RANDOM EVIDENCE OF A CLUTTERED MIND
What pressure for Miami Dolphins' Chad Henne? Be like Marino or bust
1. DOLPHINS
• Winless Miami, Chad Henne face Buffalo: Division game, Henne's first start, maybe the Dolphins' first victory -- should be exciting. Also looking forward to the pregame news conference Bills receiver Terrell Owens has called to complain about the anticipated lack of passes to be thrown his way.2. HURRICANES• UM hosts No. 8 Oklahoma: UM caught a break Saturday night because star OU quarterback Sam Bradford didn't start. But the bigger key was UM's planned quarterback change, hoping to replace the Jacory Harris who played in last week's loss at Virginia Tech with the Jacory Harris who played in the first two games.3. BASEBALL POSTSEASON• NL, AL playoffs set to begin: The Marlins and 21 other teams are done after Sunday while the elite eight prepare for postseason: Cardinals-Dodgers/Rockies-Phillies in NL, Tigers or Twins-Yankees/Red Sox-Angels in AL. Our World Series pick? Not fussy. Anything but Phillies-Yanks will do.4. OLYMPICS• IOC snubs Chicago, selects Rio: Chicago's high hopes to hold the 2016 Summer Olympics were dashed in a decision that crushed the city. The good news? Chicagoans are well-prepared to deal with enormous, soul-quaking disappointment, on account of the Cubs.5. PANTHERS• Florida wins NHL regular-season opener: The playoff drought-stricken Panthers won their regular-season opener Friday, beating the Blackhawks 4-3 in Helsinki, Finland. The bad news? The league rejected Florida's ``quit while we're ahead'' request and ordered the team to play its remaining 81 games.By GREG COTE
gcote@MiamiHerald.com
For better or worse, Chad Pennington's season-ending, possibly career-threatening shoulder injury pushes the fast-forward button on the Dolphins' quarterback situation.
OK, Chad Henne. It's your first career NFL start, your team is winless, your receivers are crummy and everybody is watching to see if you will be Miami's first young franchise quarterback since iconic Dan Marino in 1983, or if you will be, well, a flaming bust.
Hey no pressure, though! Remember, the most important thing is -- just relaaaax.
The Dolphins' second home game sure won't have the celebrity buzz of the first. For example, Jimmy Buffett played the first pregame concert. Sunday's game will feature a former Pussycat Doll named ``Carmit Bachar,'' because evidently all the performers even less famous were booked. (New definition of career nadir: You are a defrocked Pussycat Doll gyrating and lip-squawking to a drunk and disinterested pregame football smattering.)
Also Sunday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, and Jeanette Sparano (the coach's wife) will hand out pink ribbons at stadium entrances as part of the Dolphins' and NFL's support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Signs of pink will be seen throughout the stadium and on what players and coaches are wearing.
The Dolphins were last associated with pink in 2007.
It had nothing to do with breast-cancer awareness.
It was because they were 1-15.
• The Dolphins traded for Tyler Thigpen to be Henne's backup. Thigpen probably is best known as the lovable Peanuts character always surrounded by a cloud of dirt and dust.
• The Dolphins announced a corporate partnership with SpongeTech. I have no idea what that company does, but assume it has something to do with the popular animated TV series, SpongeTech SquarePants.
• Chicago lost out as host of the 2016 Olympics in an IOC vote in Copenhagen, Denmark, leading rebuffed Americans to wonder what good can possibly ever come from a city named after a chewing tobacco. There was partying in the streets in selected city Rio de Janeiro. Then again, there's pretty much partying in the streets there all the time, even for no reason.
• Chicago's loss was a crushing defeat for President Obama, who personally campaigned for the city's selection. Which explains why, after Rio, the second-biggest celebration was going on at Fox News.
• With preseason training camp under way, the Heat announced that a Swiss travelers' insurance company, Assist-Card, will be ``presenting sponsor'' of the 2009-10 season. I assume that means fans are insured against a disappointing year?
• Friday night's St. Thomas Aquinas football game on ESPNU was the network's latest, ever-increasing foray into high school sports. ESPN's drive to shine a positive light on bright young talent is exceeded only by its strong desire for what, in television jargon, would be referred to as ``cheap programming.''
• Lots of false drama surrounding Tim Tebow's concussion. The national group, People Who Actually Think Tebow Might Miss the LSU Game, will meet tonight at Waffle House. Corner booth. Left side.
• Tiger Woods won the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus, becoming the first athlete to top $1 billion in career earnings. Yeah, but other than that, global fame, historic talent and a breathtaking model-wife, he's like any other schmo.
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