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

NFL WEEK 12 RESULTS: HERALD PICKS X GREG'S LOBOS X QB RANKINGS:

Herald Picks: Ouch. A bloodbath against the spread -- We were an OK 10-6 overall but a lousy 5-10-1 against the spread, with the Eagles' 7-point win the pish for the tie. We were on a nice run ATS to get up over .500 fo the year but that came crashing down. Hit our Upset of the Week with Panthers beating Broncos ("Aawwk!") and had Lions with the points on Thanksgiving, but too little else went wenr right. Rebound time!

Greg's Lobos: Oh yeah! Champ 'Bos take over first place! -- The defending PFPI Fantasy champion Lobos are 8-4 with a tiebreaker edge for first place based on total points scored after a 144-121 win led by Tee Higgins' 25 points, Lamar Jackson's 22 and Nick Chubb's 20. We are angling for the No. 1 seed and a repeat title with two weeks left in the regular season of our 10-team family 'n friends fantasy league. This week we face the other 8-4 team -- my brother.

NFL QB Rankings: Lawrence wins close week, Mahomes maintains overall lead -- Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence edged L.A.'s Justin Herbert by less than a one point to win the Week 12 title while Chief Patrick Mahomes holds onto his overall lead in the Miami Herald NFL Quarterback Rankings. Miami's Tua Tagovailao slips one spot to No. 9. For the full latest Top 25 and more, visit NFL Week 12 QB Rankings.

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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: 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'? / 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.

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

1) It's SATURDAY, MAY 28. Skipped Le Batard Show again earlier this week, with apologies. Some health issues lately (as you may have heard on my newest podcast episode). Confident we'll be back in-studio next Tuesday! 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Panthers in peril, Heat win big Game 3, new Greg Cote Show podcast, updated Mount Gregmore of columns.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW. MOVIES! HANGERS! OPIE!: Our 23rd episode of 2022 and 114th overall is out now! A new episode drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify -- wherever else you pod and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all 114 we've done so far HERE, free. In the new episode: Back after nine months, the return of the popular segment 'Greg Doesn't Know Movies,' in which Chris and younger son Michael try to stump Greg on the simplest of movie questions. Also: the crew take the Hanger Reflex challenge; Greg reveals a dark secret about Opie from the Andy Griffith Show; Yeti performs an original song in honor of Chris' birthday; the history of Greg's three fan-boy Twitter accounts; and a heartwarming story about the neighbor who listened to porn loudly. Hit up GCS 2223 for full story on the 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. And now, brand new: Our podcast has a website and merch store: Check it out at TheGregCoteShow.com! There's new new merch in the store (click Shop) and free shipping this week only! 

MOUNT GREGMORE OF COLUMNS: OUR LATEST FIVE:

NEW! Jimmy Butler Just Saved Heat Season, Gave Us Greatest Gift In Sports: A Game 7 NEW! 

No Consolation, No Excuse: Panthers Swept From Playoffs In 2-0 Loss A Brutal End

Panthers' Magical Season Looking Out of Answers, Almost Out Of Time

Bam! Heat Take Back Control OF Series. Can Panthers Do The Same?

As Heat, Panthers Title Hopes Slip, These 4 Players Must Step up Now

Previous Heat/Panthers playoff columns: Panthers Suffering Crushing Loss, In 2-0 Hole Heading To Tampa / Panthers Drop Game 1 At Home To Tampa. Time For Huberdeau, Barkov To Step Up / Heat-Celtics, Panthers-Lightning: 3 Keys, Who'll Win & Why in Both Series / Wow! Panthers Close Out Caps in 6 for 1st playoff advance since '96 / Butler And Defense Rise Again As Heat Eliminate 76ers, Reach Eastern Finals / Verhaeghe Lifts Miracle Cats to Comeback Win, 3-2 Lead / Massive Defense, Return of 3's Lift Heat to Game 5 Win, 3-2 Lead / Panthers' Miracle Finish Sends Caps Series Back Home Tied 2-2 / Heat Falls Again, Series Now 2-2 Because Heat Has Forgotten How To Shoot 3's / No. 1 seed Panthers Risk Early Playoff Exit (Again) After 6-1 Loss, 2-1 Hole / Now The Playoffs Have Begun: Embiid Back As Heat Lead Cut To 2-1 / Panthers Remind Why They're Fun & No. 1, Tie Series In 5-1 Rout Of Caps / Bench Lifts Heat to 2-0 Series Lead. Now History Says It's Over / Uh oh. Panthers Collapse Late, Lose Game 1 at Home to Capitals / Herro, Bam lift Heat over 76ers in Game 1 To Launch Huge Week in SoFla Sports

Hilltop: The most recent five non-playoff columns: Why Quiet Draft With No 1st-Round Pick Was Great News For Dolphins / ‘Centerpiece of futbol in world’: Dream is green-lit. Now can Inter Miami deliver? / 31st Annual Official Miami Herald NFL Mock Draft / Only In Miami: Ex-Marlins Prez Samson Joins Fight vs. 'Boondoggle' Soccer Stadium / Marlins Declare 'Impatience," Delight Near-Sellout In Exciting Home Opener

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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: Blowing Up Dolphins' Brady-Payton Plan Parting Shot Of Flores Lawsuit. For Now / Heat 'Wildly Disrespected' No. 1 Seed, But that's Fine By Miami As Playoffs Begin / Inter Miami Has Been Major Failure For David Beckham. Here's The BIg Fix / Rotation Set, Lineup Improved, Excuses Gone. Time For Marlins To Win / 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 / Why Derek Jeter-Marlins Marriage Fell Apart / Mickelson's Support Of Saudi Tour Mirrors Sports' Blind Eye to Human Rights / 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 / Ranking Flores/Ross Bombshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals / Ross Should Be Done As Fins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True  / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemens A Shame on Voters, Baseball / Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom / Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / Canes Land Grand Prize In Cristobal, So No Excuses Left. New Glory Days A Must / 50 Years At the Herald For Me -- And a Lifetime Of Gratitude / UM And Blake James Parted Ways With Class -- Which Butch Davis Didn't Get From FIU / Quenneville Rightly Sacked as Panthers Coach Over 2010 Chicago Scandal / 'Time to Hunt': Cats' Hyped Season Off to Wild, Winning Start / Dolphins Fans, Ex-Players Gather For Emotional Farewell to Don Shula, Father of the Glory Days / If Sports Had A Spine, Kyrie Irving & Other Anti-Vaxxers Wouldn't Be Playing / Kyle Lowry Must Channel 'Doctor Of Greatness' If Heat Is To Chase NBA Title / Fairy Tale With Wrong Ending: Remembering Jose Fernandez 5 Years Later / 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 / Hot Seat Scale: Ranking Miami's Biggest Coaches By Most to Least Job Security / Nassib Coming Out As Gay NFL Player A Milestone In Sports History / Fate Snatched Basketball From Chris Bosh. His new Book Is Part of His Journey Of Healing / Where's Tua? Ranking Our Top 15 South Florida Pro Athletes 25 And Younger / Le Batard Bet On Himself And His Audience -- And Won Big / Justice For George Floyd Helps Heal Our Shaken Faith, But Fight For Equality Goes On / In History And In Hearts, Howard Schnellenberger Will Matter For All Time / Women Keep Accusing Deshaun Watson of Sexual Misconduct. But Will It Matter to NFL? / 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 / Doesn't Matter If Tiger Woods Never Wins Again. We Are Lucky He's Alive / Marlins Hit History-Making Home Run With Kim NG Hire As GM / In a Pandemic-Battered Season For FIU, Butch Davis' Love Of Coaching Survives / Don Shula, 1930-2020, R.I.P. / What Shula Meant to a Father & Son. The Boy Was Me

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

1) It's FRIDAY-SUNDAY, MARCH 18-20. 2) Visit BIG GAME: THE MUSICAL for Le Batard Show's latest venture -- which includes a song by me and reached No.1 on iTunes chart! 3) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, new Greg Cote Show podcast.

Two notes: I was in with Le Batard Show on Thursday this week; check out today's show podcasts. Hot Button Top 10 has the Sunday off. HB10'll be back next week! 

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 12th episode of 2022 and 103rd overall is out now! A new pod drops each Monday morning at 7 ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all 103 we've done so far HERE, free. In our newest pod, we welcome two special guests: JT Daly, production mastermind of the new Le Batard Show musical, and Joey -- the Babe Ruth of American jai-alai. (They are pictured). Hit up GCS2212 for the full story on the new ep. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, review and follow. Our pod simulcasts on Sirius XM every Mondays 5-6 p.m. ET). And watch for our weekly YouTube previews of latest episode HERE.

A PERSONAL NOTE, AND THANKS: I am honored to have been again named by Associated Press Sports Editors as a national Top 10 columnist for 2021 in '22 judging. The four nominated columns that won us the APSE distinction: Inter Miami’s David Beckham and Qatar a budding, avoidable controversy / Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson knows biggest victory happened in own family / Scorned, but does he deserve empathy, too? Behind who Aubrey Huff became and Miami Dolphins sabotaging Tua, season with misguided interest in Watson

DOLPHINS' MOVES GET HELP FOR TUA, BUT IT ISN'T ABOUT SURROUNDING CAST ANYORE. IT'S ON HIM: The kind folks on social media are snipers taking dead aim, as always. They are having fun making fun of the Miami Dolphins’ offseason. The theme in the Twitterverse seems to be that, while the rest of the NFL percolates with exciting major trades and big free agent signings, Fins general manager Chris Grier has picked a hell of a time for a long nap and forgot to set the alarm. It isn’t true. Well, not entirely, anyway. Miami entered the weekend having made 16 offseason transactions. Only Houston (17) had made more, followed by Detroit with 14 and the Jets with 12. (Ah, the company we keep!). The problem is the Dolphins, trying to make the leap from consecutive winning seasons to playoff-good, have made mostly gentle ripples amid the cannonball splashes all around them. Russell Wilson is in the AFC now, immediately vaulting Denver ahead of Miami in the sportsbooks. So is the best receiver in football, Devante Adams, doing the same for Las Vegas. Von Miller is now in the same division, further tipping the East Buffalo’s favor. ESPN’s latest free agent rankings have the top six most-improved teams all from the AFC, none of them Miami. Tsunami stuff is happening relative to the Dolphins’ strategic (and cost-effective) fine tuning. What I do like is that most of the notable moves have been aimed at building around and/or protecting third-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. For our full latest column, visit Dolphins' Moves Help Tua, But It Isn't About Surrounding Cast Anymore. It's On him.

WHY DO WE LOVE MARCH MADNESS THIS MUCH? LOOK TO PSYCHOLOGY. BUT FIRST, LOOK IN THE MIRROR: This is the closest we get in sports to sheer rhapsody, right? The next few weeks. Especially the next few days. We see a pristine, untouched NCAA Tournament bracket as we would a breathtaking sunrise, or a first born in a nursery. It is a document almost holy, the very proof of possibility. The words leave our lips like prayer. March Madness. Done with the pointless perfunctory of the play-in games, the final 64-team field tips off Thursday for the men and Friday for the women, and this year it feels especially big because we are welcoming back an old friend: Normalcy. Two years ago March Madness was swallowed up whole, canceled altogether by the mushrooming COVID pandemic. It felt almost blasphemous to erase our annual communal worship, maybe the only religion we can all agree on, but for many of us it was the first hard reality. ‘Whoa. This coronavirus [bleep] ain’t playin’.’ Last year the Madness returned, but only sort of, confined to in and around Indianapolis and played before very limited crowds. Now? (Cue Dick Vitale). WE’RE BACK, BAYBEEEE! For our full recent column, visit Why Do We Love March Madness This Much? First, Look In The Mirror.

TOM BRADY'S COMEBACK ISN'T ABUT ONE MORE RING. IT'S ABOUT HOLDING ON TO WHO HE IS: The two words he used to explain his comeback surely were not intended to be funny, but were nonetheless as Tom Brady announced his return to the NFL from his Twitter and Instagram on Sunday night. “Unfinished business.” Seriously? One could argue no athlete in the history of competition has retired with his business so completely and emphatically taken care of. I mean, seven Super Bowl rings, most ever. Career records for passing yards and touchdowns. Across all sports this is the grand marshal of the G.O.A.T. parade. Not since God created heaven and earth in six days has anyone earned a rest more than Brady. So, are we getting a bit greedy here, Tom? What is the unfinished business, exactly? A perfect season with nary an incomplete pass? Brady coming back to play (at least) another season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after a whole 40 days’ ‘retirement’ invites poking a little fun. What about that yearning to finally have more time with the wife and three growing children? Kids getting on your nerves that fast? Giselle hectoring you to get off your butt and mow the lawn? In announcing his retirement on February 1, Brady said his “100 percent competitive commitment” was no longer there. Some time during the past six weeks he must have found it, along with loose change, under the sofa cushions. Kidding aside, Brady pivoting on retirement is good not only for the Bucs but for the NFL and sports at large. This is a transcendent person of historic heft. Michelangelo. Sinatra. Hepburn. Jordan. Gretzky. Brady. He will turn 45 as training camp opens. Preposterous to say, and another element of his greatness: His game may be closer to prime-quality than anything creaking with age. For our full recent column, visit Tom Brady's Comeback Isn't About One More Ring. It's About Holding On To Who He Is.

Other most recent columns: The Moment Spoelstra Joined Miami Heat's 'Inner Circle' And Became Riley's Next Coach / Brittney Griner Is Lost In Russia Because Of Low WNBA Pay -- And NBA Failing To Help / and Larranaga, Meier Enjoy Resurgence Of Miami Hurricanes Basketball as March Madness Nears. Also: Le Batard Show Anoints Chris Cote To Save Jai-Alai / Tom Brady. Miami Dolphins Part Owner? Why It Could Happen and Why Derek Jeter-Marlins Marriage Fell Apart, Ended In Divorce.

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

1) It's SATURDAY, MARCH 5. Visit THE BIG GAME: THE MUSICAL for Le Batard Show's latest venture. Includes our original 'Back In My Day' song. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Personal note and thanks, new Greg Cote Show podcast, column links.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE WITH RYAN LOMBERG OUT NOW!: Our 10th episode of 2022 and 101st overall is out Monday. A new pod drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all 100 we've done so far HERE, free. In our newest pod, we welcome in the Florida Panthers' 5-9 dynamo hitman, Ryan Lomberg (pictured, on a dog sled). Fun chat with an interesting dude. Guaranteed, you don't need to be a Panthers fan or a puckhead to enjoy the conversation. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, rate, review and follow. (Our pod simulcasts on Sirius XM every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET).

A PERSONAL NOTE, AND THANKS: I was very honored this week to once again be named by Associated Press Sports Editors as a national Top 10 columnist in the major-outlet category. The Miami Herald also was honored as a Top 10 daily section, and earned a Top 10 in special projects for ours on the 5-year annniversary of the Jose Fernandez tragedy, a project in which I also was involved. (I have included a recent photo of myself that seems somber and somewhat unflattering; it is my 'serious journalist' look). Some of you have asked, so: These are the four nominated columns from 2021 (earliest to most recent) that won us the APSE distinction for column writing: Inter Miami’s David Beckham and Qatar a budding, avoidable controversy / Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson knows biggest victory happened in own family / Scorned, but does he deserve empathy, too? Behind who Aubrey Huff became and Miami Dolphins sabotaging Tua, season with misguided interest in Watson

TOM BRADY, MIAMI DOLPHINS PART OWNER? WHY SIGNS STRONGLY SUGGEST IT COULD HAPPEN: He retired as the greatest quarterback of all time, but have zero doubt Tom Brady remains a major player. Only this time it is a behind-the-scenes yet potentially starring role in all of the off-field drama surrounding the Miami Dolphins, embattled owner Stephen Ross and the franchise’s designated ownership-successor, Bruce Beal. There seems little question that Brady may be entwined in all of this, but how? Could be with a future ownership stake in the Dolphins. Or might it be as a witness in former coach Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL that levied serious allegations against Ross? New head coach Mike McDaniel signed on to lead a football team and revive the potential of Tua Tagovailoa, but walked into the mire of a soap opera full of intrigue. One that could be long-running. As Brady moves to Miami's exclusive Indian Creek, his close relationship with Ross and friendship with chosen successor Beal is worth exploring for what it might portend. For our full latest column, visit Tom Brady. Miami Dolphins Part Owner? Why It Could Happen. 

WHY CEO DEREK JETER AND THE MIAMI MARLINS' MARRIAGE FELL APART, ENDED IN DIVORCE: The announcement was abrupt and unexpected in a way that partings of this type seldom are in sports. There was mystery to it as well — Derek Jeter suddenly quitting Monday as CEO of the Miami Marlins. He had a lot to say on his way out, much of it trying to spin his four seasons with the baseball club as a success. But only one sentence, 18 words, cut to the truth and came close to revealing the why. “The vision for the future of the franchise is different than the one I signed up to lead.” Boom. Subtle as a 100 mph fastball under the chin, that verified there is little harmonious about this parting, which a Marlins source of ours described as mutually agreed upon. Jeter’s five-year contract as baseball’s only Black CEO was to expire later this year. He also is relinquishing his 4 percent ownership stake. For our full recent column, including what we hear on why Jeter resigned, visit Why The Derek Jeter-Marlins Marriage Fell Apart And Ended In Divorce.

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

NFL's TOP 10 MOST DISLIKED INDIVIDUALS: NFL's most despised person has been identified. A semi-scientific Twitter study by gaming website BetOnline.ag has answered the question. The conclusion was derived from than 1 million tweets analyzed by keyword association in December, including negative phrases such as "I hate so-and-so," "so-and-so sucks" and "bleep so-and-so." Here are Top 20 most-hated NFL figures (players and others), with number of negative tweets:

1. Aaron Rodgers, Packers QB, 266,850; 2. Antonio Brown, free-agent WR, 107,379; 3. Bill Belichick, Patriots head coach, 88,482; 4. Odell Beckham Jr., Rams WR, 84,399; 5. Deshaun Watson, Texans QB, 75,210; 6. Jackson Mahomes, Patrick's brother, 71,349; 7. Tyreek Hill, Chiefs WR, 62,379; 8. Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, 59,731; 9. Baker Mayfield, Browns QB, 51,285; 10. Dan Snyder, Commanders owner, 48,529.

The rest: 11. Cam Newton, Panthers QB; 12. Jerry Jones, Cowboys owner; 13. Kirk Cousins, Vikings QB; 14. Josh McDaniels, Raiders head coach; 15. DeSean Jackson, Raiders WR; 16. Jalen Ramsey, Rams CB; 17. Brittany Matthews, Patrick Mahomes' girlfriend; 18. Richard Sherman, Bucs CB; 19. Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys RB; 20. Robert Kraft, Patriots owner.

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ARCHIVES

Select other recent columns: An Inside Preview Of Le Batard Show's Upcoming Musical. Yes, Musical / The Lesson For Dolphins in Rams-Bengals Super Bowl Result / Ranking Flores/Ross Bombshell Among Biggest Dolphins Scandals / Ross Should Be Done As Fins Owner if Flores Allegations Are True  / The G.O.A.T. We Never Saw Coming: From 199th Drafted To History, A Salute To Tom Brady / Like Him Or Don't, Antonio Brown Not Always To Blame -- And Wasn't In Bucs Divorce / Ortiz Makes Hall, But Final Denial Of Bonds, Clemens A Shame on Voters, Baseball / Mahomes-Allen Air Show A Reminder How Much Better Dolphins And Tua Need To Be / Time Is Right (But Running Out) For MLB to Reinstate Pete Rose /'There Was A Pall On Us': The Panthers Season That Would Not Be Derailed / No-Vaccine Is Your Right. But There Are Consequences as Djokovic Was Reminded / State Of Miami Sports: Every Major Team, Graded Top To Bottom /Dolphins Firing of Flores The Unjustified Travesty Of A Clown-Show Owner / Canes Land Grand Prize In Cristobal, So No Excuses Left. New Glory Days A Must and 50 Years At the Herald For Me -- And a Lifetime Of Gratitude.

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

1) It's MONDAY, AUGUST 16. Love the new Elton John/Dua Lipa dance remix by Pnau called Cold Heart. It's a mashup of four Elton songs, two obvious (Sacrifice, Rocket Man) and two not (Kiss the Bride, Where's the Shoorah?). Listen and watch here. 2) Join me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And follow the Greg Cote Show podcast separately on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, too! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): The Dolphins prepare to unveil Year Tua, The unraveling of ex-Cane Aubrey Huff, What Messi's big move means to Inter Miami, Greg Cote Show podcast & more.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: GREG TALKS LE BATARD SHOW HOLDOUT ON NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!: Our 32nd episode of 2021 and 74th overall is out now! A new pod drops every Monday at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. You can find all 73 we've done HERE, for free. In our newest episode: Greg reveals details about his holdout from and future on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz. And, as Greg's Lobos gird for another fantasy football season, we welcome in a special guest named ... Greg Lobo! Also in the new ep: Greg's thoughts on the Dolphins' preseason-opening loss and on Armando Salguero leaving the Miami Herald. Also, a new Mount Gregmore! Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, rate, review and follow! (Our pod simulcasts on Sirius XM every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET on Channel 145).

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

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (AUGUST 15-16): 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. This week's HB10:

1. DOLPHINS: Tua (mostly) shines as Fins drop fake-game opener: Dolphins led at Chicago 13-0 Saturday at Soldier Field but lost 20-13. Nobody cares. It was a preseason game. This mattered more: Tua Tagovailoa launched his second season impressively with an 8-for-11 performance for 99 yards, with two of his top receivers not playing. Blemish: One bad decision and an end-zone interceptions. Still an encouraging start to Year Tua. Next: Saturday night vs. Atlanta in Fins' only home exhibition.

2. MARLINS: Hot Fish sweep reeling Cubs: Fish are 51-67 (12-17 since the break) in a six-game homestand after Sunday's 4-1 win over the Cubs completed a three-game sweep and made it four W's in a row for Miami. First game featured club record-tying 11-run inning. Reeling Cubbies have now lost 11 straight. Marlins now welcome in Braves for three.

3. INTER MIAMI: Four-game unbeaten runs ends at NYC: After an eight-game winless streak, Inter Miami carried a four-game unbeaten run (two wins, two draws) into Saturday night's game at strong New York City, but fell 2-0. Next: Miami, now 4-4-9, hosts a comparable (read: beatable) Chicago Fire squad Wednesday night.

4. SOCCER: Eyes on Paris, Messi as Europe leagues begin: League seasons are underway across Europe, with notable betting favorites Manchester City in English Premier League, Bayern Munich in German Bundesliga, Real Madrid in Spanish La Liga, Juventus in Italian Serie A and Paris Saint-Germain -- with Lionel Messi, soon -- in French Ligue 1. Messi's Paris debut is speculated to come after World Cup qualifying matches for Argentina in September. Best guess for his PSG debut: September 12 in Ligue 1 match or September 14 or 15 in UEFA Champions League.

5. PANTHERS: Cats sign ageless Joe Thornton: Center Joe Thornton will play a 24th NHL season, at age 42, and it will be in Sunrise after the FlaPanthers signed the ageless star to a bare-bonds 1-year, $750,000 contract. Thornton is first among all active players in career assists and points, and second in games played. Cats also signed forward Sam Reinhart to a 3-year deal.

6. HEAT: Miami prospects wrap up Summer League; U.D. re-signs: Heat prospects are 4-2 in Summer League play (2-0 in Sacramento and 2-2 in Las Vegas) after Saturday loss to Atlanta. One game remains. Meantime NBA continues investigating tampering charges against two teams related to recent free agency sign-and-trades, including Miami over its acquisition of Kyle Lowry. Believed to be at issue: Improper contact ahead of the official August 2 start date. Also, as expected, Udonis Haslem re-signed for a 19th season.

7. MLB: Good: 'Field Of Dreams'; Bad: Barstool deal?: Nostalgia was king as the White Sox and Yankees played a regular season game in Dyersville, Iowa at the site of the classic 1989 baseball movie Field of Dreams -- and with a Hollywood ending, Chicago's walkoff home run into the cornfields. The bad news? MLB is in broadcast talks with Barstool Sports in an apparent desire to gain a larger share of the sexist white frat-boy demographic. 

8. HURRICANES: Countdown 19 days 'til Alabama opener: UM fall football camp continued with a scrimmage Sunday -- now with less than three weeks until the No. 16 Canes open vs. No. 1 Alabama in the September 4  Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta. Meantime UM announced a home-and-home series with Brigham Young in 2026 and '28. Schools last met in 1990.

9. SOCCER: U.S, men crack top 10 in FIFA World Ranking: The U.S. men's national team leaps 10 spots to No.10 in the FIFA World Ranking on the wing of its Gold Cup win, the Americans' first time in the top 10 in 15 years. Illogically the U.S. is one spot behind Mexico despite beating El Tri two in a row including the Gold Cup final. U.S. women remain No.1 despite their disappointing bronze medal in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

10. NFL: Shortened preseason underway: Down from four games to three (still too many), the NFL preseason has begun in full as all teams play their fist exhibition game in a showcase of mostly scrubs trying to win depth roles. Fake Week 1 wrapped Sunday afternoon. The expanded 17-game regular season opens September 9.

Missing the HB10 cut: R.I.P., Gerd Muller. The German and Bayern Munich soccer legend passed away at 75 as the greatest striker there ever was. Ended his career with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 1979-81 ..... Field of dreams: Diamondbacks' Tyler Gilbert no-hit the Padres in his first MLB start. Nobody had done that in the bigs since Bobo Holloman in 1953 ..... Hundred paid respects to Bobby Bowden at the state capitol in Tallahassee ..... The Hurricanes have entered the NFT (digital) marketplace with "Canes Vault," billed as celebrating the history of UM athletics with collections of animated illustrations. An NFT (non-fungible token) is a unique piece of digital content that is a licensed collectible. Parents, asked your kids to explain it further ..... Florida Panthers signed Canes QB D'Eriq King to a Name-Image-Likeness) deal, making King the first college athlete to sign an NIL agreement with a pro team. King will appear at some games and events and on Cats social media, develop a merchandise collection, and have his concession menu item ..... Here was an email I got with a headline that made me laugh out loud and I'm not sure why: 'Introducing The Marlins Credit Card!' ..... Kawhi Leonard, as expected, will stay with L.A. Clippers, re-signing on a four-year, $176.3 million max deal ..... Breanna Stewart led the Seattle Storm past the Connecticut Sun 79-57 in the inaugural WNBA Commissioner's Cup, the first "midseason championship" in the league's 25-year history. Oh what a bad idea! ..... Can't-retire Philippines senator Manny Pacquiao enters the ring vs. WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugás in a pay-per-view event next Saturday in Vegas ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is out with a new episode Monday at 7 a.m. ET ..... Update: Countdown now 1,779 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

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

1) It's SUNDAY, APRIL 18. We were back on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz this past Tuesday. Find that day's show podcasts, including a new Back In My Day. One of the reasons I love being on Dan's show is the fans. They are super loyal, engaged and talented. Example: Dan jokes on-air that I should adopt a royal persona and walk into press boxes carrying a scepter. So a bunch of stuff related to that turns up online including the photo shown. So sublimely ridiculous. Love it. 2) The Greg Cote Show podcast is now separately on Twitter and Instagram. Join us on both! 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Why Dolphins should trade up in draft and go all-in for Kyle Pitts, Masuyama's Masters win lifts Japan in time of anti-Asian hate, Greg Cote Show podcast with Dave Parker and Roy Bellamy & more. 4) Join me on Twitter and Instagram.

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

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: LATEST EPISODE WITH DAVE PARKER, ROY BELLAMY OUT NOW!: Our 15th podcast of 2021 (57th overall) is out now! A new pod drops Mondays at 7 a.m. ET on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Megaphone, iHeart -- wherever you pod, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. However the pod is taking this Monday off with a new episode returning on Monday, April 26. So it's perfect time to catch up on our full catalog! You can find all 57 we've done HERE for free. In our latest Ep15 we welcome in two special guests: Former Pittsburgh Pirates star Dave Parker and, from the Le Batard Show, Roy Bellamy. Parker has a new autobiography out and he speaks about being denied the Hall of Fame, his fight with Parkinson's disease and more. And get to know the inscrutable Bellamy in a fun chat about his bucket list, what scares him and more. (And do we get Roy to sing? Find out). Also: The Mount Gregmore of all-time best food. Thanks as always for the support, pod family. Please listen, subscribe, rate and review! (Our pod now simulcasts on Sirius XM, too, every Monday 5-6 p.m. ET on Channel 145).

Our most recent columns: What Would Jackie Robinson Think About Race In America Today? / The Case For Dolphins Trading Up, Going All-In For Kyle Pitts / and It Won't Fix the World, But Matsuyama's Masters Win Lifts Japan In Time Of Anti-Asian Hate.

Personal note: I'm on holiday for a few days. The podcast has the week off but will return with a new episode Monday, April 26. I'll miss this Tuesday's Le Batard Show but will be back on April 27. This week's Hot Button was written Saturday morning. We'll return with a blog update and a new column on Wednesday.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (APRIL 18-19): WHAT SOUTH FLORIDA SPORTS FANS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Our blog-exclusive Sunday-into-Monday feature is part week-in-review, part look-ahead. Hot Button means what's on our minds, locally and nationally, from a Miami perspective, as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. This week's HB10:

1. DOLPHINS: Countdown 11 days until NFL Draft: The April 29 start of the NFL Draft is coming like a locomotive, with Miami weighing what to do with the No. 6 overall pick, or whether to trade up or down. This week's latest mock draft by ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. guessed the Fins will trade up to No. 4 and take Gators tight end Kyle Pitts. (In my dreams ... or in Brian Flores'). Meantime new Vegas over/unders on wins have Miami at 9 for the new 17-game seasons, or likely wild-card contention.

2. HEAT: Playoffs no given as slumping Miami hosts Brooklyn Sunday: An NBA Finals runnerup last season, the Heat is at risk of not making the playoffs this year after falling to seventh in the East at 28-28 after a third straight loss Friday night at Minnesota. Miami has 16 games left in the abbreviated 72-game regular season starting Sunday at home vs. star-laden Brooklyn.

3. INTER MIAMI: Year 2 in MLS unfurls Sunday for Beckham, new coach: David Beckham's Inter Miami hosts the L.A. Galaxy Sunday at it's-still-Inter Miami Stadium-to-me in Fort Lauderdale, with limited fans allowed. It's the debut for new coach Phil Neville. Miami's second match is the following Saturday at the Philadelphia Union.

4. PANTHERS: Cats remain in three-way fight for Central lead: Florida is 27-12-5 after Thursday's 3-2 OT loss at rival Tampa Bay, third in NHL Central but only a point off the lead entering Saturday's rematch at the Lightning. Cats bolstered for the stretch run with a flurry of minor deals ahead of the league trade deadline.

5. MARLINS: Fish shake off rough start, get hot: Miami shook off 1-5 start at home with a 4-2 road trip that including taking three of four in Atlanta, then won the first of three back home over the Giants Friday night with strong relief pitching and homers by Starling Marte and Jazz Chisholm. Marlins were 6-7 heading into Satrday and Sunday games vs. San Fran.

6. POLITICS: Florida House passes controversial transender bill: Florida's state Hour this week passed a bill that would ban transgender female athletes from joining women’s public high school and college sports teams. If signed into law the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act would require athlete eligibility to be based on one's biological (at-birth) sex. The NCAA reiterated support for transgender athletes and announced it would not host college championships in states where discriminatory laws exist.

7. AUTO RACING: Formula One in Miami moves closer to reality: A Formula One Miami Grand Prix race in 2022 in the area of Hard Rock Stadium moved a step closer to reality this week when the Miami Gardens city commission approved a resolution to support the race, angering some residents.

8. HURRICANES: Team Diaz wraps up spring football practice: Offseason work wrapped up Saturday with the annual Spring Game at The Rock. Coach Manny Diaz's Canes open the season September 4 with the toughest possible game -- vs. reigning champion Alabama in Atlanta. Home-game individual tickets go on sale this Wednesday.

9. SOCCER: UEFA Champions League semifinals set: Results last week fashioned a heavyweight Champions League final four, with semifinals matching Real Madrid vs. Chelsea and Paris-Saint Germain vs. Manchester City. First-leg matches are set for April 27-28.

10. OLYMPICS: Are the Summer Games in jeopardy again?: A senior Japanese ruling party official said canceling this summer's Tokyo Olympics remains an option if the pandemic crisis becomes too dire, with Japan experiencing a fourth wave of infections less than 100 days from the Games' scheduled start.

Missing the HB10 cut: Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade is now a part owner of the Utah Jazz. A piece of the Heat or even the Bulls would-a made more sense, but when opportunity knocks you let it in, right? ..... The Basketball Hall of Fame announced Michael Jordan would present the late Kobe Bryant at the May 15 ceremony ..... Twenty women who have alleged inappropriate behavior or sexual assault against Texans QB Deshaun Watson have now disclosed their names. This is getting serious-real, folks ..... Two no-hitters in MLB the past week. When did that stop being a big deal? ..... WWE releases nine wrestlers in a budget cut, and this is where I pretend I've heard of or will miss any of them ..... The Florida Panthers' privately financed $65 million renovation of Fort Lauderdale's War Memorial Auditorium is underway with construction of a new team practice and community ice facility. It is scheduled to open in Summer 2022...... The NCAA loosened its transfer rule. Starting next season major college football and basketball players may transfer one time before graduating without being required to sit out a year of competition ..... ESPN is mad at Alex Rodriguez because its own MLB analyst gave the scoop to The Athletic, not to his own network, that he and a billionaire partner were buying the Minnedosta Timberwolves. Hilarious! ..... Hurricanes baseball had dropped out of the Top 25 entering its weekend home series vs. Clemson ..... Patriots receiver Julian Edelman retired. Five words: Not a Hall of Famer ..... Browns snared edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney with a one-year deal ..... Texas center Charlie Collier went No. 1 overall in this week's WNBA Draft. League's 25th season tips off May 14 ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is off this week -- a perfect time to catch up on any of the 57 episodes you may have missed! ..... Update: Countdown now 1,898 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

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

1) It's TUESDAY, MAY 26. See our annual Memorial Day tribute below. 2) I'm pleased to be hosting this year's Miami Herald All-County Athletic Awards, an annual tradition since 1957 -- but virtual this time because of the pandemic. Mark it: We'll honor Miami-Dade & Broward's best in prep sports this Wednesday May 27 at 6 p.m. on the Herald's Facebook & YouTube pages. 3) Our Greg Cote Show podcast is now separately on Twitter and Instagram. Follow us on both! 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Pierce escalates beef with LeBron, why Dolphins have perfect QB room, sports' no-fans New Normal, Greg Cote Show podcast Episode 12, our Shula tribute columns, new Back In My Day video & more. 5) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote and Instagram.

It's Radio ... Wednesday: I'm on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz on ESPN Radio on Wednesday this week, not today.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: NEW EPISODE 13 OUT NOW!: Our new(ish) Miami Herald podcast, "The Greg Cote Show With Greg Cote," debuted in early March and the new Episode 13 is out now! Find a new episode out every Monday morning on Apple and Google Podcasts as well as on Spotify, iHeart, iTunes, Megaphone, Stitcher or wherever you do your podding, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all 13 episodes we've done so far right here. Please listen, subscribe, rate and review! In new Episode 13, we rock with Brendan Benson, co-founder of The Raconteurs along with Jack White -- a group that had the No. 1 album on the Billboard charts last summer. Brendan visits to talk about his new solo album (which we sample), the night Mick Jagger and and Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones visited backstage and more. Packed menu, including a celebration of Ryan Fitzpattrick's glorious pandemic beard. Don't miss it! Find every podcast we've done so far HERE.

My most recent columns: How Can A Man 6-7 Seem So Small? That's Pierce On LeBron / No Controversy Here. Dolphins Have Ideal QB Situation / and Welcome to Sports Without Fans, the New Normal.

My Shula tribute columns: DON SHULA, 1930-2020, R.I.P. and WHAT SHULA MEANT TO A FATHER & SON. THE BOY WAS ME

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (MAY 24-25): 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 (non)sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. This week's HB10:

1. GOLF: Tiger 'n Peyton win charity match: "The Match: Champions for Charity" took place Sunday at The Medalist in Hobe Sound, Fla. -- Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning defeating Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in a rain-soaked event that raised $20 million. That's one hell of a fore!-some. (Sorry). The best part? Seeing Brady not be great at something.

2. DOLPHINS: Benign comment sparks controversy because ... coronavirus: Dolphins QB Ryan Fitzpatrick said he'd like to remain the starter, not immediately step aside for rookie Tua Tagovailoa. It was no big deal but was chewed over as some controversy in the void of actual sports to talk about. The Fins made Fitzpatrick available on a video conference call and his always intriguing full beard was absolutely magnificent -- quite possibly the only good to come out of this pandemic.

3. MLB: Players respond to resumption proposal: The MLB Players Association responded to the sport's 67-page set of protocols for a planned early-July restart. Union addressed protections for high-risk players, access to therapies, testing frequency, protocols for positive tests, in-stadium medical personnel and sanitizing procedures. Players also object to some proposals such as arriving in uniform at the ballparks and no showering in clubhouses. Negotiations continue, with players' objections to proposed pay cuts another major obstacle to any resumption.

4. HEAT: NBA talking late July restart in Orlando: NBA insiders expect commissioner Adam Silver to soon OK the return of players sometime in June, with games expected to resume before the end of July. The league is in talks for a single-site restart at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, sans fans.

5. PANTHERS: Cats catch a break in NHL's proposed restart: Hockey proposes to resume its season this summer with a 24-team playoff that would whittle down to a 16-team Stanley Cup tournament with seven-game series -- all played in two as-yet-unnamed "hub" locations. The players association approved the plan. The Florida Panthers were not on playoff pace when the season stopped but would be among the 24 to make it under the new resumption format.

6. INTER MIAMI: MLS eyeing Orlando tournament for return: All 26 teams are expected to convene in Orlando for a tournament from late June into July, followed by a regular season of perhaps 18 games. However some players are balking because the tournament would separate them from their families for up to 10 weeks.

7. TOM BRADY: ESPN plans nine-part Brady documentary: Drunk with delight over the reception (read: ratings) for its just-ended Michael Jordan 10-part series, ESPN announced it would air a nine-part documentary series in 2021 that focuses on Brady and his nine Patriots Super Bowls, six of them championships. It will be called "The Man In the Arena: Tom Brady," unless someone steps in to alert ESPN what a bland, weird, bad title that is. 

8. CORONAVIRUS: The updated South Florida Games-Lost Tracker: The SFGLT updates you each week on how many major local pro sports games have been lost to the coronavirus shutdown. Through today/Sunday -- 96-plus games lost: Marlins have missed first 53 games of regular season. Heat missed last 17 games of season and at least two first-round playoff games based on NBA standings when season stopped. Panthers missed last 13 games but would not have made playoffs based on NHL standings at time of stoppage. Inter Miami, after playing first two games of season, has missed last 11. 

9. HOCKEY: Debut of new 3-on-3 league planned: A new 3-on-3 pro hockey league called 3ICE is set to debut in eight cities in June 2021, with eight head coaches already hired including Hall of Famers Grant Fuhr, Bryan Trottier, Guy Carbonneau, Angela Ruggiero, Larry Murphy and Joe Mullen. The teams are expected to be based in the U.S. northeast and midwest and Canada.

10. CHEERLEADING: Kentucky alumni back fired coaches: It's an historic first-ever HB10 appearance for cheerleading! More than 800 former Kentucky cheerleaders issued a joint statement in support of the powerhouse program's coaching staff, which was fired last week after an internal report revealed a lack of oversight and a culture of hazing. The former cheerleaders who signed the statement apparently considered the instances of inappropriate behavior, drunkenness and public nudity and said, "What's wrong with that!?"

Missing the HB10 cut: Defrocked cycling cheater Lance Armstrong, in the new documentary film "Lance" airing Sunday on ESPN, that he told "10,000 lies" over a six-year span to cover up his doping. I think he's lying. Bet it was more than that ..... The Stripchat Superdome? The Saints home stadium needs a new sponsor, and Stripchat, an adult website, announced a $15 million bid for naming rights ..... History: Vanderbilt made Candice Storey Lee the SEC's first African-American and first female athletic director ..... NFL owners, in a virtual league meeting this Thursday, will vote on a rule change that would allow teams, instead of an onside kick, to convert a 4th-and-15 play from their own 25 to keep possession. Would need 24 yay votes of 32. The guess here? Too XFL-y. Too radical for the starched NFL...... Josh Gordon, who leads the league in seeking reinstatement, is doing it again ..... MLB teams including the Miami Marlins are holding charity raffles as a part of the All In Challenge to feed those in need. Miami's winner will get to manage the team for one game alongside Don Mattingly, plus other perks, presuming there is a game at some point ..... NASCAR on Sunday runs its third no-fans race in seven days. In trying to catch up, the race schedule is now as crowded as the racetrack on a first turn ..... Hurricanes football is No. 11 nationally in ESPN's latest 2021 college recruiting rankings. They do not include transfers, so the Canes' biggest offseason get, quarterback D'Eriq King, is not factored ..... MLS expansion team FC Cincinnati hired Jaap Stam as its new coach, announcing him with a photo of someone who is not Jaap Stam. To whomever is running the club's social media, that's a red card! ..... Out there somewhere, still twisting in the wind: Cam Newton ..... The Super Bowl ring Patriots owner Robert Kraft donated to the All In Challenge raised a winning bid of $1.025 million to help feed those in need. Now that's what I call a happy ending for everybody! ..... R.I.P. longtime former NBA coach Jerry Sloan, 78 ..... The Greg Cote Show podcast is out with Episode 13 on Monday ..... Update: Countdown now 2,226 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup. Hopefully large public gatherings will be allowed by then?

MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE: This is the George Jones song, "50,000 Names." It was written about the Vietnam War memorial wall in particular, but the sentiment applies to all of America's war dead across time -- all of the soldiers who lost their lives and who we remember and honor today:

Featured other recent columns: As NBA, MLB Plot Return, We Miss Them -- Yet Sports Have Never Seemed More Trivial / Anticipation of Relevance, Excitement Is Tua's Gift to Miami / Hall of Famer Andre Dawson On Baseball and Owning a Funeral Home Amid COVID-19 / Miami Sports Right Now If Coronavirus Never Happened and Games Never Stopped / and Dolphins Are Winning Rebuild With 3-Year Plan That Won't Rush Top-Prize Tua

Also: Dolphins Aim High, Win Big With Tua Tagovailoa Pick / Greg Cote's 2020 NFL Mock Draft / Coronavirus, Tua Make This Dolphins' Weirdest, Most Interesting Draft Ever / Amid a Pandemic, to Florida, Pro Wrestling is 'Essential' / A Pie Chart of QB Possibilities For Dolphins / Baseball's Bizarre Restart Plan Would Be Unfair to Players / NFL Draft Will Offer Blunt Verdict on Canes' Talent / Ultimate All-Time South Florida Major Sports Trivia Challenge / Sports Should Stop Pretending It Will Resume Anytime Soon As Coronovirus Rages / How a Longtime Herald Sport Writer Came to Own a Top Contender in No-Fans Florida Derby / Time for NBA, NHL to Shut it Down, End Seasons / Le Batard Show Deals with Coronavirus-Related Upheaval / Brady Leaving Patriots for Tampa. Will Belichick Be Proved Right In Letting Him Go? / Miami Sports Now Utterly Engulfed By Coronavirus Threat -- But Precaution Is Justified / It's Dominate Or Bust For Dolphins GM Grier Over Next 6 Weeks

Select other columns from earlier in 2020: Inter Miami Is Market's Sleeping Giant As Home Opener Nears / Jeter Arrives At Camp, Calls Marlins 'Layered With Talent' / Dwyane Wade, His Transgender Daughter And A Lesson In Love / Pressure On Marlins for Big Improvement Now -- and It's About Time / Time For Anonymous Lone Voter Who Denied Jeter To Step Forward / Heat And Gloriously Impatient Riley Win In Trade For Iguodala / Return Of Ed Reed, Even If Mostly Symbolic, Leads Surge By Canes Football / Our two-part series: How One Man Long Forgotten Changed Everything For the Miami Dolphins and How Shula Made Dolphins Perfect and Made Miami Matter, And the Coach Today at 90 / Kobe's Death Sends Sports World Reeling, But Immortality Is His / Jimmy Johnson's Biggest Triumph? Knowing When To Quit -- And Why / and Announcing Miami Dolphins' 2010-19 All-Decade Team

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Revisit this blog often because it is updated regularly. The Associated Press Sports Editors writing awards ranked the blog's author a Top 10 national sports columnist in the major-outlet category in 2018. Greg is also a regular co-host on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz on ESPN Radio. Finding Greg Cote:  Twitter.  Instagram.  Facebook.  Columns.  Podcast.  Podcast on Twitter.  Podcast on Instagram.  LeBatard Show.  Book: Fins At 50.  Songs: Letting Go and The Ballad Of 1440.

1) It's MONDAY, APRIL 6. Hang in, stay apart and eventually we rise together! 2) Our new Greg Cote Show podcast is now separately on Twitter and Instagram! Follow the show on both platforms at TheGregCoteShow. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): NFL Draft and Tiger 'n Phil golfing a bad look right n0ow, fight boredom with our sports trivia challenge, time for sports to face reality, new Back In My Day & more. 4) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST: EPISODE 6 OUT NOW!: Our new Miami Herald podcast, "The Greg Cote Show With Greg Cote," debuted in early March and the new Episode 6 is out now! You can find a new Greg Cote Show out every Monday on Apple, Spotify or wherever you do your podding, and of course at MiamiHerald.com. Find all six episodes we've done so far right here. Please listen, subscribe, rate and review! Our podcast is a variety show, sports and non-sports, 3-0-5 and national, fun and (when necessary) serious. In Episode 6 we endure mockery in a new edition of "Greg Doesn't Watch Movies," and chat up Hurricanes AD Blake James about coronavirus, football, Manny Diaz and expectations: "We need to win the Coastal every single year." Check it out now HERE!

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (APRIL 5-6): 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 (non)sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. This week's HB10:

1. CORONAVIRUS: Sports continues its awkward navigation through a pandemic: Donald Trump had a conference call with top league commissioners to discuss when sports might resume but could give no definitive answer. With U.S. leagues trying to figure out when or if to resume, after shutting down and postponing seasons en masse last March 11-12, we are coming up on one month of having to stay at home with no live games to watch. Hey, the COVID-19's rising death toll has surpassed 65,000 worldwide and 8,000 in the U.S. Can we please stop complaining about no sports?

2. NFL: This month's draft on as scheduled: Despite most team general managers wanting a postponement, commissioner Roger Goodell says NFL Draft in Las Vegas will go on April 23-25 as planned, albeit remotely, sans fans. Meantime, owners as expected voted to expand the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams beginning in 2021.

3. GOLF: Tiger vs. Phil 2.0 in the works: Tigers Woods and Phil Mickelson dueled in 2018, Phil winning. Another match is in the works and might include Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, all for charity. Hey, here's another idea. The four of you each wrote a big charitable check and stay  the [bleep} home!

4. PATRIOTS: Robert Kraft does a very good thing: Kraft's private jetliner flew to China and brought back 1.2 million protective masks to aid in America's coronavirus fight. It's the first time in 20 years I haven't felt like booing the Patriots.

5. ESPN: Long-awaited Jordan documentary will air sooner: ESPN is moving up its 10-part Michael Jordan documentary, "The Last Dance," on the Bull's final championship season of 1997-98. It will now commence April 19 in order to sate a sports-starved nation. So that's where we're at? Eagerly awaiting the story of a season from 22 years ago?

6. NBA: Heat's Jones wins opener in video tourney: The NBA 2K Players Tournament began Friday night on ESPN with the Heat's No. 16-seed Derrick Jones Jr.'s Bucks upsetting the Nets' No. 1 seed Kevin Durant's Lakers, 78-62. So this is also where we're at? Ravenously watching a bunch of sequestered players playing a video game? Now the NBA and ESPN are talking about televising a game of H-O-R-S-E among top players. Gawd. 

7. BASKETBALL: Hall of Fame inducts Kobe, eight more: The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted nine persons on Saturday -- notably the late Kobe Bryant, along with Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and The Overshadowed Six.

8. TENNIS: Wimbledon erased from 2020 calendar: London's tennis major set for June was not postponed but canceled completely, for the first time since World War II.

9. TOM BRADY: New Bucs' QB finds a famous home in Tampa: Tom Brady is now renting Derek Jeter's mansion in Tampa. Of course he is!

10. GOLF: Will British Open be next to cancel?: Denying reports it would cancel, the British Open said it is weighing options -- meaning it may soon announce it too is canceling. Meantime the U.S. Women's Open postponed until December.

Missing the HB10 cut: The Greg Cote Show podcast, new Episode 6, is out Monday morning! Please listen, subscribe, rate, review and stay home ..... The WNBA has indefinitely pstponed the schedule May 15 start of its 24th season ..... Scripps said it would not hold its annual National Spelling Bee May 24 as planned, leaving a bunch of 13-year-old brainiacs totally c-h-a-g-r-i-n-e-d ..... The men's NCAA Tournament college basketball championship game was to be Monday night, before a pandemic wiped out March Madness ..... WWE's Wrestlemania 36, hosted by Rob Gronkowski, wraps up Sunday in Orlando, with no fans. Why bother? Pay-per-view $$$, of course ..... Major League Soccer is still saying its season will commence May 10. I'll take that bet ..... LSU football coach Ed Orgeron and his wife are divorcing. She gets the house. He gets to keep the gravelly voice ..... The XFL canceled the second half of its inaugural season, and nobody noticed ..... Keep booing the sign-stealing Astros, please. Even while they're staying at home ..... Update: Countdown now 2,275 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup, by which time hopefully we're all out of self-quarantine.

FEATURED RECENT COLUMNS:

NFL Draft, Tiger 'n Phil Not A Good Look Right Now

Ultimate All-Time South Florida Major Sports Trivia Challenge

Sports Should Stop Pretending It Will Resume Anytime Soon As Coronovirus Rages

How a Longtime Herald Sport Writer Came to Own a Top Contender in Saturday's No-Fans Florida Derby

In Midst Of Pandemic, A Horse Race

Time for NBA, NHL to Shut it Down, End Seasons

Backlash Over NBA Coronavirus Testing Mirrors Growing Anxiety, the New National Mood

Le Batard Show Deals with Coronavirus-Related Upheaval

Dolphins' Most Important Rebuilding Is Yet to Come

Brady Leaving Patriots for Tampa. Will Belichick Be Proved Right In Letting Him Go?

Desperate Fans Turn to NFL After Reality Of First Weekend With No Games

Miami Sports Now Utterly Engulfed By Coronavirus Threat -- But Precaution Is Justified

It's Dominate Or Bust For Dolphins GM Grier Over Next 6 Weeks

SONG OF THE DAY: An upbeat, optimistic message at a good time for it, from Brendan Benson's upcoming album, Dear Life:

Select additional recent columns: Repentant Cheater A-Rod Slams Astros With Lesson On How to Handle Their Own Scandal / Inter Miami Is Market's Sleeping Giant As Home Opener Nears / As NFL Free Agency & Draft Near, All You Need To Know About Dolphins' QB Situation / Beckham, Inter Miami Survive To Finally Reach Opening Week / Jeter Arrives At Camp, Calls Marlins 'Layered With Talent' / Dwyane Wade, His Transgender Daughter And A Lesson In Love / Why Marlins Aren't Pursuing Puig All About Change In Ownership / and Pressure On Marlins for Big Improvement Now -- and It's About Time / It's Time For Anonymous Lone Voter Who Denied Jeter To Step Forward / Heat And Gloriously Impatient Riley Win In Trade For Iguodala / Return Of Ed Reed, Even If Mostly Symbolic, Leads Surge By Canes Football / Poor Dolphins Finally Getting Rid Of Brady Only to Have Mahomes Take His Place / Our two-part series: How One Man Long Forgotten Changed Everything For the Miami Dolphins and How Shula Made Dolphins Perfect and Made Miami Matter, And the Coach Today at 90 / Kobe's Death Sends Sports World Reeling, But Immortality Is His / Jimmy Johnson's Biggest Triumph? Knowing When To Quit -- And Why / and Announcing Miami Dolphins' 2010-19 All-Decade Team.

Visit Greg Cote Column Headquarters, and revisit this blog often because it updates regularly. The Associated Press Sports Editors 2018 writing awards ranked the blog's author a Top 10 national sports columnist in the major-outlet category. Author of 'Fins At 50,' available on Amazon. Regular co-host on the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz on ESPN Radio and ESPNews. Follow on Twitter @gregcote; also on Instagram and Facebook.And check and our new The Greg Cote Show With Greg Cote podcast HERE and listen, subscribe, rate and review for free!

1) It's SATURDAY, MARCH 14. Coronoavirus threat, sure. But at least we all survived Friday the 13th -- even you paraskevidekatriaphobes. 2) A new Back In My Day video (Flavored Coffee!) premiered Tuesday on the Le Batard Show on ESPN Radio. Watch the video here: pic.twitter.com/jEeboy2jSR. 3) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, Premiere Week for new Greg Cote podcast & more. 4) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.

GREG COTE SHOW PODCAST EPISODE 2 NOW OUT!: Our new Miami Herald podcast, "The Greg Cote Show With Greg Cote," premiered last Monday and is out with Episode 2 now! You can find it by searching 'Greg Cote Show' on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you do your podding. Or find it directly right here. Please listen and subscribe! Subscribing is totally free and so important to what we're doing in this new project. Our podcast is a variety show, sports and non-sports, 3-0-5 and national, fun and (when absolutely necessary) serious. Check out Episode 2 now! (Episode 3 drops Monday morning).

MAJOR MIAMI SPORTS EVENTS ENGULFED BY GROWING CORONAVIRUS SCANDAL. NEW COLUMN--UPDATED!: Sports is at the mercy of the spreading coronavirus outbreak, with leagues unsure what to do about the growing threat, and fans in a state of abeyance. Elsewhere games and sporting events have been canceled or postponed, or played to empty houses — no fans allowed. Just this week the NBA suspended its season until further notice and the NCAA Tournament said games would be played in empty stadiums, after the NBA, MLB, NHL and Major League Soccer jointly announced that media members would be denied access to team lockerrooms as a precaution against the spread of a virus that can be deadly. Teams have instructed baseball players to not sign autographs. The Ivy League basketball tournament was canceled. All sports in Italy are on hold until April 3 at the earliest. Wednesday’s Champions League soccer match in Paris was played with no fans in attendance. The start of Japan’s baseball season was delayed. Ohio’s governor recommends no fans be allowed at indoor events. Will next month’s NFL Draft in Las Vegas become a closed event with no fans allowed? In South Florida the NBA suspension has stopped all Heat games for now, the NHL suspension has stopped all Panthers games for now, the Miami Open tennis tournament was canceled, the MLS suspended its season and thus that of new team Inter Miami, and it was announced NASCAR's upcoming Homestead race would be run with no spectators. Now MLB has canceled the rest of spring training. All this comes at a time of year the sports calendar had been especially packed with major events anticipating big crowds. Still on, at least for now, as teams, leagues, government and health officials grapple with how to best deal with a threat that already has essentially closed the entire country of Italy and is ow officially a pandemic: The Marlins’ Opening Day on March 26 and the Florida Derby on March 28. Stay tuned. My latest column is updated with the latest developments. To read in full, WITH NO PAYWALL, please visit Miami Sports Now Utterly Engulfed By Coronavirus Threat -- But Precaution Is Justified.

WITH MONEY AND PICKS GALORE, PRESSURE ON DOLPHINS GM GRIER TO WIN NEXT 6 WEEKS: For the Miami Dolphins the next six weeks will shape a forlorn franchise’s immediate and long-term future. But the coming free agency period and NFL Draft will not be about any one player as much as it will be an overall referendum on general manager Chris Grier, the man out front in roster decisions. (He is pictured with coach Brian Flores). This begins Grier's fifth season as GM and third with say over personnel, and he begins the biggest month-plus of his professional life. It will dramatically and quickly turn the Dolphins competitive, or be a seismic disappointment. The question: Are Grier and his braintrust including owner Stephen Ross and coach Brian Flores -- up to the challenge. Miami has hit the lottery in terms of available spending money and draft picks. That means Grier and Co. have every opportunity and no excuse to fail. For our full recent column, please visit It's Dominate Or Bust For Dolphins GM Grier Over Next 6 Weeks.

Other most recent columns: Repentant Cheater A-Rod Slams Astros With Lesson On How to Handle Their Own Scandal / Inter Miami Is Market's Sleeping Giant As Home Opener Nears and As NFL Free Agency & Draft Near, All You Need To Know About Dolphins' QB Situation. Also: Beckham, Inter Miami Survive To Finally Reach Opening Week / Jeter Arrives At Camp, Calls Marlins 'Layered With Talent' / Dwyane Wade, His Transgender Daughter And A Lesson In Love / Why Marlins Aren't Pursuing Puig All About Change In Ownership and Pressure On Marlins for Big Improvement Now -- and It's About Time.

'ORDINARY MAN': NEW OZZY VIDEO: I've talked up this song before. Here's the new, official video for it:

Other select recent columns: It's Time For Anonymous Lone Voter Who Denied Jeter To Step Forward / Heat And Gloriously Impatient Riley Win In Trade For Iguodala / Return Of Ed Reed, Even If Mostly Symbolic, Leads Surge By Canes Football / Poor Dolphins Finally Getting Rid Of Brady Only to Have Mahomes Take His Place / And our two-part series: How One Man Long Forgotten Changed Everything For the Miami Dolphins and How Shula Made Dolphins Perfect and Made Miami Matter, And the Coach Today at 90. Also: Chiefs, Mahomes And A Former Dolphin Win Super Bowl 54 -- And So Does Miami / Kobe's Death Sends Sports World Reeling, But Immortality Is His / How The NFL, Even Amid Safety Concerns, Bounced Back And Is Healthier Than Ever / How Miami Went From Forgotten to Back On Top As 'Super Bowl City' / Jimmy Johnson's Biggest Triumph? Knowing When To Quit -- And Why / Announcing Miami Dolphins' 2010-19 All-Decade Team / On Miami's Home Field, Gators Remind Canes How to Win Major Bowl Game and We Are The Champions: How South Florida Came to Own the State in High School Football.

1) It's MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17. We're back from a week's vacation. Details here below the new Hot Button Top 10. 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Hot Button Top 10, links to latest columns & more. 3) Join us on Twitter.com/gregcote. Also on Facebook and Instagram.

Our most recent columns:

(*) It's Time For Anonymous Lone Voter Who Denied Jeter To Step Forward.

(*) Heat And Gloriously Impatient Riley Win In Trade For Iguodala.

(*) Return Of Ed Reed, Even If Mostly Symbolic, Leads Surge By Canes Football.

(*) Poor Dolphins Finally Getting Rid Of Brady Only to Have Mahomes Take His Place.

(*) Two-part series: How One Man Long Forgotten Changed Everything For the Miami Dolphins; 2) How Shula Made Dolphins Perfect and Made Miami Matter, And the Coach Today at 90.

HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (FEBRUARY 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. This week's HB10:

1. DWYANE WADE: It's "L3GACY Celebration" Week in Miami: A jersey retirement ceremony isn't enough. Uh uh. Not big enough. Not for this guy. So the Heat will celebrate Dwyane Wade's career with three nights of arena events: "The Flashback" career retrospective (for season-ticket holders only) this coming Friday night; jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of Saturday night's game vs. Cleveland; and the premiere of a new documentary about Wade next Sunday.

2. MARLINS: Spring is sprung as Year 3 of Jeter Era gets underway: The Marlins' first full-squad workout of spring training in Jupiter is this Wednesday (pitchers and catchers already have reported) and Miami's Grapefruit League exhibition schedule commences next Saturday February 22. It's Year 3 of the Derek Jeter Era. Noticeable improvement, por favor?

3. NBA: All-Star Game, tribute to Kobe go off in Chicago: It was Team LeBron edging Team Giannis 157-155 in Chicago last night in the 69th NBA All-Star Game, with the recent death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash hanging over the proceedings, which will included tributes to Bryant. Kobe, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett will lead hall of fame inductees in the 2020 eligibility list just announced.

4. NASCAR: Daytona 500 postponed until Monday: Jimmie Johnson's farewell season and an appearance by Donald Trump were notable on Sunday as NASCAR opened its season with its most famous race. Alas, inclement weather postponed the D500 until today. Homestead will rev up again soon enough, this year hosting the sixth race on March 22 after years hosting the finale.

5. HEAT: Bam, Jimmy lead Miami all-stars at break: Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler repped the Heat in last night's NBA All-Star Game, after Adebayo won Saturday's Skills Challenge and Derrick Jones Jr. won the dunk contest. Miami is 35-19 and fourth in the East at the break, but only 4-6  since January 24 and looking to start the second half strong when games resume this Thursday in Atlanta. 

6. MLB: Astros cheating mess getting worse and worse: Houston staged a universally scorned apology press conference that really wasn't, only making matters worse in its scandal over sign-stealing that tarnishes its 2017 World Series title. What a mess clouding the start of spring training. Damned baseball can't ever seem to get out of its own way.  

7. PANTHERS: Slumping Cats trying to regain footing in NHL playoff chase: Once-hot Panthers have cooled in February (only 2-7 this month), and are now four points off NHL playoff pace in the East after Saturday's loss to Edmonton. Now it's five straight away on a West Coast road trip.

8. UM BASEBALL: Canes open season with sweep, await visit by Gators: UM, No. 7-ranked by USA Today, awaits a home series vs. No. 10 Florida next weekend after a Wednesday game vs. Kent State. Miami opened its season with a three-game series with Rutgers, completing a sweep on Sunday. 

9. INTER MIAMI: Getting close now. So, so close...: Inter Miami's inaugural Major League Soccer season begins March 1 in Los Angeles, with the historic first home game in Fort Lauderdale on March 14 at the old Lockhart site. Let the countdown begin!

10. CANES HOOPS: Average UM teams need a strong finish, and a prayer: Miami men are 13-12 after Saturday's win at Wake Forest and the Canes women are also 13-12 after beatng Clemson Sunday, both with five games left in the regular season. Each needs a strong finish and some sort of splash in the ACC Tournament for any prayer of an NCAA Tournament bid. Doesn't help that neither has beaten a Top 25 team.

Missing the HB10 cut: The Las Vegas Raiders reportedly are prepared to offer Tom Brady a two-year, $60 million free agent contract. Which sounds like a rumor planted by Tom Brady's agent ..... Has the XFL folded yet? ..... Getting close: UM spring football practice begins February 29. The NFL Scouting Combine commences February 27 ..... Update: Countdown now 2,317 days (give or take) until Miami hosts its first match in soccer's 2026 World Cup.

MAN WHO DISLIKES BOTH DISCO MUSIC AND DANCING GOES ON 'DISCO CRUISE': That would be me. I love a wide spectrum of music, but disco may be my least favorite of any type. The genre lends itself to dancing -- which I don't particularly enjoy, either. Yet there I was on a five-day 'Disco Cruise' this past week from Miami to Key West and Nassau aboard the Celebrity Infinity. Went with my wife and another couple because the women thought it would be fun ... and it was, primarily (for me, at least) because a premium drink package and a casino meant I was free to partake of as much or as little of the actual disco music as I wished. In fairness I must say most of the performers were quite good, albeit entirely as nostalgia acts churning out 40-year-old songs. And of course in the case of the Jacksons, the Miracles, the Commodores, the Blue Notes and others, the acts typically were missing the one person who made them most famous (that would be Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie and Harold Melvin, chronologically). Many acts were one-hit wonders, such as The Trammps (Disco Inferno) and Sister Sledge (We Are Family). There were tribute bands for Earth Wind & Fire (so so) and Abba (really good). The headline act, KC & the Sunshine band, was a disappointment for me, although, in fairness, based on crowd reaction, I think my opinion was clearly in the minority. Frontman Harry Casey did his best, but at age 69 and by his own  admission really overweight, the spins and dance moves were excruciating to watch and the show was overly choreographed and almost Broadway-like in bombast and overproduction. KC poked fun at his own weight gain, joking the band maybe should be call "KFC" and the Sunshine Band. Still, give the Miami-born entertainer credit for a long and enduring career -- one given a new kind of life by these disco cruises. 

Other select recent columns: Chiefs, Mahomes And A Former Dolphin Win Super Bowl 54 -- And So Does Miami and Kobe's Death Sends Sports World Reeling, But Immortality Is His. Also: How The NFL, Even Amid Safety Concerns, Bounced Back And Is Healthier Than Ever / How Miami Went From Forgotten to Back On Top As 'Super Bowl City' / Jimmy Johnson's Biggest Triumph? Knowing When To Quit -- And Why / Announcing Miami Dolphins' 2010-19 All-Decade Team / On Miami's Home Field, Gators Remind Canes How to Win Major Bowl Game and We Are The Champions: How South Florida Came to Own the State in High School Football.