People voted to elect a new city of Miami mayor Tuesday. Results were surprising, but you know what they say about politics being all about the timing.
Defiantly, or perhaps obliviously, Edgerrin James told reporters in Seattle last month, ``It's up to me how long I want to play and how far I move up that [all-time rushing] chart.'' If only.
Well, let's see here. I missed on Dolphins-Jets game, missed on Vikings-Packers ``Favre Bowl,'' missed badly on my Upset of the Week pick (Houston-Buffalo), and totally misread Giants-Eagles, too. The only person in South Florida who had a worse week than me: Disgraced Fort Lauderdale attorney and accused scam-artist Scott Rothstein. Close call, though.
Major League Baseball likes to call its World Series the ``Fall Classic,'' one of those apple-pie appellations evocative of autumn leaves in a Norman Rockwell painting -- except that the phrase has mostly become a misnomer.
The Dolphins hold deed and title to the AFC East as defending division champions. The Jets act like they own the division, albeit with thoroughly unearned bravado.
The Dolphins, 2-4 and trying to stay relevant in the playoff picture, now begin the toughest stretch of schedule in the NFL, with four of the next five games, and six of the next eight, on the road.
JACKSONVILLE -- You want to doubt the Florida Gators and Tim Tebow? Not smart.
You thought they were a soft No. 1 lucky to be unbeaten and a risky pick to win another national championship?Here's all you need to know in a nutshell, and I choose that word carefully:
Had Dolphins over Saints as my Upset of the Week last week, and with Miami up 24-3 late in first half the Upset Bird was preening insufferably up in the press boxAnyhow, the Dolphins choked, of course, but it was all good. I emerged a solid 7-4-2 against the spread anyway, and my sports writing colleagues delighted to violate the no-cheering-in-the-press box edict by showering the unpopular Upset Bird with invective and derision in lockstep with the Dolphins' collapse. ``Aaawwwk!'' mocked a grinning Edwin Pope. ``Awww.''
You hardly would call this a season of great expectations for the Heat. More like a season of suspended expectations -- as if this entire NBA schedule for Miami is little more than a bridge to next year, a necessary delay being merely abided.
If only it were that simple, right? If only the Dolphins' collapse that lost Sunday's game and set the season sour could be neatly blamed on that one timeout call late in the first half -- as so many fans and media apparently would like to believe.
Jason Taylor slumped before his locker stall with head bowed, stripped down to his grass-stained uniform pants, the last Dolphin not in street clothes in the wake of the Sunday humiliation still raw.
The Dolphins are honoring their 1982 and '84 AFC championship teams during Sunday's game. Hmm. Unless I'm mistaken, isn't that a nice way of saying they are honoring the teams that failed -- God love 'em -- to bring home Super Bowl rings and ultimately blanketed abject disappointment across South Florida?
Old England samples New England on Sunday as the NFL's ever-increasing foray into international markets continues with the latest game in London. Brits get Patriots-Tampa Bay, meaning they'll see the best that American football has to offer, other than the Buccaneers.
Hit another Upset of the Week against the spread with Ravens covering vs. Minnesota, and also had underdog Texans and Chiefs with points. But let's not put a bow on a pig, or, for that matter, a fedora on an Upset Bird. I got beat up last week, both ways. Had complete, embarrassing misreads on Giants-Saints and Cards-Seahawks. Can't beat myself up much on Eagles-Raiders -- who saw that coming? -- but some of those other picks were roughly as successful as the Titans' pass defense against Tom Brady.
The Miami Hurricanes have a better chance than you might think to play for college football's national championship Jan. 7 in the Rose Bowl. The Miami Dolphins have a great, immediate opportunity to prove they might have a chance to reach the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 in their own stadium.
You thought talk-radio agitator Rush Limbaugh bombed in his brief stint as an NFL studio analyst for ESPN? That was Emmy-winning caliber compared with his more recent work as a prospective team owner.
I care for my overall record, sure, but how I fare against the spread is where the bread is buttered, where the rubber hits the road and [note to self: look up a third cliché]. Against the spread is what separates the men from the men whose wives won't let them gamble. This is why last week pleased me.
This might be seen as blasphemy by some, be decried as flagrantly premature by others or be plainly misinterpreted by most, so I will tread carefully.
This was billed as the start of something big and special, the rivalry within the rivalry, a duel that will play out over the next decade-plus and come to redefine what Dolphins vs. Jets means.
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