Greg Cote

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IN MY OPINION

Lance Armstrong, Manti Te’o take lying to new heights

 

Hot List

Today: The NFL’s final four. Postseason histories of the four surviving teams playing Sunday:

Team (Seasons) POs (Record) Super Bowls/Wins
49ers (67th)25 (28-19)5-5: 1981, ’84. ’88, ’89, ’94
Patriots (53rd)20 (24-16)3-7: 2001, ’03, ’04
Ravens (17th)9 (12-7)1-1: 2000
Falcons (47th)12 (7-11)0-1: N/A


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What South Florida fans are talking about

1. NFL PLAYOFFS: Championship Sunday as Final Four vie for Super Bowl: It’s Falcons-49ers in NFC, then Ravens-Patriots in AFC. Biggest story line is either the retiring Ray Lewis getting his storybook ending, or a “Bro Bowl” Super Bowl between coaching brothers Jim and John Harbaugh. Both stories require a victory by the Ravens. As if Dolfans needed another reason to root against the Patriots!

2. PANTHERS: Hockey’s back! Cats open delayed, truncated NHL season: Defending division-champ Florida opened its 19th season at home vs. Carolina Saturday night to begin an abbreviated 48-game schedule. Meanwhile the NHL took out full-page newspaper ads in every league market to apologize to fans for the season-shortening lockout. “Thank you!” said the financially struggling newspaper industry.

3. HEAT: LeBron youngest to 20,000 points, leads Miami past Lakers: Heat in midst of five days off after a 3-3 western trip that ended with win over Lakers on Thursday. The strong finish to an otherwise rocky road trip means all is well again, at least until the next loss. You know the routine. Around here, angst and premature panic never disappear. They just lay dormant … waiting.

4. LIARS: The tall tales and truth about Manti Te’o, Lance Armstrong: Notre Dame’s football star and the defrocked Tour de France icon were in the news for all the wrong reasons as Te’o was exposed for a bizarre tale about an imaginary girlfriend, and Armstrong at long last admitted to doping. The good news? The liars and cheats allow the rest of us to feel better about ourselves than we probably should.

5. HURRICANES: UM men host Duke in major ACC test: On your short list of biggest college basketball games ever down here, include this Wednesday night as the surging Hurricanes host No. 3 Duke. Miami is 13-3, has won five in a row, is 4-0 atop the Atlantic Coast Conference, and yet is nowhere to be found in the Top 25. Is that understandable caution by voters or are Canes grossly overlooked? We’ll know in three days.


BY GREG COTE

gcote@MiamiHerald.com

•  Giancarlo Stanton was named to the U.S. team for the upcoming spring World Baseball Classic. Hope he doesn’t take a tip from Cuban athletes and use the event as a chance to defect from the Marlins.

• Miami Hurricanes continue to await NCAA Notice of Allegations in Shapiro case. I don’t wanna say this has dragged on and on (and on), but I hear investigators have had trouble conducting interviews because so many of the former players involved have died of natural causes.

•  LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were voted in as starters for the upcoming NBA All-Star Game. In other news, the sun rose and the NRA said President Barack Obama is attacking the Second Amendment.

• A judge dismissed the Bountygate suit against NFL commissioner Roger Goodell brought by the Saints’ Jonathan Vilma. Goodell celebrated excessively and fined himself.

• The Cleveland Browns hired TV analyst Michael Lombardi as VP of player personnel, mistakenly thinking they were hiring Vince Lombardi.

•  Mario Chalmers tied a Heat record with 10 three-pointers at Sacramento. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were disappointed, as it severely hindered their opportunities to yell at Chalmers.

•  Al Pacino will portray Joe Paterno in an upcoming movie. Hopefully, they’ll take a little creative license and have Pacino beat the crap out of Sandusky.

• In an upcoming episode of TV’s Law & Order, Mike Tyson will portray a convicted felon who had a tough childhood. Typecasting? Isn’t that sort of the role Tyson plays in life?

• Bankrupt Curt Schilling is selling his infamous bloody sock at auction and it is expected to fetch at least $100,000. Heck, Curt, why not blow your nose in the sock and double the price!?

• Answer: A suit filed in Miami-Dade claims the Spurs resting starters against the Heat in November violated Florida’s fair trade practices law. Question: What do you mean Americans are overly litigious?

•  Donald Trump landed in a helicopter with TRUMP painted on it to survey the Doral Golf Resort he purchased and renamed Trump National Doral. Know what I love most about Trump? The modesty.

•  Parting thought: Tiger Woods missed the cut last week after a two-stroke penalty for taking an improper drop. Woods previously had been penalized on several occasions for taking an improper mistress.

Visit Greg’s Random Evidence of a Cluttered Blog daily atMiamiHerald.com and follow on Twitter @gregcote.

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Greg Cote
gcote@miamiherald.com
Known for his wit and sharp insight, Greg Cote has been a Herald sports columnist since 1995. He previously covered the Dolphins, University of Miami football and major sports events including Super Bowls, the World Cup and the Barcelona Olympics. Cote and his infamous 'Upset Bird' present the ever-popular NFL predictions page every Friday during football season. More

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