Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Dolphins’ Game of Century, TVD drowns UM, Messi grows galaxy & more

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (NOVEMBER 5): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US LATELY: 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, offbeat, damnable, funny or otherwise worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the 36th edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the new HB10:

1. DOLPHINS: Is today Fins’ biggest regular-season game this century?: Dolphins last won a playoff game on December 30, 2000. They have played only five since, going 0-5. That is why today’s game vs. reigning champion Kansas City in Frankfurt, Germany feels like biggest Dolphins game this century -- in the regular season, at least. The opponent, international stage, fight for top seed in AFC and legit Super Bowl hopes all make it so. Both Dolphins losses so far have been to quality opponents (Bills, Eagles), so this is a needed chance for Miami to show it can play with the big boys. [Historical note: NFL played five exhibitions in Berlin in 1990-94, one each preseason including Dolphins- Broncos in ‘92. Fins-Chiefs on Sunday is the second regular season game in Germany, after Bucs and Seahawks played in Munich last season.)

2. HURRICANES: UM loses, and Tyler Van Dyke is awful again: Miami got spanked at North Carolina State last night, 20-6 as a 6-point favorite, falling to 6-3 and 2-3 in the ACC -- the conference title dream dead. Four turnovers including three Tyler Van Dyke interceptions did it. “We had every opportunity to take control of that game and we didn’t do it,” said Canes coach Mario Cristobal. “And we have to own that.” Ownership is fine. Correcting the problem is better. Hurricanes play at No. 4 Florida State next week. If they bring the team we saw last night, it’ll be ugly.

3. INTER MIAMI: Messi galaxy expands with addition of Suarez: Good week to be Lionel Messi. (Then, aren’t they all?) First he collects his record eighth Ballon d’Or as international player of the year -- after leading Argentina to the World Cup title then electrifying MLS by joining Inter Miami -- and now he sees Miami agree to terms with his former longtime Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez, still a feared striker at 36. Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba previously joined the Messi galaxy for upcoming MLS Year 2. Inter Miami will celebrate Messi’s latest Ballon trophy this coming Friday night including an exhibition vs. NYCFC. Would have been a sweet gesture if the event were free to fans; alas, it is not.

4. HEAT: LeBron, Lakers visit Monday. (Yes, it’s still a semi-big deal): LeBron James back in Miami, where he played four seasons through 2014, is still special. And this Heat season needs something special, anything. Heat staggered to a 1-4 start that led to a bloom of early overreaction before Friday night’s home win over Washington in the opener of the NBA’s dumb In-Season Tournament, with results also counting in the regular season. Monday will be LeBron’s only visit of the regular season. We presume he won’t be in street clothes on a load-management night?

5. MLB: Rangers World Series win as un-watched as you imagined: Texas-Arizona was the least-watched World Series ever, its five games averaging 9.1 millions viewers. Previous low was a 9.8M average in 2020, when the onslaught of COVID made sports seems superfluous. Contrast that to 2016, when the Cubs-Indians WS averaged 22.9 million viewers. MLB need not panic. It enjoyed a 30-year attendance high this season. Just got unlucky with an epic-bad World Series matchup.

6. PANTHERS: Cats need a spark; where’s Tkachuk?: Florida off a Stanley Cup Final season is a languish-y 5-4-1 entering Monday’s game vs. Columbus after falling 5-2 in Chicago. Key injuries are hurting the Cats but so is this: Matthew Tkachuk scored 40 goals in 79 games last season; Saturday he finally got his second in game No. 10. The Panthers are missing the MVP-level impact Tkachuk delivered last season.

7. NASCAR: Starpower lacking in dull finale to end season: Speaking of a Rangers -Diamondbacks World Series, NASCAR offers up a yawn-inducing Championship Four of Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and William Byron racing for its season title today in Phoenix. It’s the youngest, most lightweight final foursome since the current playoff format began in 2014. Larson at least is a Cup winner (2021). The other three I couldn’t pick from a police lineup.

8. MARLINS: It’s the Winter of Ohtani. Let’s start a Miami rumor!: One lucky team will break the bank for generational free agent Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers (+250), Mariners and Giants are betting favorites to land him. The low-spending Marlins are mid-pack in the odds, tied for 17th at +4000. That means somebody thinks a Fish pursuit may at least be plausible. It’s a see-it-to-believe-it lonnnnngshot, but fun to imagine. More realistic: Miami spends big to re-sign Jorge Soler, the 36-homer outfielder who opted out to test free agency.

9. BASEBALL: Savannah Bananas bring clownball to diamond: The touring exhibition baseball team Savannah Bananas once was minor-league affiliated but now is an independent outfit rebranded as a sort of Harlem Globetrotters of the diamond. Its 2024 “world tour”will include performances at six major-league ballparks --including Miami’s. Games have a 2-hour time limit and a batter is out if a fan catches a foul ball, among other fun-leaning rules. Players are all no-names, except for pitcher Bill (Spaceman) Lee, an occasional participant at age 76. As MLB has quickened its pace and just enjoyed its best attendance in 30 years, I don’t get the lure for the Bananas’ old-timey gimmickry. But it seems to have a niche audience.

10. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: ‘Coach Prime’ update: For those not scoring at home, Deion (Prime) Sanders fell to 4-5 and 1-5 in the Pac-12 last night in a 26-19 home loss to Oregon State. But the hype and the TV commercials keep a-comin’! New trademark in the works for “Prime Sub-.500”?

Other most recent stuff from me: Miami Dolphins, fans have waited 50 years for team and season like this. Enjoy the journey / NFL Week 9 picks / NBA In-Season Tournament the dumb idea nobody asked for or needs / A new No. 1 in Herald NFL QB rankings ... but it won’t last / Dolphins crush Patriots to set up huge Chiefs test in Germany / Previous HB10 / And my latest podcast: