Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Dolphins’ icy fail, Canes find their QB, Messi, GOATs say bye & more

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (JANUARY 14): 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 44th edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the new HB10:

1. DOLPHINS: Frozen to death: Once-promising season ends badly in Kansas City: Expectations and hopes had been Super Bowl-high. Much of the season nourished them. Then three straight losses to end it including Saturday night’s 26-7 Wild-Card playoff collapse to the Chiefs ended it all in the frigid cold. Potential was too great and the finish too awful to call the season. My column off the game: Dolphins’ once-promising season dies miserably in arctic cold of Kansas City

2. COACHING LEGENDS: G.O.A.T.s out to pasture as Belichick, Saban depart: In two days that stunned sports, Bill Belichick parted ways with New England and Nick Saban retired from Alabama -- two all-time champions suddenly gone. Neither was a big shock, though, as evidenced by how quickly each was replaced. Jerod Mayo is the new Patriots guys, and Washington’s Kalen DeBoer takes over the Tide. Now: Where in the NFL will Belichick land? And is Saban really retired?

3. HURRICANES: Miami (finally) lands quality transfer-QB in Cam Ward: He changed his mind. Again. Miami thought it had landed highly sought former Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward in the transfer portal, but he changed his mind and entered the NFL Draft. Then flipped again Saturday night and said he’s UM-bound. Barring another flip, Ward almost assuredly will be the Canes’ starter in 2024. Prior, Miami had settled for gloriously named but underwhelming transfer QB Reese Poffenbarger from Albany. Ward is a big get for Mario Cristobal.

4. INTER MIAMI: Messi galaxy complete. Let the year of nonstop winning begin!: The other day at Miami’s preseason training camp Lionel Messi was together with fellow former Barcelona stars Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba for the first time since 2014. “Winning is in our DNA,” said the recently signed Suarez. “To come help a team that has well-known players attempt to win an MLS Cup and do it with professionalism -- that is what is wanted of me.” Nothing less than a championship will do in Messi’s second and likely last season in MLS. After a whirlwind preseason tour, Inter Miami’s league opener is February 21.

5. PANTHERS: Fire-on-ice Cats finally a lose a game; two named All-Stars: Cats had won a ninth straight Thursday in OT over L.A. when Sam Reinhart’s game-winner made him second-fastest in NHL to 30 goals this season. But Florida finally lost Saturday 4-1 to New Jersey to fall short of club-record 13 wins in a row set in 2021-22. Panthers still ride high at No. 2 in the East, with Reinhart and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky name NHL All-Stars.

6. HEAT: Why team delayed announcement of Spoelstra’s record extension: The Heat planned to announce coach Erik Spoelstra’s record eight-year, $120 million contract extension much earlier in the season than this past week, but delayed it because Spo, 53, was dealing with a divorce that was announced first. Spoelstra is worth the club’s investment after guiding Miami to six NBA Finals and two titles. Current team is 22-16 nearing midseason despite stars Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro missing a combined 43 games to injuries and rarely on the court all at once.

7. MARLINS: Reports say batting champ Arraez could be traded. Ouch: Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote that Miami may be willing to listen to trade offers for just about anybody -- including batting champion Luis Arraez. Supposedly budding ace Eury Perez, the 6-8 20-year-old, may be the only player off-limits. Dear new club president Peter Bendix: Marlins fans have been through fire sales before and it’s why the ballpark is never filled. You have taken over a team that won last year. Time to add talent with win-now in mind, not trade talent and keep kicking the future down the road.

8. MEDIA: ESPN Emmy scandal embarrasses Worldwide Leader: Rough times continue for the once-regal brand ESPN. Now it’s a scam to win Emmy awards the network didn’t deserve. ESPN since 2010 systematically contrived fake names for Emmys in order to receive statuettes for on-air talent that hadn’t won them, then re-engraved the trophies. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences finally ferreted out the scheme. Huge embarrassment and shame for ESPN. But it also must be asked: Where was the Emmy Awards’ oversight and vetting of nominees?

9. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: N.I.L. penalties continue rough patch for Florida State: First the unbeaten Seminoles get left out of the College Football Playoff. Then the depleted Semi-Noles lose 63-3 in the Orange Bowl. Now the NCAA drops the hammer on FSU for recruiting violations tied to the Name, Image and Likeness rules, with offensive coordinator Alex Atkins specifically implicated. Expected are the most serious sanctions in the 2 1/2-year history of the N.I.L. program, whose very existence is ripe for abuse.

10. MEDIA: Stephen A. vs. Whitlock the latest back-and-forth beef: It isn’t just a stolen Emmys scandal (see above) bothering ESPN executives these days. First the network’s Pat McAfee Show gives Aaron Rodgers a platform to slander ABC’s jimmy Kimmel. Now ESPN star Stephen A. Smith embroils himself in a rather juvenile back-and-forth with attention-starved right wing curmudgeon Jason Whitlock, a silliness benefiting neither. Play nice, everybody. What we all do for a living ain’t important enough for such anger.

Other most recent stuff from me:

Dolphins’ once-promising season dies miserably in arctic cold of Kansas City // NFL Wild-Card Weekend playoff picks for Dolphins-Chiefs and the rest // Dolphins teased, fans dared dream, then the crash. Now, do Fins have any fight left? // Dak wins season crown in Herald NFL QB rankings; Tua 3rd but sets Dolphins marks // Dolphins fall to Bills, fail to win AFC East, head to K.C. -- but at least avoid rematch // R.I.P. Jim Martz: A tribute to the man who gifted me my career // Previous HB10 // And my latest podcast: