Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Dolphins-Pats, Heat-Lillard, Canes escape, Fury ekes by, Prime .500

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (OCTOBER 29): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US LATELY: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 -- back after one week off -- 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, offbeat, damnable, funny or otherwise worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the 35th edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the new HB10:

1. DOLPHINS: ”Kein blick nach vorne auf Deutschland, Delfine!”: That means, “No looking ahead to Germany, Dolphins!” in the language of the country Miami will visit next week to face the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs in Frankfurt. First things first. New England visiting today. You know, the team that beat Buffalo last week? That better have gotten the Fins attention, even though they are 9 1/2-point favorites and Tua Tagovailoa is 5-0 against the remnants of Bill Belichick. (By the way, Dolphins a brilliant choice for in-season Hard Knocks. Tyreek Hill will own the damned show.)

2. HEAT: Struggling Miami with huge early test Monday in Milwaukee: Heat at 1-2 has not impressed with a home-opener escape vs. Detroit then losses in Boston and Minnesota. Next: The Greek Freak and Damian Lillard at the Bucks Monday. Jimmy Butler and the guys will be amped to prove they can still be contenders despite Dame being traded to a conference rival. Could get ugly. But the matchup going in is beautiful.

3. HURRICANES: Miami, Van Dyke do not impress in escape vs. Virginia: A 19-point home favorite ekes past bad Virginia,. 29-26 in OT Saturday. QB Tyler Van Dyke (two INTs) did not play well enough to win but lucked to get a pick-six TD from safety Kam Kinchens. We still don’t know how good this 6-2 UM team is. At N.C. State next is no sure thing, then it’s (uh oh) at No. 4 Florida State.

4. MLB: Well. Can’t we at least pretend Arizona vs. Texas is not that bad?: OK yeah Diamondbacks-Rangers is a lousy World Series that will do bad ratings because nobody much cares outside of Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix. On the bright side, Texas is after its first-ever World Series win and spared us the Astros! ‘Zona hasn’t won it all since 2001 and spared us the Phillies. So ... thank you? (Series 1-1 entering Game 3 Monday in the desert.)

5. BOXING: Fury survives split-decision with Ngannou: Heavy betting favorite Tyson Fury survived a third-round knockdown and a slit-decision to best Francis Ngannou in a much-hyped bout Saturday night in Saudi Arabia. Fury’s WBC heavyweight title was not on the line in the 10-round bout. Ngannou, the former UFC champion, was making his pro boxing debut in his first fight since January 2022. Fury must rally from this performance for his upcoming undisputed heavyweight championship fight against Oleksandr Usyk.

6. PANTHERS: Finding rhythm, Cats open road trip in Boston Monday: Stanley Cup finalists Florida is 4-1 since an 0-2 starts and opens a three-game road swing Monday in Boston -- the rival they upset in the first round of the playoffs last season. Sam Reinhart is among NHL leaders with seven goals. Cats have gotten just one apiece from Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, with Tkachuk finally off the schneid last night.

7. COLLEGE HOOPS: Preseason polls hint major drop for Miami men, women: Hurricanes men reached their first Final Four last season but are a modest No. 13 in the preseason rankings, though mainstays Nijel Pack and Norchad Omier return. UM women reached their first Elite Eight yet are not even ranked in the preseason polls, relegated to “Also Receiving Votes” (and very few at that). Canes men open November 6 and the women November 9.

8. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Hey, Prime. Less trademarking, more coaching?: Over the past few weeks Colorado coach Deion Sanders (“Prime”) has filed trademarks for at least 14 phrases, including Bull Junk, Give Me My Theme Music, Prime Time By Deion Sanders, Coach Prime2, Prime Effect3, Daddy Buck4 and It’s Personal. In related news, the Buffaloes are 4-4 and 1-4 in Pac-12 after four losses in five games with entering Saturday’s to UCLA. New trademark... Prime .500?

9. CULTURE WARS: Good for you, Travis Dermott: Care nothing about the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes. Had never heard of defenseman Travis Dermott. But appreciated that he wore Pride tape on his stick opening night in defiance of the new NHL rules against such pro-LGBTQ support. Saying he’d “ruffled enough feathers and gotten enough attention,” he has stopped, for now. But his gesture was mattered, and was needed. May other, bigger stars on skates be brave enough to follow suit.

10. BOXING: Remember Don King? Still around, and back in Miami: Famed boxing promoter Don King will mark his 92nd birthday (in August) with a card in Miami next Saturday. Bunch of fights, none particularly noteworthy, but the wild-haired showman keeps punching. The better days that defined him are now decades past, but he’s still in the promotion ring. Here is my Don King column from his June 2022 visit. Nothing has changed. Especially the hair.

Other most recent stuff from me: NFL Week 8 picks / Heat escape 103-102 over Detroit in opener but (uh oh) Celtics, Bucks next / Updated Herald NFL QB rankings / Dolphins still lead AFC East but much to prove after manhandling loss in Philly / They ‘buried the dead,’ now Panthers back chasing Stanley Cup that eluded them / Previous HB10 / And my latest podcast: