Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Heat, Cats, Draft, Reggie’s trophy, Messi keeps being fabulous & more
GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (APRIL 28): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US THIS WEEK: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 had been blog-only but when our blog retired it moved, re-imagined, to online-only. HB10 means what’s on our minds, locally and nationally, but from a Miami perspective and accentuating stuff that’s big, weird, damnable, funny or otherwise worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the 57th edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the new HB10:
1. HEAT: Panic, then hope, now back to panic again for Miami vs. Celtics: An opening -rout loss and it looked like Miami faced being swept. A huge, unexpected Game 2 Heat win and there was (cautious) hope. Then Saturday night’s 104-84 home loss by Miami let the despair back in. A 2-1 series sounds close, but is this one ... really? A Game 4 is early for a must-win feel, but that seems like the stakes Monday night back home as the No. 8 seed missing Jimmy Butler again goes slingshot against the No. 1-seed Goliath. Full column: Florida Panthers still in charge but Miami Heat back in trouble after both lose Saturday.
2. PANTHERS: Florida loses; settling for ‘gentleman’s sweep’?: Cats’ 6-3 loss for a split in Tampa means a 3-1 Panthers series lead heading back home to the Sunrise rink for Game 5 Monday night. In NHL playoff history teams up 3-1 have gone on to win the series 90.5 percent, or 306 of 338 occurrences. And Cats would have two of last three at home. A warning sign, though, in Saturday’s loss: Florida must be wary of its special teams, a Tampa strength. Lightning was 2-for-5 on power plays Saturday, and only one of six goals given up was in standard 5-on-5 situations. One of the goals allowed was on 5-on-3 disadvantage. Stay out of the box, Cats! Full column: Florida Panthers still in charge but Miami Heat back in trouble after both lose Saturday.
3. DOLPHINS: Chop Robinson fronts low-watt (and curious) NFL Draft for Miami: Don’t believer in instant draft “grades” but I’d find it hard to judge Miami’s get more than average. 1R--Chop Robinson (Edge, Penn State) did not fill pressing need unless the fear is both Jaelan phillips and Bradley Chubb won’t be back from injuries as season starts. 2R--Patrick Paul (OT, Houston) is a developmental reach rated draft’s 132nd overall. Need interior OL-line help much more. 4R--Jaylen Wright (RB, Tennessee) has great speed but at a loaded position. 5R--Mohammad Kamara (Edge, Colorado State) doubles up on a position already taken first. Then last three picks brought a pair of receivers and a safety. That’s none of your picks bull’s-eyeing your biggest need. A bit strange. Not taking center Graham Barton could haunt.
4. INTER MIAMI: While you weren’t watching, Messi continued being fabulous!: Lots going on in So Fla sports, with Heat and Panthers playoff runs and buildup to NFL Draft. But while we hit pause on paying attention for a minute, Inter Miami and Lionel Messi have been pretty great in MLS, shaking off a disappointing finish in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Miami sits atop the MLS East with 21 points in 11 matches (6-3-2), with a league-leading 26 goals. And Messi has overtaken the MLS scoring lead with nine goals in only seven league matches.
5. NFL: Caleb dethrones Caitlin for draft night merch-moving: Caitlin Clark was the queen for about a minute. Actually, 10 days. The Indiana Fever guard, No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft on April 15, broke the existing record for draft-night merch sales with her No. 22 jersey selling out in hours. Ten days later, based on Fanatics sales of jerseys and other apparel, No. 1 pick Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears broke Clark’s mark in a QB-heavy NFL Draft first round Thursday night.
6. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: The peculiar reaction to Reggie Bush getting Heisman back: I don’t begrudge the former USC running back star getting his 2005 Heisman Trophy back after it was taken in 2010. But I also don’t get it being largely hailed as justice-served for a man wronged. That isn’t the case. The trophy was taken away because -- against the rules of the day -- Bush and his family were found to have received cash, travel expenses and a rent-free home from prospective sports agents while at USC, major NCAA violations at the time. Bush being welcomed back heroically is a retrofitting of history because he’d have been rich back then under current N.I.L. rules and wouldn’t have had to cheat. But that does not mean he wasn’t guilty under the rules of the day.
7. MEDIA: McAfee lands Belichick, fails to ask the one question that matters: Six-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick failed to land a coaching position in the NFL for the 2024 season, and is now a highly sought free-agent media voice yet unsigned to a major deal. But he did agree to work with ESPN’s “Pat McAfee Show Draft Spectacular” for the NFL Draft, airing on YouTube and ESPN+. McAfee first had Belichick on Wednesday but failed to address the proverbial pachyderm in the room by not Bill about his inability to attracted a head coaching job. Tweet! Flagrant foul on McAfee!
8. OLYMPICS: A feel-good story to cheer for: Remember the name Dylan Beard. You may see him soon in Summer Olympics in Paris. Meantime you may see him making your cold-cut sandwich. Beard, who is from Baltimore and ran in college at Howard, splashed onto the Olympic radar as a surprise winner of the 60-meter hurdles at the Millrose Games in February, earning a spot in the U.S. track & field Olympic trials in Oregon in June. He also works full-time at the deli counter at a Walmart, as a rare Olympic-quality athletes who is not sponsored (for now). In his case, call his job fast-food indeed.
9. SOCCER: Real Madrid new Champions League pick entering semifinals: Updated UEFA Champions League title odds lay out as Real Madrid at +140 the new betting darling on the wing of eliminating mighty Manchester City. Then it’s Paris Saint-Germain +250, Bayern Munich +275 and Borussia Dortmund +900. First-leg semifinals are this Tuesday and Wednesday with Bayern vs. Real and PSG-Dortmund. Real has won a record 14 titles, last in 2022. Bayern has won six times, last in 2020. Dortmund won for the only time in 1997 and PSG seeks its first Euro crown.
10. MARLINS: Bad and slumping is no way to go through life, son: Over on the sad sign of town the Marlins are 6-22, have lost five games in a row, are on pace to finish 35-127, and have the second-worst record in MLB. (Thank you, White Sox!) Stinkin’ Fish finish up today and Monday at Washington then take their road-kill show to Colorado. Starts with you, owner Bruce Sherman. Spend!
Other most recent stuff from me: Florida Panthers still in charge but Miami Heat back in trouble after both lose Saturday // Florida Panthers crush Tampa with 5-3 win for 3-0 series lead, & history says it’s over // NFL Draft: Greg Cote hits 9 big Exactos in hot mock draft; Dolphins get Chop Robinson // Cote on the clock! Miami Herald 33rd annual NFL mock draft: Dolphins pick, whole 1st round // Verhaeghe OT goal has Florida Panthers up 2-0, & it’s panic time for Tampa Bay // Game 1s see Panthers, Heat on separate paths: One chasing title, one facing sweep // Miami Heat wins ... or did they? No Butler makes Boston brutal first-round mathup // Celebrate Dawn Staley, Caitlin, women’s hoops. Men’s final could not live up // New season, same problem: Miami Marlins’ way-too-low spending unfair to players, insult to fans // Previous HB10 // And my latest podcast:
