Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: World Cup semis, Marvel-ous Mr. Messi, D.Wade’s Hall induction & more

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (AUGUST 13): 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 27th edition of the new HB10:

1. SOCCER: And intriguing Women’s World Cup final four even sans U.S.: No. 2 Germany went out. Oh my. Then No. 1 United States fell. Oh no! How could the World Cup possibly go on? Well it could, it did, and it has delivered a pretty wonderful final four with semifinals matching No. 3 Sweden vs. No. 6 Spain on Tuesday and No. 10 host Australia vs. No. 4 England on Wednesday. In betting odds England by a narrow margin and Spain are all but co-favorites. None of the four survivors has won it all. Spain and the Aussies are this far for the first time, while the Swedes beat the Brits in the 2019 third-place match. Set the alarms once more. Tuesday’s semi is at 4 a.m. ET and Wednesday’s at a benevolent 6 a.m.

2. INTER MIAMI: Marvel-ous! Messi strikes again, Miami wins again ... but this is missing: Inter Miami is 5-0 led by Lionel Messi’s eight goals (!) since his arrival including another in Friday’s 4-0 home win over Charlotte FC. That sent Miami into the Leagues Cup semifinals at Philadelphia Union Tuesday night. Messi has taken to celebrating goals by imitating Marvel superheroes like Black Panther and Spider-Man. The guy has been everything we expected and more. We are getting all we could ask for ... except his voice. He has not been made available to media (i.e. fans) after any match save for a very brief, contractually obligated few seconds with Apple TV. Imagine LeBron James joining the Miami Heat in 2010 and then not speaking? MLS and the club must step in. Full column here.

3. HEAT: D.Wade ascends to his place in Hall among hoops immortals: One week after Dolphins great Zach Thomas entered football’s Hall-minted immortality, Miami Heat icon Dwyane Wade became a member of basketball’s Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame with Saturday night’s induction, batting cleanup (speaking last) in a star-studded class. He did so as the most accomplished pro team-sport star South Florida has ever seen. (Full column here.) Wade is the seventh inductee to have worn a Heat uniform but the most-Miami of them all, with 89.94 percent of his career games played for the Heat.

4. DOLPHINS: Miami opener a reminder why the NFL preseason stinks: Dolphins’ first of three preseason games and only one at home fizzled in a 19-3 loss to Atlanta Friday night. Miami threw three interceptions (one a pick-six) and gave up a long punt-return TD. Takeaway: Stay healthy, Tua Tagovailoa, because the guys fighting to be your backup are unproven at best. And why would anyone go to (or bet on) these fake games where the front-line players don’t play? So the other team’s scrubs are better than your team’s scrubs. Who cares? One of the biggest scams in sports is the NFL bundling exhibition games in with the regular season and forcing fans to pay for glorified practices they likely won’t even attend.

5. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: FSU ‘no’ vote on ACC expansion a masterwork in hypocrisy: As the sport continues in mid-tumult, the ACC seeks to add Stanford and Cal from the crumbling Pac-12. One problem: An alliance of four ACC schools -- Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and N.C. State -- are opposed. So the expansion discussion reportedly now is “on life support.” So let us get this straight. FSU, whose own president has admitted an interest in leaving the ACC, now doesn’t want any other school to be let in. That’s two things, Seminoles: Self-defeating, and hypocritical.

6. WAYNE HUIZENGA: Former Miami sports titan linked to embattled Clarence Thomas: Wayne Huizenga, who at one time owned the Dolphins, Marlins and Panthers, died in 2018 at age 80. Now his name has resurfaced as one of the willing gift-givers to have embroiled Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in ethics questions, based on reporting by The New York Times and ProPublica. Huizenga, the billionaire who turned Blockbuster Video and Waste Management and later sports ownership into an empire, reportedly sent his personal 737 to pick Thomas up and bring him to South Florida at least twice. Huizenga seems for now a small player in the unfolding drama, but still among growing reasons Thomas is rightly under fire.

7. MARLINS: New reminder why Fish better be in win-now mode: Miami is in a battle royale for an NL wild-card playoff spot. It’s win-now mode for this club -- and should be. The newest MLB.com Top 100 prospects list has only one for Miami: RHP Noble Meyer at No. 60 and pegged for the bigs around 2026. The other four NL East clubs combine for 13 in the Top 100, with five Mets, four Phillies, three Nationals -- including Nos. 4 and 7 overall -- and one Brave.

8. FANTASY SPORTS: A primer for your upcoming football draft: No tips here on who to pick or avoid. That’s all over the internet. I’m here to tell you if you take more than 20 seconds to make a first round pick, you are annoying. The very early rounds and then the very late rounds should be quick selections. The rounds that need time (and win leagues) are the meat of the draft, rounds four through six.

9. MOUNTAIN CLIMBING: A world record ... and lasting shame?: A Norwegian climber who became the fastest to summit the world’s 14 highest peaks is enmeshed in controversy threatening to overshadow her feat. Critics with drone evidence accuse Kristin Harila, 37, of walking over a dying sherpa en route to her record. Harila counters her team “did everything we could at the time.” Harila and her Nepali guide reached the top of all 14 mountains of 26,000-feet-plus in three months and one day. But, said one critic on Instagram, “Nobody will remember your sporting success, only your inhumanity.”

10.TENNIS: Hilarious breach of decorum at Canadian Open: Tennis can be persnickety. The whir of a camera gets a cold glare. So this was richly funny (at least to me): Saturday during a semifinal match in Montreal between No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek and No. 4 Jessica Pegula, a critical point suddenly was briefly interrupted when the song “Cotton-Eye Joe” began playing -- loudly. The crowd gasped. The point was replayed. Pegula advanced. No word what or who caused the commotion. (Cotton-Eye Joe is a traditional American country folk song dating to before the Civil War. Won’t say what the modern slang of the phrase means. Family newspaper. Google it.)

Other most recent stuff from me: Messi scores again, Inter Miami wins again -- but here’s the one thing still missing / Why Heat icon Dwyane Wade enters Hall as greatest ever in history of Miami sports / 5 reasons for Miami Dolphins optimism -- and 5 more for concern -- as the games begin / 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 / Previous HB10 / And my latest podcast: