Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: It’s Panthers-Bruins. (Uh oh, or no?) Plus Heat, F1, OBJ, Derby & more
GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (MAY 5): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US THIS WEEK: 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 58th edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the new HB10:
1. PANTHERS: It’s the Boston Bruins next! (Uh oh, or no?): Boston’s 2-1 OT win over Toronto Saturday night meant a Florida-Boston postseason rematch beginning with Game 1 in Sunrise Monday night to open the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. The Panthers are favored int he series, but should they be. The Bruins won all four regular season meetings (though two were in OT) and own the incentive of having been eliminated by the Cats last postseason 4-3 in a first-round thriller. Still liking Florida from this vantage. Call it a 4-2 series. Year of the Cat!
2. HEAT: Miami out fast in playoffs, now what? Let’s start a LeBron rumor!: Miami gets drilled by Boston in a 4-1 first-round ouster. Now what? Hmm... Pretty clear the Heat must make a change and add somebody so that Jimmy Butler is no longer their best player. And LeBron James is mum on his future with the L.A. Lakers. Solution? LeBron -- still great at 39 -- returns to Miami for first time in 10 years! Could it happen? Yes. Would you bet on it? Hell no. Fun, tasty speculation to chew on in the meantime? Yes, please! (Aside to Bronny: You’re gonna absolutely love South Beach!)
3. AUTO RACING: F1’s 3rd Miami Grand Prix runs Sunday. Wild guess who’s favored!?: Max Verstappen is a crazy -600 betting pick to win today’s/Sunday’s third annual Formula One Grand Prix in Miami on the autodrome in the shadow of Hard Rock Stadium. And why not? He’s won both previous Miami GPs, is a three-time reigning world champion, and has won 48 of the past F1 GPs overall. Insane dominance that isn’t great for the sport. Miami hosts one of only three F1 races held in the U.S. and it’s fast become the best, with a sexy sizzle and starpower-draw to rival Monaco. A wonderful addition to the South Florida sports calendar. Stephen Ross hasn’t always been a great Dolphins owner, but credit him (see No. 6 below) for F1 being here.
4. DOLPHINS: Fins throw a life-line to OBJ’s adrift career: Miami agreed to a 1-year contract with free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. It’s a minimalist $3 million deal that could balloon to $8.25 if incentives are met. The marriage had been hinted since March as the Fins continue seeking a third WR option after stars Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. OBJ is a star name but, at 31, not lately in production. Last 1,000-yard season, 2019. Last Pro Bowl, 2016. Though Miami just drafted a pair of receivers, see Beckham and Braxton Berrios as early frontrunners for WR3 snaps. (Post-draft, Dolphins begin their offseason program with rookie mini-camp May 10-12.)
5. HORSE RACING: Longshot Mystik Dan caps thrilling Kentucky Derby: Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown season began as wonderfully as imaginable Saturday at Churchill Downs in the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, with 18-1 longshot Mystik Dan winning a three-way photo finish. The winner edged Sierra Leone by a nose, with Forever Young another nostril behind. Favorite Fierceness bombed in epic fashion,ending 15th in the crowded field of 20 3-year-olds.
6. DOLPHINS: Ross rejects bid to sell NFL team, stadium, other properties: USA Today broke the news that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross had turned down a $10 billion offer for controlling interest in the NFL team, Hard Rock Stadium and related properties including the annual Formula One race. The unnamed buyer is thought to be hedge fund owner Ken Griffin, who has real estate projects with Ross -- and we hear the burgeoning popularity and value of F1 racing was a major component of Griffin’s interest. That Ross would turn down such an offer at age 83 suggests it’s ‘til-death-do-us-part and that he’ll spend the rest of his life trying to win a Super Bowl with Dolphins.
7. GOLF: U.S. Open plays it smart, and Tiger accepts exemption: Tiger Woods accepted a special exemption to compete June 13-16 in the 124th U.S. Open at Pinehurst. No surprise he accepted -- and even less surprise the exemption was offered. Woods’ 15 majors include three U.S. Opens, last in 2008. Tiger, 48, has lifetime exemptions to play the Masters and PGA Championship and as a former winner can play the British Open until he is 60 -- but his free pass into the U.S. Open expired in 2023. That made next month’s the first major Woods has not qualified for since the 1996 PGA Championship, when he still was an amateur. Tiger remains golf’s biggest star and it was a no-brainer the U.S. Open rolled out the green carpet.
8. INTER MIAMI: ‘The Messi Experience’ (if current reality is not enough): Lionel Messi. Hes’ really good, if you hadn’t heard. Soccer G.O.A.T. and still goat-y -- MLS Player of the Month for April. But to reiterate his god-like status, ‘The Messi Experience: A Dream Come True,’ a multimedia immersive journey into the Argentine’s life, has arrived. It premiered in Miami as a kaleidoscope of his life. Tickets were $35.90 (adults) for the 75-minute show. Bonus: You can take a virtual selfie with Messi and “chat with him” via AI. (Spoiler alert: You’re not really chatting with him. But you know that ... right?)
9. MARLINS: Fish were hot for a minute. Did you blink and miss it?: The sad Marlins are 9-26 -- on pace to go 42-120 -- after two losses in a row in Oakland. But Florida prior had been hot for a second with three wins in a row over Colorado. Did you blink and miss it? Stinkin’ Fish are in Oakland again today in midst of a six-game Western roadie in a season on the rails to hell.
10. SOCCER: Teams that didn’t win first leg still picks for Champions League crown: UEFA Champions League 2nd-leg semifinal matches this week find Paris Saint-Germain favored despite a first-leg loss, and Real Madrid favored after a first-leg draw. PSG hosts Borussia Dortmund Tuesday down a goal after Dortmund’s opening 1-nil win. On Wednesday, Real Madrid hosts Bayern Munich even-up after a 2-2 draw. Real Madrid remains overall betting fave to collect a record 15th Euro crown. Bayern has won six times, Dortmund won for the only time in 1997 and PSG seeks its first Champs League trophy.
Other most recent stuff from me: Eliminated, now what? Miami Heat must change. Jimmy Butler cannot be best player if another NBA title is the aim // Home is where hope & hurt is: Panthers oust Tampa; Heat falls, aces elimination by Boston // Previous HB10 NFL Draft: Greg Cote hits 9 big Exactos in hot mock draft; Dolphins get Chop Robinson // Cote on the clock! Miami Herald 33rd annual NFL mock draft: Dolphins pick, whole 1st round // Celebrate Dawn Staley, Caitlin, women’s hoops. Men’s final could not live up // New season, same problem: Miami Marlins’ way-too-low spending unfair to players, insult to fans // And my latest podcast:
