Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Aussie stunner, Messi hits road, world’s sloooowest runner and more

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (AUGUST 6): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US LATELY: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 feature had been blog-only, but since 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 major, offbeat, damnable, funny or worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the 26th edition of the new HB10:

1. SOCCER: U.S. women’s World Cup reign is over ... but it shouldn’t be: No shame in the two-time defending champion Americans finally losing on Sunday, to Sweden in Australia. It’s the way they did. In a game they dominated. In a game they twice had a chance to win on penalty kicks but could not. This is one they let get away, and it stunningly has the world’s No. 1-ranked team out of the World Cup in the round of 16. [Link to full column below.]

2. DOLPHINS: Zach Thomas in Canton a win for the underdogs: Objectively the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s nine newest members inducted Saturday was not a stellar class. No superstar quarterbacks. Only two first-ballot guys in tackle Joe Thomas and corner Darrelle Revis. But the induction of the great Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas was one worth cheering -- a win for underdogs everywhere. Called too small, not athletic enough, hardly recruited, not drafted until the fifth round, then made to wait 10 years to finally get in. The good won. Believing in yourself won.

3. INTER MIAMI: Messi’s American takeover hits the road for first time: Lionel Messi has scored five goals and Inter Miami is 3-0, all at home, since La Pulga came to America to join MLS. Now the apex G.O.A.T. plays his first road game for Miami tonight at 9:30 ET at fellow MLS club FC Dallas -- the winner advancing to the smeifinals of the Leagues Cup tournament. The match in Dallas sold out in 15 minutes. This is why MLS itself and major sponsors like Apple and adidas joined forces to bring Messi to Miami as he wished. Because not only Miami wins. The league and the sport in America do, too.

4. HEAT: It’s Dwayne Wade week in America (or at least in Miami): Former Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade gets inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. this coming Saturday. The hoops hall lets in way too many people, but there is zero doubt D-Wade goes in with top-tier, first-ballot cred.

5. NFL: The season just got started. Are we sick of Aaron Rodgers yet?: NFL preseason got underway with the Jets losing to the Browns in Canton, Ohio ahead of Saturday’s Hall of Fame inductions (Other teams open fake-game play next week.) The NFL wanted the Jets in its showcase exhibition opener because they signed Aaron Rodgers, who of course did not play Thursday. Same reason why the Jets are featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks premiering Tuesday. Prepare for a season of Rodgers-hype overload underlined by fawning media excess and a New York market that is the self-appointed center of the universe. Are we sick of Rodgers-in-the-Apple already? The bright side: One more reason to root against the Stinkin’ J-E-T-S.

6. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Turmoil! FSU may leave ACC over revenue sharing (and Miami is watching): Florida State president Richard McCullough said FSU will “very seriously” weigh leaving the ACC over its revenue sharing in the wake of realignment across the sport and big-money TV deals in the SEC and Big Ten as the ACC is stuck in its onerous long-term deal with ESPN. The ACC now rewards on-field success, but FSU is pushing to give more money to programs that generate higher TV revenue and marketability -- which also would include Miami. Can’t blame the Noles and Canes for being upset when they see Rutgers (!) pocketing $30 million more than them in TV revenue.

7. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Turmoil 2.0! Pac-12 continues withering before our eyes: Oregon and Washington are closing a deal to join, starting in 2024, the Big Ten -- which will soon by the Big Eighteen, mathematically. That’s the latest departures from the Pac-12, which already had lost USC and UCLA and is fast becoming roadside carrion in the Power 5, with the buzzards circling. The exodus is accelerating because departing schools are not required to pay an exit fee due to the Pac-12’s expiring TV contract. It also appears Arizona and perhaps Utah ad Arizona State also may be bolting for the Big 12. Will the last team still in the Pac-12 please remember to turn out the light before leaving?

8. GYMNASTICS: A welcome comeback for the queen, Simone Biles: Two years after winning bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, four-time gold medalist Simone Biles, at 26, returned to competition in a meet outside Chicago. “She can do everything that she was doing before,” said Biles’ coach, Cecile Landi. Biles was among victims in the Larry Nasser scandal and has acknowledge issues related to her mental health. Here competing in the upcoming U.S. Gymnastics Championships in San Jose August 24-27 and then the world championships in Belgium September 30-October 8 would mark a return that would lift the entire sport and interest in it..

9. NBA: Players union rips Orlando Magic’s support of DeSantis: The NBA Players Association has called the Orlando Magic’s $50,000 donation to a super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign “alarming given [DeSantis’] recent comments and policies.” The union supports the freedom of individuals within the league to support any political candidate but said, “If contributions are made on behalf of an entire team, using money earned through the labor of its [players], it is incumbent upon the team to consider the diverse values and perspectives of staff and players. The Magic’s donation does not represent player support for the recipient.” This comes in the wake of DeSantis comments supporting Florida’s new African American history standard that says some Black people benefited from slavery. DeSantis also has supported anti-LQBTQ legislation and the banning of books from schools.

10. TRACK & FIELD: What if a really, really slow person ran in a major 100-meter race?: Somalia’s sports minister publicly apologized and suspended the chairwoman of its track and field federation after an obviously untrained female “runner” represented the African nation at the World University Games in China -- and took 22 seconds (!) to finish a 100-meter dash. An embarrassment for the sport and for Somalia, but truly quite hilarious to watch 20-year-old Nasra Abukar Ali lumber and huff vs. actual sprinters. Looked like me out there!

Other most recent stuff from me: U.S. women’s soccer reign is over but shouldn’t be. They handed win to Sweden / Dolphins’ Zach Thomas in Hall of Fame a win for underdogs everywhere / Anger, frustration and 2 more goals -- Messi shows it all as Inter Miami tops rival Orlando / Enough, barely: U.S. women tie Portugal to stay alive in World Cup -- but doubts grow / Gratitude & Tears: ‘I finally got that win,’ says Dolphins great Zach Thomas a Hall awaits / Marlins honoring Miguel Cabrera is bittersweet. He’s the star they never should have traded / Previous HB10 / And my latest podcast: