePawns Chasing Saudi Blood Money Come To Doral As LIV Golf Ends 1st SeasonNot Perfect, But Return Of Tua, Big Defense Lift Dolphins Past Steelers / Epic New Low For Cristobal: 8 Turnovers in 45-21 Home Loss To Duke / Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat Disappoint In Season-Opening Home Loss. Note: Mount Gregmore includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on newest podcast are not included.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (NOVEMBER 6-7): WHAT SOUTH FLORIDA SPORTS FANS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Our blog-exclusive Sunday-into-Monday feature -- back after a week's hiatus due to Typepad being down -- 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. HURRICANES: Ouch! No-Show Canes, Cristobal embarrassed 45-3 by FSU: Prime time. National TV audience. Sold-out Hard Rock Stadium. And Hurricanes get embarrassed by rival Florida State 45-3, slipping to 4-5 and putting bowl hopes in peril. It was UM's worst home loss in 67-year history of the rivalry. Despite Mario Cristobal's first-year woes the Canes landed a major recruit in cornerback Cormani McClain, No. 4 overall in the 2023 ESPN 300 -- UM's top-rated recruiting score since ESPN began ranking players in 2009.

Hb2. DOLPHINS: Fins wins shootout at Bears after going all in on Chubb trade: Dolphins are 6-3 and stay on playoff pace with Sunday's 35-32 win at Chicago that saw Tua Tagovailoa continue his stellar season with 302 passing yards an d three TDs. Meanwhile Miami went all-in at the NFL trade deadline by acquiring outside linebacker Bradley Chubb from Denver for a first-round 2023 pick and getting running back Jeff Wilson from San Fran.

3. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: CFP rocked with upheaval as 1, 4 and 6 all lose: The College Football Playoff picture was rocked Saturday as nine Top 25 teams fell -- including No. 1 Tennessee (to No. 3 Georgia), No. 4 Clemson (to unranked Notre Dame) and No. 6 Alabama (by 1-point to No. 10 LSU). The CFP's new chosen-four is likely to be Georgia and Ohio State in some order, Michigan and either TCU, Oregon or perhaps LSU.

4. HEAT: Jimmy-less Miami falls to 4-6: Miami is 4-6 after Friday night's 101-99 loss at Indiana despite Tyler Herro's 29 points. Jimmy Butler missed a second straight game with a hip injury. Heat has yet to reach .500 this young NBA season. They'd strung together a needed little two-game streak with home wins over Golden State (!) and Sacramento before falling Friday, and now have four at home starting tonight/Monday vs. Portland.

5. MLB: Astros win World Series the right way this time: Houston won Saturday to oust Philadelphia 4 games to 2 and claim its second World Series championship and first since the cheating-tainted one in 2017. The Astros entered the Series as the betting favorites at -170 and followed through. The Phillies' most recent of two crowns came in 2008.

6. MARLINS: Fish name Cards' Schumaker as new manager: St. Louis Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker is the Marlins new manager, arriving at 42 as the third-youngest in the bigs. Don Mattingly's replacement never has held the job before but was a two-time World Serie winner as a player with the Cards. In other Marlins news, club opened its new Dominican Academy, cornerstone of a commitment to international player development. And the three NL Cy Young finalists, to be announced Monday, surely will include Sandy Alcantara.

7. NBA: Is Nets' Kyrie Irving incapable of not doing stupid things?: Brooklyn's star guard Kyrie Irving, borrowing a page from Kanye West's Guide to Being Extremely Unlikable, promoted an anti-Semitic film and book on his social media accounts, drawing condemnation from his team, Jewish groups and others. Irving initially doubled down but finally apologized -- after the Nets suspended him "at least five games."

8. PANTHERS: Cats get needed win, and Ekblad back soon: Injured defenseman Aaron Ekblad could be back by next weekend and the Cats need him. Florida is only 7-6 after a 2-0 start with Sunday's 5-3 win at Anaheim. New star Matthew Tkachuk has lived up to billing early on, leading the team with 17 points including 12 assists.

9. CANES BASKETBALL: Opening Week for Miami, but Meier suspended: College hoops opens nationally and in Miami on Monday, with North Carolina's men and South Carolina's women atop the preseason polls. Miami's men, unranked despite reaching the NCAA Elite Eight last season, open at home Monday night vs. Lafayette, after UM women christen season that afternoon vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore. Miami's Isaiah Wong made preseason All-ACC first team and the Jerry West Award watch list for nations' top shooting guard. Canes women will play first three games with coach Katie Meier related to an NCAA probe into an "enforcement matter."

10. MLS: Los Angeles FC wins first league title: Top-seeded LAFC defeated the Philadelphia Union on penalty kicks after a 3-3 draw Saturday to win the 27th MLS Cup championship match. It was a heartbreak for Philly, which overcome two deficits and led late before falling. Both finalists were seeking their first league crown.  

Missing the HB10 cut: The now 5-4 Florida Gators won 41-24 at Texas A&M to continue Jimbo Fisher's agony. In other non UM state FBS games, FIU fell hard 52-14 at North Texas; No. 25 UCF won 35-28 at Memphis; and South Florida lost 54-28 at Temple. FAU was off ..... NASCAR's Championship 4 run for season title was Sunday in Phoenix, with 2018 winner Joey Logano taking his second season crown ..... U.S. Women's National Team makes its first visit to Fort Lauderdale in 22 years this coming Thursday night with a friendly vs. Germany at Inter Miami Stadium. U.S. and Germany are No.1 and No. 3 in the current Women's FIFA World Ranking and last faced each other in 2018 ..... JImmie Johnson's NASCAR retirement and dalliance into IndyCar racing is over. The seven-time NASCAR champ is returning in 2023 as part-owner of Petty GMS. He'll run in about five Cup races including the Daytona 500 ..... Dustin Johnson LIV Golf's blood-money champ as Saudi-funded tour ends its inaugural season at Doral ..... Speculation is now confirmed: Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen are divorcing ..... The 2022 men's World Cup in Qatar is only two weeks away, with Brazil predictably the betting favorite at +400 ahead of France and Argentina, and Team USA is mid-pack 16th among the 32 clubs ..... Monster Jam (trucks with foolishly big tires) evidently is still a thing. It''s coming to Marlins Park January 28-29 ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,316 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

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

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: Tua Can't Return Soon Enough As Dolphins Fall To Vikings For 3rd Straight LossSorry, Canes, But 20-14 Win At Va-Tech Doesn't Impress Any More Than 3-3 DoesCsonka, ‘Heart’ Of Dolphins Glory Days, On Life Of Adventure — And Perfection / QB Calamity! 3rd-String Thompson Has Rough Baptism As Dolphins Fall At Jets / 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 / NFLPA Firing Doctor For Concussion Eval May Mean Fins, Tua Are Victims Here / 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, Improved 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

November 05, 2022

Return of the blog! We're back! NFL Week 9 picks, Dolphins' huge Chubb trade, Canes-FSU, latest Greg Cote Show podcast with Mina Kimes, Week 8 results for Herald picks/Lobos/QB rankings & more

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

1) It's SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5. Sorry the blog was not updated for several days. Typepad, our host, had been down. But we're back! And Hot Button Top 10 will return with a new edition on Sunday. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): NFL Week 8 picks, Blood-money LIV Golf ends season at Doral, NFL Week 7 results, Greg Cote Show podcast, Mount Gregmore of columns.

Coteshow MinakGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE WITH MINA KIMES (AND LENNY) OUT NOW!: Our 46th episode of 2022 and 137th overall is out now! New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 137 we've done so far HERE. In our latest episode: ESPN star Mina Kimes (and, unexpectedly, her dog Lenny, pictured) join us for a chat on the NFL and on fun stuff, too. Also: Trick-or-treating with Trevor Lawrence, Greg speaks about his social-media firestorm over Jerry Lee Lewis' death and more. Hit up GCS2246 for full story on latest ep, and watch our weekly YouTube preview. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review, follow, subscribe and so forth. 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! Also check out our podcast's YouTube channel.

MepicksNFL WEEK 9 PICKS: DOLPHINS-BEARS, GAME OF WEEK, 3 UPSETS ALL THE REST: Had a third straight winning week against the point spread last week. Can we keep it going? Visit NFL Week 9 Gems for to find all of our latest picks for Dolphins-Bears, our (controversial) Game of the Week, three more big upsets and all the rest. Got off to a mixed start. Had Eagles (-14) both winning and covering at Houston. Birds won but narrowly missed the cover, 29-17. Find that separate predix capsule at NFL Week 9 Thursday Gem.

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

NEW! Has Dolphins' Trade For Chubb Sent Team's Super Bowl Shot 'To The Moon'? NEW! 

NEW! Miami-FSU Rivalry Week Leans On Nostalgia As 2 Programs Try To Get Back Up NEW!

Tua's Huge Day Leads Dolphins Over Lions in Detroit. But Warning Signs Are There

Not Pretty. OK, It Was Ugly. But Canes' OT Escape At Virginia Keep Bowl Hope Alive

Pawns Chasing Saudi Blood Money Come To Doral As LIV Golf Ends 1st Season

Hilltop: The five columns before that: Not Perfect, But Return Of Tua, Big Defense Lift Dolphins Past SteelersEpic New Low For Cristobal: 8 Turnovers in 45-21 Home Loss To DukeBam Adebayo, Miami Heat Disappoint In Season-Opening Home LossTua Can't Return Soon Enough As Dolphins Fall To Vikings For 3rd Straight LossSorry, Canes, But 20-14 Win At Va-Tech Doesn't Impress Any More Than 3-3 DoesNote: Mount Gregmore includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on newest podcast are not included.

NFL WEEK 8 RESULTS: HERALD PICKS X GREG'S LOBOS X QB RANKINGS:

Herald Picks: Streak against the spread lives! -- Been a tough season so far with our picks in the Herald and I'm not alone, but scratched out a 9-6 mark overall and went 8-7 against the spread. That was our third straight winning week ATS, with a 25-18 mark (.581) vs. the Evil Betting Line in that span. Bull's-eyed an outright upset with Broncos over Jaguars in London, and had another pair of dogs-plus-points on covers by Packers in Buffalo and Browns over Cincy. Let's keep it going on our recent uptick against the point spread!

LobosGreg's Lobos: A 175-point rout for another win! -- The defending PFPI Fantasy champion Lobos are rolling at 5-3 after a big 175-115 win. Got 29 points from Tua Tagovailoa, 26 from both Dalvin Cook and Nick Chubb, and 21 from both Lamar Jackson and Nick Folk. When you get a double-double from your kicker -- you know you're golden. We now stand tied for second in our 10-team family 'n friends fantasy league. Big game this week against another 5-3 team in Crown Me The Champ -- my son Chris.

NFL QB Rankings: Tua wins week, and there's another new No. 1 -- Miami's Tua Tagovailao wins his second weekly title of the season to take Week 8 honors and there's another change at No. 1 overall in the updated Miami Herald Quarterback Rankings. Full Top 25 and more at NFL Week 8 QB Rankings.

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

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: Csonka, ‘Heart’ Of Dolphins Glory Days, On Life Of Adventure — And PerfectionQB Calamity! 3rd-String Thompson Has Rough Baptism As Dolphins Fall At Jets / Canes Lose ACC Opener, Fall To 2-3 As Misery Continues For Mario CristobalFive Years In, Miami Marlins Rebuild Isn't Working. Here Is The Solution / NFLPA Firing Doctor For Concussion Eval May Mean Fins, Tua Are Victims Here / 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, Improved 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

October 24, 2022

Latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated): Fins beat Steelers (with column), Canes hit new low (with column), MLB playoffs, Heat win, NASCAR, FIU!; plus NFL Monday pick, new Greg Cote Show podcast out now & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, OCTOBER 24. Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Heat lose season opener at home, NFL Week 7 picks, Greg Cote Show podcast, NFL Week 6 results, Mount Gregmore of columns.

Coteshow GcsGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 45th episode of 2022 and 136th overall is out now! New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 136 we've done so far HERE. In our new episode: A new Le Batard Show “Mas Miami’ fan night is coming up December 10, and the GCS podcast reveals big plans for a major presence at the event; Greg shares the two new TV commercials out now that he loves; Greg is fascinated by a new forensic study on a Neanderthal family that lived 54,000 years ago and Chris and Yeti are palpably bored and dumbfounded by that fascination; and Chris and Greg report live from Sunday night’s Dolphins-Steelers game, and Greg shares an inside look at Saturday’s invitation-only gala honoring Miami’s 1972 Perfect Season team. Also in the new ep: Greg’s reveals a shocking and perhaps repulsive truth about himself; Greg rails against LIV Golf coming to Miami and a World Cup in Qatar; Calendar jumpers; Friends of Greg (FOG) update; A horrifying revelation about ants; and a new Dad joke of the week. Hit up GCS2245 for full story on latest ep, and watch our weekly YouTube preview. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review, follow, subscribe and so forth. 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 -- with free shipping this week through Thursday! Also check out our podcast's YouTube channel.

PicksNFL WEEK 7 PICKS: DOLPHINS -STEELERS AND ALL THE REST: Went a solid 8-6 against the spread last week, started the new week strong Thursday night, now let's keep it going! You want rampant parity in a league overrun by .500 teams? Only one of 14 games this week is matchup of two teams both with a winning record. Visit NFL Week 7 Gems to find all of our latest picks for Dolphins-Steelers, our Game of the Week, a big upset, the return of Dak Prescott and all the rest.

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

TuaNEW! Not Perfect, But Return Of Tua, Big Defense Lift Dolphins Past Steelers NEW!

NEW! Epic New Low For Cristobal: 8 Turnovers in 45-21 Home Loss To Duke NEW!

Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat Disappoint In Season-Opening Home Loss

Tua Can't Return Soon Enough As Dolphins Fall To Vikings For 3rd Straight Loss

Sorry, Canes, But 20-14 Win At Va-Tech Doesn't Impress Any More Than 3-3 Does

Hilltop: The five columns before that: Csonka, ‘Heart’ Of Dolphins Glory Days, On Life Of Adventure — And Perfection / QB Calamity! 3rd-String Thompson Has Rough Baptism As Dolphins Fall At Jets / 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 / NFLPA Firing Doctor For Concussion Eval May Mean Fins, Tua Are Victims Here. Note: Mount Gregmore Of Columns includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on newest podcast are not included.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (OCTOBER 23-24): 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:

1Hb. DOLPHINS: Tua, defense lead Miami past Steelers on special night!: What a night! Tua Tagovailoa made his long-awaited return from a concussion and led Fins to 16-10 win over Steelers Sunday night to end a 3-game losing streak an put Miami at 4-3. Big defense including two late interceptions sealed the win. Game also marked the club's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Perfect Season at the stadium Sunday on top of an invitation-only gala Saturday night at the Hard Rock Guitar Hotel.

2. HURRICANES: New low for Cristobal: 8 turnovers in 45-21 home loss to Duke: You thought the loss to Middle Tennessee State was bad? It was. This may have been worse. A 45-21 home conference loss to Duke Saturday thanks to eight (!) turnovers, most in a game by any Power 5 conference team since 2009. Canes now 3-4 and 1-2 in ACC as season goes off the rails. UM is at Virginia next week before hosting rival Florida State.

3. HEAT: Miami shakes off worst start since '07 with first win: Heat loss to Celtics Friday night gave Miami an 0-2 start for first time since 2007 -- and 0-2 at home for first time ever. That was after disappointing season-opening loss to Chicago plagued by poor defense. Heat finally won by beating Toronto Saturday to go 1-2 behind Jimmy Butler's 24 and more bench magic from Max Strus. Miami hosts Toronto again Monday/tonight before setting out on a three-game West road trip. 

4. MLB: It's an Astros-Phillies World Series!: The New York Yankees and the San Diego Padres are emphatically done! The AL and NL Championship Series ended Sunday with Philadelphia ousting the Padres 4 games to 1 and Houston sweeping the Yanks 4-0. Not sure Houston-Philadelphia is riveting TV, but we all hate the Astros, so that's something. Go Philly!

5. PANTHERS: Cats off to 4-2 start but lose Ekblad lost to injury: Panthers are 4-2 this young NHL season after Sunday's win over the Islanders. Cats are back at it Tuesday in Chicago but will be without star defenseman Aaron Ekblad until at least mid-November and likely longer with a groin injury. This would be the third straight season Ekblad had missed at least 20 regular season games due to injury. 

6. NASCAR: Larson back in headlines for right reason in Homestead win: NASCAR's eighth of 10 playoff races roared at Homestead-Miami Speedway today as Kyle Larson led 199 of 267 laps including the last one. The win came a week after the reigning Cup Series champion, eliminated earlier in this year's playoffs, was intentionally spun by Bubba Wallace, who got suspended for it. Joey Logano continues atop the playoff standings.

7. INTER MIAMI: Quick playoff exit ends successful season for Herons: A 3-0 playoff loss at New York City FC ended Inter Miami's Year 3 in MLS following an uplifting 14-6-14 regular season. The match marked the career finale for retiring star Gonzalo Higuain. Leaguwide, the conference finals will be set with results today. Out West, No. 1 seed Los Angeles awaits today's Austin-Dallas winner. In the East, No. 1 Philadelphia will face today's Montreal-NYC winner.

8. STATE COLLEGES (NON-UM): Huge upset win for FIU is an historic first!: This has never happened before. Of the seven state FBS football teams, FIU was the only one to win this week with Saturday's big 34-15 upset at Charlotte led by Grayson James' 306 passing yards. FU, now 3-4, stands alone because Miami, FAU and UCF all were upset losers, and Florida, Florida State and South Florida all had byes and did not play.

9. MARLINS: Fish narrow manager candidates, decision may be near: Astros bench coach Joe Espada and Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro have been the first candidates to be invited back by Miami for a second interview, for what that's worth. Plus for each: Espada might come as a World Series champ; Quatraro is used to small player payrolls. (I thought Bruce Bochy was worth a hard look; the Rangers hired him instead.) In other Fish news, shortstop Miguel Rojas is a Gold Glove finalist.   

10. CANES BASKETBALL: College hoops near as UM men, women unfurl: Jim Larranaga's Hurricanes men and Katie Meier's women's team, both coming off successful seasons, held their Media Day to tip-off the coming season. The men were 26-11 last year and reached the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time, but are unranked in the preseason poll (though just three spots outside of the Top 25). The UM women were 21-13 and reached the second round of the NCAAs but also are unranked. Both open the new season Nov. 7.

Missing the HB10 cut: U.S. Women’s National Team faces Germany at Inter Miami Stadium in Fort Lauderdale on November 10 in a battle of the top two women's teams in the world ..... No. 5 Clemson rallied to beat 14-Syracuse 27-21 on Saturday and No. 10 Oregon crushed 9-UCLA 45-30 in the biggest of five Top 25 matchups. One other top-10 team besides UCLA lost: No. 7 LSU falling 45-20 to Ole Miss ..... Warning: The money grubbers of LIV Golf are coming! The startup tour of players pocketing blood money from Saudi Arabia comes to Doral next week ..... USWNT drew Netherlands, Vietnam and a fourth team to be determined in its group for the 2023 Women's World Cup. England is opposite bracket, setting up a possible U.S.-Brits title match ..... Bulletin: Cristiano Ronaldo continues to sully his name with his petulance at Manchester United ..... Former world No. 1 Simona Halap faces a four-year ban from tennis after failing a drug test during the U.S. Open ..... One day before the World Cup kicks off November 20 in Qatar, two teams that did not qualify, Colombia and Paraguay, will play a friendly at Inter Miami Stadium ..... The 49ers acquired star RB Christian McCaffrey from Carolina for multiple draft picks in a major NFL trade ..... The College Football Playoff said it still is undecided on when it will expand to 12 teams, but hopeful it will happen as soon as 2024 ..... Dan Wieden, the ad man who coined Nike's famous 'Just Do It' slogan, died at 77 ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,330 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: Dolphins Fall In Cincy, But Tua Hospitalized Puts Result In PerspectiveNo. 1 Dolphins, Fans Bask in National Attention, Ditch 20 Years' IrrelevanceGamble Of Inaction: 5 Answers Will Judge Heat's Quiet Offseason / What's Going On Here!? Dolphins Beat Rival Bills, Improved 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

October 17, 2022

Latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated): Fins fall to Vikes, Canes end skid, Heat Opening Week, Cats start hot, Inter Miami playoff tonight, MLB postseason, 'Bama loses. What a week!; plus NFL Week 6 picks, new Greg Cote Show podcast out now (!) & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, OCTOBER 17. Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): NFL Week 6 picks, new Greg Cote Show podcast with Aaron Ekblad, 50 years later the Larry Csonka you never knew, NFL Week 5 results (Picks/Lobos/QB Rank), Mount Gregmore of columns.

CoteshowGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 44th episode of 2022 and 135th overall is out now! New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 135 we've done so far HERE. In our newest episode: Chris reports live from Pittsburgh after gloing to Bucs-Steelers game; Greg and Yeti chew over the Dolphins-Vikings game, MLB playoffs; Jumpin’ Charlie the World’s Largest Puppy eats Greg’s eyeglasses, forcing Greg to record newest podcast wearing emergency backup glasses that may or may not make him look like Harry Caray. Also, Charlie is sent away to boot camp; An in an in-show meeting. (Are we too naughty?); Greg turns on The House Of Dragons; Are we about done with Kanye West?; Tom Brady has finally made something of himself, buys pickleball team; Yeti recalls the time his life was threatened on the job; Dad joke of the week; and (!) a brand new Mount Gregmore! Hit up GCS2244 for full story on latest ep, and watch our weekly YouTube preview. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review, follow, subscribe and so forth. 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! Also check out our podcast's new YouTube channel.

Our NFL Week 6 picks: Onset of byes trims schedule from 16 games to 14 but it's still biggest week of season thus far with two co-Games of the Week in Bills-Chiefs and Cowboys-Eagles. Vikings-Dolphins should be a goodie, too. Visit NFL Week 6 Gems to find all of our latest picks for those three and all the rest Two more big upsets in the mix this week; will Fins be one? Got off to an unfortunate start Thursday night. We had Chicago winning at home over Washington in a pick-'em game, but Bears lost 12-7 -- failing to score on four tries inside the Commanders 5 in the final minute. That exemplifies our unlucky season so far. Sigh.

Column from Dolphins-Vikings game coming: Look for it online soon after game ends and in Monday print.

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

Umvat TuadolNEW! Tua Can't Return Soon Enough As Dolphins Fall To Vikings For 3rd Straight Loss NEW!

NEW! Sorry, Canes, But 20-14 Win At Va-Tech Doesn't Impress Any More Than 3-3 Does NEW!

Csonka, ‘Heart’ Of Dolphins Glory Days, On Life Of Adventure — And Perfection

QB Calamity! 3rd-String Thompson Has Rough Baptism As Dolphins Fall At Jets

Canes Lose ACC Opener, Fall To 2-3 As Misery Continues For Mario Cristobal

Hilltop: The five columns before that: Five Years In, Miami Marlins Rebuild Isn't Working. Here Is The Solution / NFLPA Firing Doctor For Concussion Eval May Mean Fins, Tua Are Victims HereDolphins 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 OffseasonNote: Mount Gregmore Of Columns includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on latest podcast episode are among stuff not included.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (OCTOBER 16-17): WHAT SOUTH FLORIDA SPORTS FANS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Our blog-exclusive Sunday-into-Monday feature is part week-in-review, part look-ahead. Hot Button means what's on our minds, locally and nationally, from a Miami perspective, as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. The latest HB10:

Hb1. DOLPHINS: Miami falls to Vikings for 3rd straight loss. (Hurry back, Tua!): Fins are 3-3 with three straight losses after Sunday's 24-16 home L vs. Minnesota. Rookie Skylar Thompson eft game with thumb injury after three series. Teddy Bridgewater entered, three a for a bunch of yards but was ineffective. Oh my lord does this team miss Tua Tagovailoa, set to return next Sunday night vs. Steelers. [My column from game above.]

2. HURRICANES: Canes end 3-game slide with 20-14 win at Va-Tech: The reeling Canes flew to Blacksburg trying to save their season Saturday at Virginia Tech in an all but must-win ACC game. UM entered 2-3 after three straight losses and 0-1 in the conference but an 8-point favorite over the 2-4/1-2 Hokies -- and UM won 20-14. Hurricanes led 17-0 at half and held on. [My column on game above]

3. HEAT: It's Opening Week for Jimmy, Bam and company:  A 4-1 preseason fades to irrelevance now as Miami's 35th NBA regular season opens at home Wednesday night vs. Chicago, with a four-game homestand against East rivals beginning the 82-game stretch. Miami had a quiet offseason, doing little to augment the core of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry, with Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin rounding out the new starting five. Was standing pat smart or a risk? We start to find out. 

4. PANTHERS: Cats, Tkachuk off to fast start as NHL season opens: Florida opened its 29th NHL season with a 3-1 win at the Islanders, giving Paul Maurice a W in his first game as coach, with new star Matthew Tkachuk scoring on a late empty netter. Cats made it 2-0 at Buffalo Saturday with a 3-2 win, and another goal and assist from Tkachuk. Florida is at Boston Monday before returning to the Sunrise rink for their home opener on Wednesday vs. Philadelphia.

5. INTER MIAMI: Higuain seeks to extend career as Herons open playoffs in New York: Miami after a 14-6-14 MLS regular season opens the playoffs at defending league champion New York City Monday night at Citi Field. Retiring star Gonzalo Higuain sparked Miami's run to postseason with 14 goals in last 16 matches. NYC is a much different team than the one that won the title. Miami is in better form lately and has a big shot to win. Meanwhile Miami's Drake Callender is a finalist for MLS goalkeeper of the year and Higuain for comeback player.

6. MLB: Phils-Padres in NLCS; Astros await NYY-CLE winner: The week began with baseball's final eight teams split into two best-of-5 AL and NL Division Series. Now only five are still alive. Philadelphia and San Diego advanced to an unexpected NL Championship Series, eliminating the favored Braves and Dodgers. Houston swept Seattle to reach the ALCS and awaits the Yankees-Guardians winner. Yanks stayed alive with win Sunday. Deciding Game 5 is tonight in the Bronx.

7. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Vols deal Alabama first loss in huge week for sport: Eight Top 25 teams lost on Saturday, none bigger than No. 3 'Bama falling at No. 6 Tennessee, 52-49, in a battle of unbeatens. Vols had lost 15 in a row to Tide before this. Highest-ranked other teams to lose were No. 7 USC (to Utah), No. 8 Oklahoma State (to TCU) and No. 10 Penn State (to Michigan).

8. STATE COLLEGES (NON-UM): Gators, Seminoles suffer big home losses: LSU beat Florida in the Swamp, 45-45, and No. 4 Clemson edged FSU in Tally, 34-28. Gators and Noles both were 4-2 going in and poised to reenter polls with a win. In other state games (non-UM, FIU fell to 2-4, losing big to UTSA; FAU beat Rice; UCF crushed Temple and could be poll-bound at 5-1; and Tulane beat South Florida.

9. MARLINS: Cy to Sandy seems a lock, but manager hunt wide open: After the latest disappointing Fish season of 69-93, bright spot Sandy Alcantara remains a huge betting favorite to win the NL Cy Young Award. But odds on the next Marlins manager are tight. It's Joe Maddon at 4-1, Bruce Bochy 5-1, Miguel Cairo 6-1 and Joe Espada 7-1 heading the list. In other words, it's anybody's guess. Trust they'll pick someone experienced in working with really small payrolls?

10. NASCAR: Playoffs heading to Miami-Homestead Speedway: The seventh of 10 NASCAR playoff races was Sunday in Las Vegas, with Joey Logano winning and now atop the playoff standings. Circuit heads down to Miami-Homestead Speedway now for its eighth playoff race next Sunday.

Missing the HB10 cut: Co-Games of the Week in NFL as Bills beat Chiefs in reprise of last year's epic playoff game, and Eagles held off Cowboys stay unbeaten ..... LeBron James' son Bronny is one of five amateurs to be given Nike NIL deals. Bronny said thanks but couldn't be understood because of the silver spoon in his mouth ..... Yet another woman has socked Deshaun Watson with a lawsuit alleging massage room perversion ..... ESPN's Troy Aikman admitted he was "dumb" to say the NFL should "take the dresses off" and quit calling borderline roughing the passer penalties, a misogynistic aside straight outta 1958 ..... The PGA Tour is on the decline and LIV Golf is on the rise, said Phil Mickelson, the least impartial man on earth with the most vested interest possible and the biggest axe to grind ..... Can we all please take up a collection and pay Dan Snyder to disappear and never be heard from again? ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,337 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

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

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: What's Going On Here!? Dolphins Beat Rival Bills, Improved 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

October 10, 2022

Latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated): QB calamity as Fins fall at Jets (with column), TVD's 496 not enough for UM (w/ column), Higuain goes out right, MLB playoffs, Cats open; plus NFL Week 5 picks, new Greg Cote Show podcast out now! & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, OCTOBER 10. The North Carolina Tar Heels have a football player named Storm Duck. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Five years in Marlins rebuild is failing and here's the solution, NFL Week 4 result for Picks, Lobos and QB Rank, new Greg Cote Show podcast, Mount Gregmore of columns.

Coteshow EkbladGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE! AARON EKBLAD, GREG DOESN'T KNOW MOVIES, LOBOS: HARD KNOCKS!: Our 43rd episode of 2022 and 134th overall is out now! New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 134 we've done so far HERE. In our newest .episode: A fun edition of 'Greg Doesn't Know Movies, special guest Aaron Ekblad (left) of the Florida Panthers, and a new Greg's Lobos/Hard Knocks. Also, Cheating scandals in chess, billiard and fishing; Dolphins-Jets talk; Dad joke of the week and more. Hit up GCS2243 for full story on latest ep, and watch our weekly YouTube preview. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review, follow, subscribe and so forth. We simulcast on Sirius XM, too, Mondays from 5-6 p.m. ET. And now our podcast has a website and merch store! Check it out at TheGregCoteShow.com and visit the store by clicking 'Shop'. New items including Greg's Lobos T-shirts and hats! Also check out our podcast's new YouTube channel.

PicksOur NFL Week 5 picks: We're coming off our second straight double-digit wins week overall and a season best 9-6-1 mark against the spread. Visit NFL Week 5 Gems to find all of our latest picks for Dolphins-Jets, our Game of the Week Upset of the Week and all the rest. Got off an unlucky start in Thursday night's stinker. Denver led most of the game before falling in OT, 12-9. We had the Broncos winning and covering a 3 1/2-point line. Find that separate capsule at NFL Week 4 Thursday Gem. Oh well. Tally ho!

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

SkyfinNEW! QB Calamity! 3rd-String Thompson Has Rough Baptism As Dolphins Fall At Jets NEW!

NEW! Canes Lose ACC Opener, Fall To 2-3 As Misery Continues For Mario Cristobal NEW!

Five Years In, Miami Marlins Rebuild Isn't Working. Here Is The Solution

NFLPA Firing Doctor For Concussion Eval May Mean Dolphins, Tua Are Victims Here

Dolphins Fall In Cincy, But Tua Hospitalized Puts Result In Perspective

Hilltop: The five columns before that: No. 1 Dolphins, Fans Bask in National Attention, Ditch 20 Years' Irrelevance / Gamble Of Inaction: 5 Answers Will Judge Heat's Quiet OffseasonWhat's Going On Here!? Dolphins Beat Rival Bills, Improved to 3-0Cristobal Honeymoon Ends With Thud As Canes Lose To Middle Tennessee / Everyone Loves Tua & Dolphins Now. But Can Bandwagon Survive Buffalo? Note: Mount Gregmore Of Columns includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on latest podcast episode are among stuff not included.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (OCTOBER 9-10): 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:

Hb1. DOLPHINS: Oy! Tua out + Teddy hurt = 40-17 loss at Jets: Miami at 3-1 was a small road favorite at the rival Jets Sunday despite Tua Tagovailoa out concussed and backup QB Teddy Bridgewater starting. Then Teddy got hurt and left after one play. Then 3rd-string Skylar Thompson made his NFL debut. Then: A 40-17 Miami loss. Fins will try to shake off consecutive losses next Sunday vs. Vikings.

2. HURRICANES: Ouch. TVD shines but UM falls to UNC in ACC opener: The Canes had all the pressure on them Saturday at home in their ACC opener as small home favorites over 4-1 North Carolina -- after consecutive losses to Texas A&M and Middle Tennessee (!). They didn't handle it, falling 27-24 to North Carolina for a 3rd straight loss and 2-3 record as Mario Cristobal's woes continue. How does Tyler Van Dyke pass for a Canes-record 496 yards and you still lose!? Miami tries again next Saturday at Virginia Tech.

3. PANTHERS: It's Opening Week for new(ish)-look Cats: Florida wrapped up a 2-4 preseason last night and now it's Opening Week for the Panthers' 29th NHL regular season. Cats open at N.Y. Islanders and start with three on the road before their home debut October 19. A great season ended badly in the second playoff round last year, now it's a fresh start with new coach Paul Maurice and new star Matthew Tkachuk.

4. INTER MIAMI: Higuain retiring with bang, lifts Herons into playoffs!: Miami finished the MLS regular season at 14-6-14 after Sunday's 3-1 loss to Montreal snapped a four-game win streak during which retiring Gonzalo Higuain had scored six goals. Herons finished sixth in MLS East to earn a playoff spot but not a home match. Miami opens a week from today/next Monday at New York City FC. 

5. MLB: Playoffs! CLE, SEA, PHI, SD advance from wild-card: OK Aaron Judge got his AL-record 62nd homer, fell short of the Triple Crown and now forget that because -- postseason! Eight clubs (four AL, four NL) were in the best-of-3 wild-card round and Cleveland, Seattle and Philadelphia were first to advance with 2-0 sweeps. San Diego stayed alive in three games after winning at the Mets Sunday night. In Division Series starting Tuesday it'll be Yankees vs. Guardians and Astros vs. Mariners in the AL, and Braves vs. Phillies and Dodgers vs. Padres in the NL.

6. HEAT: Miami completes NBA preseason this week: Heat is 2-1 in exibitions with fake games left at home Monday and Wednesday vs. Houston and New Orleans. Erik Spoelstra has been all over the map with his lineups/rotations. Notable: Bam Adebayo flexing his offensive side, and at times on the floor with 6-11 Omer Yurtseven. Miami opens the regular season with a four-game homestand vs. the East starting October 19 vs. Chicago.

7. STATE COLLEGES (NON-UM): Gators win, but Seminoles, FIU both fall: Florida topped Missouri in the Swamp, 24-17, to go to 4-2 but Florida State also now is 4-2 after a 19-17 loss at No. 14- N.C. State. FIU is 2-3 after getting spanked by UConn. UCF won big on Wednesday, while South Florida lost a close one at No. 24-Cincinnati. FSU was off.

8. MARLINS: Lousy season ends; new manager, Sandy's trophy on deck: Miami finished 69-93 and fourth in the NL East, a two-game uptick over last season but out of the playoffs for the 27th time in 30 franchise years. Atop the to-do list: A managerial hunt is underway as Don Mattingly and the club agreed to part ways after seven seasons. And Sandy Alcantara is the NL Cy Young favorite, which would be a club first. Real priority should be the owner spending big in free agency for offense, but don't hold your breath.   

9. SOCCER: USWNT loss caps dispiriting week in women's soccer: USWNT fell 2-1 to England in a friendly at Wembley pitting the No. 1-ranked World Cup champion Americans and the No. 4-ranked Brits who just won the Women's Euros crown. U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski said he was proud of his players for "even being on the field" after just days after the release of a bombshell report detailing systemic abuse in women's soccer in the U.S. The independent investigation especially detailed abuse within the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and charged that the that the league and governing body U.S. Soccer failed to adequately protect players.

10. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: 'Dawgs leapfrog 'Bama for No. 1 in AP poll: No. 1 Alabama edged Texas A&M 24-20 Saturday while No. 2 Georgia more impressively thumped Auburn 42-10. Bulldogs moved to NO. 1 in new AP poll, with Ohio State second and 'Bama falling to third. Five more Top 25 teams lost, though the highest-ranked to lose were No. 11 Utah and No. 13 Kentucky.  

Missing the HB10 cut: Max Verstappen won Formula One season title at Japanese Grand Prix to clinch his second straight championship with four races left ..... Indonesian police are bringing criminal charges against three officers and three civilians for their roles in the deaths of 131 people at a soccer match when police fired tear gas inside a stadium, setting off pandemonium ..... Cheating scandal engulfs chess world! Hans Nieman, 19, is accused of skullduggery at U.S. Chess Championships in St. Louis in wake of his upset of world champion Magnus Carlson. Nieman is alleged to have received advice on moves from his coach via wireless vibrating anal beads. Hey, this is a blog! I couldn't say it if it weren't true! ..... NFLPA agreed to toughen concussion protocols in wake of situation with Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa. The NFL response: Changes are "likely" but no timeline has been set ..... Sixth of 10 NASCAR playoff races is Sunday in Charlotte. Homestead is up on October 23. Season champion will be crowd November 6 in Phoenix ..... Golden State Warriors are probing how video of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole during practice was made public. Green apologized ..... Tom Brady's ugly divorce over his changing his mind and unretiring has gone all public as he and Giselle Bundchen have both lawyered up ..... No surprise, but Lionel Messi confirmed the upcoming 2022 World Cup would be his last ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,344 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: Tua's Career-Redefining Six TDs Lead Dolphins' Miracle Comeback / Hurricanes Let Another Chance For a Big-Stage, Signature Win Slip Away / Texas A&M The Win Canes Need To Give Cristobal Era Liftoff, Make America Notice / 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 / As Optimism In Dolphins & Canes Spikes, Miami Flexes As A Football Town / 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 / Why Has Brady Skated On Tampering Role & Does He Still Have Future In Miami? / 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 / Cup Of AK-47 Coffee At Cowboys Games? Nuthin' Wrong With That, Huh Jerry? / 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 / Heat Season Ends One Win (One Shot?) Short Of NBA Finals In Game 7 Loss / No Consolation, No Excuse: Panthers Swept From Playoffs In 2-0 Loss A Brutal End / 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 / Marlins Hit History-Making Home Run With Kim Ng Hire As GM / 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

October 03, 2022

Latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated): Fins, Tua and Concussiongate (with column). Inter Miami surges. FIU wins!; plus today's NFL Week 4 picks, new Greg Cote Show podcast with guest Larry Csonka out now (!) & more

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

1) It's MONDAY, OCTOBER 3. Farewell September, month of my birth and football. Hello October! 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Canes fall to Middle Tennessee, Greg Cote Show podcast, Mount Gregmore of columns.

Coteshow ZonkGREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW. ZONK!: Our 42nd episode of 2022 and 133rd overall is out now! New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 133 we've done so far HERE. In our newest episode: We are joined by Miami Dolphins legend Larry Csonka for an in-depth chat about the Perfect Season, his life after football and more. Also in the new ep: The Tua Tagovailoa concussion controversy, Hurricane Ian, Jumpin' Charlie surgery update, Barney the purple dinosaur, What constitutes a friend?, Pop 'n G, Dad joke of the week and more. Hit up GCS2242 for full story on latest ep, and watch our weekly YouTube preview. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review, follow, subscribe and so forth. We simulcast on Sirius XM, too, Mondays from 5-6 p.m. ET. And now our podcast has a website and merch store! Check it out at TheGregCoteShow.com and visit the store by clicking 'Shop'. New items including Greg's Lobos T-shirts and hats! Also check out our podcast's new YouTube channel.

MepicksOur NFL Week 4 picks: We're coming off our best week of the early season -- including nailing four outright upset picks last week. We have three more big upsets this week. Visit NFL Week 4 Gems to find all of our latest picks for Chiefs-Bucs, Bills-Ravens, our Game of the Week, Upset of the Week and all the rest. Got off to a strong start Thursday night. Had Bengals winning and covering the 4-point line, 27-20, and Cincy won 27-15. Find that separate capsule at NFL Week 4 Thursday Gem.

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

TuadownNEW! NFLPA Firing Doctor For Concussion Eval May Mean Dolphins, Tua Are Victims Here NEW!

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, Improved to 3-0

Hilltop: The five columns before that: Cristobal Honeymoon Ends With Thud As Canes Lose To Middle Tennessee / Everyone Loves Tua & Dolphins Now. But Can Bandwagon Survive Buffalo? / Tua's Career-Redefining Six TDs Lead Dolphins' Miracle Comeback / Hurricanes Let Another Chance For a Big-Stage, Signature Win Slip Away / Texas A&M The Win Canes Need To Give Cristobal Era Liftoff, Make America Notice

Note: Mount Gregmore Of Columns includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on latest podcast episode are among stuff not included.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (OCTOBER 2-3): 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: Fins fall in Cincy, lose Tagovailoa to concussion amid controversy: Miami lost 27-15 in Cincinnati Thursday to fall to 3-1 but that was secondary to Tua Tagovailoa going out with a concussion -- sparkling a Twitterstorm of hindsight debate over whether he should have played after being examined for and cleared of a concussion the Sunday before. Lots of armchair experts questioning the independent neurologist and team doctors who actually examined Tua. But wait. That independent neurologist has now been fired by the NFLPA. The review of how Miami handled this on Sunday continues. Stay tuned. Fins play next Sunday at the Jets, all but certainly with backup Teddy Bridgewater.

2. HURRICANES: Idle Canes feeling pressure as they prep for ACC opener: UM at 2-2 is off this weekend as it prepares to host 4-1 North Carolina next Saturday in its ACC opener. UM is 2-2 after two straight L's including a shocking home loss to Middle Tennessee, a fast honeymoon-ender for new coach Mario Cristobal. QB Tyler Van Dyke was benched for Jake Garcia. Let's see who gets the call for a conference opener suddenly with must-win pressure.

3. INTER MIAMI: Hot Higuain, Herons solidify MLS playoff push: Miami is 13-6-13 with three straight wins after Friday's big 1-0 victory at Toronto on Gonzalo Higuain's team-leading 14th goal -- and 12th in the past 14 matches. Herons are now tied for sixth in the hunt for seven MLS East playoff spots. Two regular season matches are left, both at home: vs. Orlando on Wednesday and Montreal next Sunday.

4. STATE COLLEGES (NON-UM): Big win for FIU, FSU falls, Gators win: FIU ended a 20-game FBS losing streak Saturday with a 21-7 upset at New Mexico State while No. 23 Florida State fell at home to No. 22 Wake Forest, 31-21. Now-unranked Florida hosted and beat East Washington 52-17 Sunday in a game delayed by Hurricane Ian, and UCF hosts SMU in a game delayed to Wednesday. In other Saturday state-FBS results, FAU fell to North Texas and South Florida lost to East Carolina.

5. MLB: Mariners, Judge top big finish as postseason looms: The Seattle Mariners ending a 20-year drought to make the playoffs and Yankee Aaron Judge's pursuit of the Triple Crown highlight the last days of the MLB regular season. Judge hits his 61st home run to tie Roger Maris' AL mark. Ten of 12 postseason tickets are clinched, with San Diego and Philly all but clinched and for the final two spots and Milwaukee needing a miracle. Postseason begins with wild-card playoff games this coming Friday.

6. MARLINS: Alcantara shut down as Fish head to final three games: Still getting past the excitement and drama of Richard Bleier's record three balks in one at-bat, but time to move on. It's the end-game now for manager Don Mattingly, who'll part ways by mutual agreement after the season. Fish are 67-92 entering a final three-game homestand vs. Atlanta starting Monday to close season. Sandy Alcantara will not pitch again but remains the betting favorite for the NL Cy Young award despite Friday's loss dropping his record to 14-9.

7. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Georgia escapes, but 10 Top 25 teams fall: No. 1-ranked Georgia rallied to beat Missouri 26-22 and avoid what would have been a seismic upset. Ten Top 25 teams lost in Week 5 though none that changed the landscape of the College Football Playoff race. Highest-ranked teams to lose were No. 7-Kentucky and No. 10 N.C. State.

8. SOCCER: U.S. ends disappointing runup to World Cup: U.S. men's national team was held to a 0-0 draw by Saudi Arabia this week in its final tuneup for the 2022 World Cup that commences November 20 in Qatar. r injury. Team USA faces Saudi Arabia Tuesday in Spain in its final tuneup match. Team USA in its past seven prep matches against WC-bound teams has one win, three losses and three draws -- and was shut out six times. Coach Gregg Berhalter must submit his final 26-man World Cup roster on November 13.

9. HEAT: Miami tip offs preseason schedule this Tuesday: A five-day training camp in the Bahamas wrapped up Saturday, now the Heat is back to prepare for its first of five preseason games this Tuesday night at home vs Minnesota. Two starting spots alongside Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry could be fluid: Max Strus or Tyler Herro at shooting guard, and Caleb Martin or Duncan Robinson at power forward.

10. PANTHERS: Just the preseason, but Cats drop third straight: Florida is 1-3 in the preseason with three straight losses entering the final two exhibitions Thursday vs. Tampa Bay and Saturday at Tampa. NHL regular season -- dawn of a fresh start under new coach Paul Maurice and new star Matthew Tkachuck -- opens October 13 at the New York Islanders.

Missing the HB10 cut: The Pro Bowl is dead! Yay! The NFL finally killed off its lame all-star game, replacing it with a 'Pro Bowl Games" extravaganza featuring a flag-football game ..... A new-look ..... A new-look Team USA in women's basketball  won a fourth straight FIBA World Cup gold and 11th overall in Sydney, beating China ..... Lewis Hamilton violated a no-jewelry rule by wearing a nose stud in F1 qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix. No action was taken against Lewis Hamilton, but his Mercedes team was fined ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,351 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: Zero To Perfect: How Glory Days Dolphins Put Miami on National Sports Map / Fins' McDaniel, UM's Cristobal On Honeymoons, But Those Don't Last  / Dolphins Handle Rival Patriots 20-17 In Impressive Season Opener / Our 2022 NFL Team Ranking. Wait. Miami Dolphins Are WHERE!? / Why Hill & Waddle Are Dolphins' Best WR Duo Since Clayton/Duper / Canes Rout Bethune 70-13 In Opener, But We Don't Know Real UM Yet / 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 / As Optimism In Dolphins & Canes Spikes, Miami Flexes As A Football Town / 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 / Why Has Brady Skated On Tampering Role & Does He Still Have Future In Miami? / 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 Super Mario And The Cheetah were Sent To Save Football in Miami / How Messi-to-Miami Became the Biggest, Longest Tease In Sports / Why Miami Heat Should Re-Think, Go All-In For King-Whale Kevin Durant / Cup Of AK-47 Coffee At Cowboys Games? Nuthin' Wrong With That, Huh Jerry? / 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 / Florida Panthers Swap Coach Of Year Finalist For Guy No. 1 In Career Losses / 'Black Cloud' Over U.S. Open Amid Golf Civil War In Time Of Revolution In Sports / Heat Season Ends One Win (One Shot?) Short Of NBA Finals In Game 7 Loss / No Consolation, No Excuse: Panthers Swept From Playoffs In 2-0 Loss A Brutal End / 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 / Le Batard Bet On Himself And His Audience -- And Won Big / 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 / Marlins Hit History-Making Home Run With Kim Ng Hire As GM / 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).

September 25, 2022

The new Hot Button Top 10: Fins-Bills, Canes big losers (with column), Messi shines, Sandy wins, Heat unfurl, Federer farewell. Biggest HB10 ever?; plus new Greg Cote Show podcast drops Monday & more

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

1) It's SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. Be the change! Visit Change.org/MountGregmore and sign our petition to change the name of Mount Rushmore. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Tua propels Dolphins to big comeback wins, new Hot Button Top 10, new Greg Cote Show podcast, Mount Gregmore of columns.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE DROPS MONDAY!: Our 41st episode of 2022 and 132nd overall is out Monday morning! New episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify and wherever you pod. Find all 131 we've done so far HERE. In our most recent episode: Greg and Chris discuss the Dolphins miracle comeback win fueled by Tua Tagovailoa's six TD passes. Plus a touch of Canes, and a new "Hard Knocks: Greg's Lobos" featuring the world premiere of the new Lobos anthem. Also in the new ep: Greg and Chris discuss the father-son dynamic of the show; Bizarre facts about the Wizard Of Oz; The strangest way to accidentally cut yourself; David Beckham and the Queen; Chris and Yeti play sound to make fun of the funny ways Greg jumps in and contributes on the Le Batard Show when he has nothing to say; a new Dad joke of the week and more. Hit up GCS2240 for full story on latest ep, and watch our weekly YouTube preview. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review, follow, subscribe and so forth. We simulcast on Sirius XM, too, Mondays from 5-6 p.m. ET. And now our podcast has a website and merch store! Check it out at TheGregCoteShow.com and visit the store by clicking 'Shop'. New items including Lobos T-shirts and hats! Also check out our podcast's new YouTube channel.

PicksNFL Week 3 picks: We're off and running in our 32nd season of NFL picks in the Miami Herald, and you'd visit NFL Week 3 Gems to find all of our latest picks for Dolphins-Bills, our Game of the Week, Upset of the Week and all the rest. We have five (!) big upsets this week ... is Miami one? Opened the week with a mixed result Thursday night. Had Cleveland winning but not covering 4 1/2; the Browns won and covered.

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

NEW! Cristobal Honeymoon Ends With Thud As Canes Lose To Middle Tennessee NEW!

NEW! Everyone Loves Tua & Dolphins Now. But Can Bandwagon Survive Buffalo? NEW! 

Tua's Career-Redefining Six TDs Lead Dolphins' Miracle Comeback

Hurricanes Let Another Chance For a Big-Stage, Signature Win Slip Away

Texas A&M The Win Canes Need To Give Cristobal Era Liftoff, Make America Notice

Hilltop: The five columns before that: Zero To Perfect: How Glory Days Dolphins Put Miami on National Sports MapFins' McDaniel, UM's Cristobal On Honeymoons, But Those Don't Last / Dolphins Handle Rival Patriots 20-17 In Impressive Season Opener / Our 2022 NFL Team Ranking. Wait. Miami Dolphins Are WHERE!? / Why Hill & Waddle Are Dolphins' Best WR Duo Since Clayton/Duper

Note: Mount Gregmore Of Columns includes opinion columns only. NFL picks, QB rankings and stories on latest podcast episode are among stuff not included.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (SEPTEMBER 25-26): 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:

Hb1. DOLPHINS: Fins host Bills today in biggest game in how long?: A couple of 2-0 AFC East rivals play for the division lead today at Hard Rock in the biggest game of NFL Week 3 -- Buffalo the Super Bowl betting favorite, Miami coming off that exhilarating miracle comeback at Baltimore fueled by Tua Tagovailoa's six TD passes. Bills are missing three injured starters in their secondary but still are favored. How good are the Dolphins? Let's find out.

2. HURRICANES: UM embarrassed, QB benched in home loss to Middle Tennessee: Miami plummeted in the polls from No. 13 to 25th after last week's loss at Texas A&M and will fall completely out of sight now with Saturday's embarrassing 44-34 home loss to Middle Tennessee. QB Tyler Van Dyke got benched for Jake Garcia, the pass defense gave up TDs of 71, 69 and 98 yards, and Mario Cristobal's honeymoon ended with a thud. Canes are off next week then host North Carolina October 8.

3 SOCCER: Messi does not disappoint in friendly in Miami: Argentina looks ready for the World Cup in Qatar later this fall. So does Lionel Messi. The 35-year-old captain played all 90 minutes and scored twice, delighting a sold-out Hard Rock crowd in a 3-0 tuneup friendly over Honduras. Messi's pass to Papu Gomez led to the opening goal by Lautaro Martinez. Messi himself later scored on a penalty and an artful chip over the Honduran goalkeeper. It was Argentina's 34th straight match win.

4. HEAT: Miami Media Day tips off preseason, Bahamas training camp: Heat's annual Media Day at the downtown arena on Monday precedes the Tuesday-through-Saturday training camp in the Bahamas. First of five preseason games is October 4 vs. Minnesota. Barring a last-minute move the Heat has a quiet, stand-pat offseason that has surprised and disappointed some fans.

5. NBA: Off-court scandals rock Celtics, Suns as camps open: As NBA season nears the Boston Celtics suspended coach Ime Udoka for the entire coming season over a rules-breaking affair with a club employee, throwing his future beyond this season in serious doubt. That's on the heel of the suspension of Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver over racist and misogynist remarks and workplace culture. Sarver now sells he will sell the club.

6. TENNIS: Federer says goodbye with doubles loss: First Serena Williams, now Roger Federer. The retiring Swiss great bid farewell to the  game with a doubles loss in the Laver Cup tournament in London, alongside chosen partner and longtime friendly rival Rafael Nadal. Both were emotional as fans chanted Federer's name. Said Nadal: "An important part of my life is leaving too."

7. MARLINS: Sandy wins again, bolsters Cy Young claim: Miami is 63-89 with a six-game homestand ending today vs. Washington. NL Cy Young frontrunner Sandy Alcantara struck out 11 in a dominant 4-1 win Saturday to improve to 14-8. Fish are on road for six starting Tuesday at Mets, then close the season with three at home.

8. STATE COLLEGES (NON-UM): Florida falls, FIU crushed 73-0: No. 20 Florida fell 38-33 at No. 11 Tennessee and FSU should enter polls at 4-0 after 44-14 rout of Boston College. Closer to home it got ugly as FIU lost 73-0 at Western Kentucky and FAU fell 28-26 at Purdue. In other state FBS games (non-UM), UCF handled Georgia Tech and South Florida lost big at Lousiville.

9. SOCCER: Loss leaves shaky USMNT one friendly before World Cup: U.S. men's national team did not threaten and fell 2-0 to Japan in a tuneup for the World Cup, without star Christian Pulisic, the Chelsea forward, who was nursing a minor injury. Team USA faces Saudi Arabia Tuesday in Spain in its final tuneup match. That will be coach Gregg Berhalter final chance to assess before he must submit his 26-man World Cup roster on November 13.

10. MLB: Historic home run show by Judge, Pujols light up sport: Get us rewrite on baseball's history book as Yankee Aaron Judge -- cashing a Triple Crown -- became only the sixth player to achieve a 60-home run season while retiring Cardinal Albert Pujols became only the fourth man to reach 700 career homers. The power show has made up for a dull playoff race with all of the postseason tickets all but claimed.

Missing the HB10 cut: Florida Panthers open six-game NHL preseason on Monday with a pair of games at Nashville. Cats have a new star, Matthew Tkachuk (acquired in the blockbuster Jonathan Huberdeau trade) and a new coach, Paul Maurice, since finishing an otherwise stellar 2021-22 season with a second-round sweep by Tampa Bay ..... Playoff-chasing Inter Miami returns to play this Friday at Toronto. Herons are tied for seventh and last MLS East playoff spot with three games left ..... No. 5 Clemson escaped Wake Forest with a 51-45 OT win but 6-Oklahoma and 10-Arkansas were top-10 losers in college football ..... Two-time Olympic champion Eluid Kipchoge of Kenya broke his own world record in the marathon at 2:01:09 ..... U.S. leads Presidents Cup golf in Charlotte comfortably over the International side entering Sunday's final round ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is back with a new episode out Monday at 7 a.m. ..... Update: Countdown now 1,358 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: Canes Rout Bethune 70-13 In Opener, But We Don't Know Real UM YetUM'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 / As Optimism In Dolphins & Canes Spikes, Miami Flexes As A Football Town / 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 / Why Has Brady Skated On Tampering Role & Does He Still Have Future In Miami? / 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 Super Mario And The Cheetah were Sent To Save Football in Miami / How Messi-to-Miami Became the Biggest, Longest Tease In Sports / Why Miami Heat Should Re-Think, Go All-In For King-Whale Kevin Durant / Cup Of AK-47 Coffee At Cowboys Games? Nuthin' Wrong With That, Huh Jerry? / 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 / Florida Panthers Swap Coach Of Year Finalist For Guy No. 1 In Career Losses / 'Black Cloud' Over U.S. Open Amid Golf Civil War In Time Of Revolution In Sports / Heat Season Ends One Win (One Shot?) Short Of NBA Finals In Game 7 Loss / No Consolation, No Excuse: Panthers Swept From Playoffs In 2-0 Loss A Brutal End / 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 / Brady A Dolphins Part Owner? Why It Could Happen / 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 / Le Batard Bet On Himself And His Audience -- And Won Big / 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 / Marlins Hit History-Making Home Run With Kim Ng Hire As GM / 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: TwitterInstagramFacebookColumnsPodcastPodcast on TwitterPodcast on InstagramLeBatard Show. Book: Fins At 50. Songs: Letting Go (audio only) and The Ballad Of 1440 (with video).