Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Enhanced Games outrage, Hong Kong boos no-Messi, LeBron back to Heat?

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (FEBRUARY 4): 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, weird, damnable, funny or otherwise worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the 47th edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the new HB10:

1. OLYMPIC SPORTS: Plan for ‘Enhanced Games’ a slap at civilized society: Imagine you are beyond wealthy, worth $6.1 billion -- and all of the potential. for good you could do. Billionaire Peter Thiel, instead of deciding to do good., instead is funding the Enhanced Games -- a would-be rival to the Olympic Games that would allow athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs with zero testing. “Allow”? How about encourage. Thiel’s outrageous plan will promote a generation of young, wanna-be athletes putting their health at risk in search of a shortcut to fame in his Steroid Games. Let us keep a sharp eye out and be boycott-ready for any sponsors or networks that get behind this outrageously galling idea.

2. INTER MIAMI: Finally a preseason win, but Hong Kong fans irate as Messi sits: Miami beat a team of local league all-stars 4-1 in Hong Kong Sunday morning -- a needed first preseason win after three losses and a draw. But controversy ensued as Lionel Messi did not play at all. Three days of Messi worship in Hong Kong turned to heartbreak and booing from the sold-out crowd of 40,000, along with angry chants of “refund!” And the Hong Kong government threatened match promoters with reduced funding.

3. MARLINS: Challenge: How do Fish attract the fans that fill the place for other events?: It’s-still-Marlins Park-to-me drew big, raucous crowds last spring for the World Baseball Classic. Now it is hosting the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) and the ballpark in Miami’s Little Havana is filling again. Saturday’s Puerto Rico-Dominican Republic game drew a capacity 35,972 fans, a tournament record. If only the hometown Miami Marlins drew nearly as well for MLB home games. They averaged 14,355 last year, a bump’s improvement but still 29th of 30 clubs.

4. NBA: Seems LeBron may test free agency at age 39. Would Heat be interested?: His agent Rich Paul said LeBron James would not seek a trade from the struggling L.A. Lakers, but James said he is unsure about the contract decision he’ll need to make this summer. James has a player option with L.A. for $51.4 million for 2024-25. Asked if he knows what he might do, LeBron said, “No.” Neither did he explain what he meant by tweeting an hourglass emoji. Would there be a market for a 39-year-old G.O.A.T. asking that kind of $$$. And might it include -- totally random example -- the Miami Heat? That it should not be ruled out is a measure of where Miami’s desperation may be this summer.

5. DOLPHINS: Fins hire new DC. But Fangio’s parting shot should concern the club: Miami hired Ravens defensive assistant Anthony Weaver as new D-coordinator to replace departed Vic Fangio. But here is what Ron Jaworski said on Philly radio station WIP about Fangio leaving Miami for the same role with the Eagles. Fangio and Jaworski are close friends -- meaning Fangio wanted this out there, but not in his voice: “There were some players on that defense that didn’t want to work. Didn’t want to put the effort in, didn’t want to make the commitment. Guys like to party at night, and South Beach is really a great place to party. And Vic couldn’t get through to those guys.” Did Miami just lose an immensely respected defensive chief because of culture unprofessionalism? Fangio’s by-proxy suggestion should be concerning. Interesting to note coach Mike McDaniel described new-guy Weaver as “a leader of men.”

6. HEAT: Miami still trying to find way to make Rozier fit: I still like the Kyle Lowry trade for Terry Rozier. But six games in, Erik Spoelstra is still trying to make Rozier fit. The new guard is shooting 30.9 percent on field goals including 25.9% on 3’s. Pretty awful. Friday night he was 2-for-13 and 0-for-6. As Heat open a four-game homestand Sunday at 26-23 they are trying to avoid the dreaded play-in tournament and give fans any hope for a deep playoff run. None is there right now.

7. NFL: It’s getting about time to, well, make the Pro Bowl disappear: The mighty NFL hardly ever fails at anything. But it’s time to admit the Pro Bowl has run its course. Used to be an all-star game players loved to be selected for (cha-ching) but didn’t want to actually play in. Now for the second year it has devolved into a weekend of silly events like closest-to-the-pin golf shots, long-snapper hiking competition, flag football, dodgeball and tug-of-war. Yes, I said dodgeball! And tug-of-war! What are we doing!?

8. NFL: Taylor Swift Effect to be reflected in Super Bowl ads: Marketwatch reports that Swift’s association with the NFL through boyfriend Travis Kelce and the Chiefs has increased the league’s brand value by about $125 million. Female viewership in the 12-17, 18-24 and over-35 demographics has catapulted. And the effect will show in Super Bowl ads. At least three health and beauty brands so far have bought pricey commercial time on CBS -- three more than last year. Two are new to the Big Game; the other is returning after 18 years. Each of the ads targets female consumers or features women.

9. PANTHERS/NHL: Hockey’s All-Star Game needs major fixing, too.: Teams McDavid, Hughes, Matthews and MacKinnon. What? Huh? Why? Sports leagues cannot figure out what to do with the formats of their all-star games. They’re dumb, but money is involved, so they go on. Sam Reinhart and Sergei Bobrovsky rep the Panthers, who at the break are 31-14-4 and looking Stanley Cup Final-good again. When your non-all stars include Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, you have a pretty good team.

10. MEMORABILIA: Jordan magic lives on (to a ridiculous degree): NBA legend Michael Jordan won six NBA titles in his G.O.A.T.-y career, and a set of six pair of sneakers he wore in clinching those titles just sold for a record $8 million in an auction. The winning bid for “The Dynasty Collection”: $8,032,800, a new global record for game-worn sneakers, said auction house Sotheby’s. The winning bidder was not named. Maybe the person was embarrassed to be so rich as to spend 8 million bucks on sneakers? Lunacy.

Other most recent stuff from me: History repeats: Belichick ending badly? Halas, Landry and Shula all did, too // Thieves stole Jackie Robinson statue and left it burning. What happened next is faith-restoring // Four tennis legends with 42 Grand Slam wins try different sport in Pickleball Slam 2 // Chiefs-49ers? Blah. Detroit in it was Super Bowl America wanted, the one that got away // Heat trading for Rozier, unloading Lowry a win-win for Miami // For Inter Miami, Dolphins and Canes in 2024, anything less than great will be a failure // R.I.P. Jim Martz: A tribute to the man who gifted me my career // Previous HB10 // And my latest podcast: