Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Messi, Miami salvage tie in MLS opener, plus Heat, Bronx beards & more
GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (FEBRUARY 23): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US THIS WEEK: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 notes column brings you 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 95th edition of your HB10:
1. INTER MIAMI: Team Messi salvages 2-2 home tie to open MLS regular season: Mixed feelings as Inter Miami settles for 2-2- draw at home with New York City Saturday in its MLS regular season opener -- but salvages the draw on a goal in 10th minute of extra time after playing most of the match a man down. Lionel Messi assisted on both IM goals. Messi also scored in the Herons’ 1-0 CONCACAF Champions Cup game Wednesday in freezing weather at Sporting Kansas City. Same teams meet again Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale. That’s three matches in seven days for Miami to start the ‘25 campaign. Brutal.
2. PANTHERS: Cats’ two Sams beat Tkachuk in 4 Nations final as NHL play resumes: Panthers Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett hep led Canada past the U.S. and Matthew Tkachuk for the 4 Nations Face-Off championship. Tkachuk was injured in the finale and it showed in Saturday’s 2-1 home loss to Seattle as NHL play resumed. Florida had a goal disallowed by goalie interference but still is 34-23 as it tries to repeat as Stanley Cup champs.
3. HEAT: Herro, Wiggins shine as Miami ends pre-break skid: In the rear-view mirror now: the NBA’s nightmarish All-Star Weekend and the Heat’s four-game losing streak. Miami is 26-28 after Friday’s 120-111 OT win at Toronto behind Tyler Herro’s 28 points and 25 from new guy Andrew Wiggins. It’s the Heat’s first win post-Jimmy Butler trade. Miami, trying to elevate above the play-in tournament, is back on the wood Sunday in Milwaukee.
4. MARLINS: The Fish are unbeaten! (Win spring-training opener.): Young, low-budget Marlins rallied from 6-0 down for a 7-6 win over St. Louis Saturday in the Grapefruit League spring opener up in Jupiter. Nobody you’ve heard of did anything worth noting. Miami girds for a season that is officially hopeless, with Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA ratings giving the Fish a 0.0 chance of making the playoffs from the tough NL East.
5. TENNIS: Venus Williams unretires, set to play next month: She is 44 and hadn’t played a WTA tournament in nearly a year, so most assumed Venus Williams was done. But no! She’ll play next month at Indian Wells Masters in California on a wild-card entry. The seven-time Grand Slam champion last competed on tour in first-round exit at Miami Open last March, and last won a tournament in August ‘23. Indian Wells hold bad memories for the Williams sisters. At the 2001 event Venus withdrew with a knee injury,. another player accused father Richard Williams of manipulating results when his daughters played, and now-retired Serena faced a hostile crowd in the final vs. Kim Clijsters as fans booed and whistled throughout.
6. WNBA: The matter of Griner and ‘gay baby jail.’: Brittney Griner, 10-time WNBA All-Star, canceled a talk at a women’s-leadership conference outside of Washington, DC. after a note she found outside her hotel room in National Harbor, Maryland. The note read “Gay Baby Jail” written on duct tape. Police say the phrase is commonly used as a video game reference, and that a large such convention was taking place at the hotel, so it likely was not directed at Griner. Two things: 1) How about video gamers retire the dumb, creepy phrase? 2) Unless you’ve grown up a gay Black woman in America and done time as a political prisoner in Russia, let’s reserve judgment on what Griner should or shouldn’t be concerned about.
7. MLB: Yankees relax grooming policy. Beards in the Bronx!: The New York Yankees have entered the current century by saying players may now wear beards ... “well-groomed” beards, at least. Call it progress. Former owner George Steinbrenner enacted the no-beards edict in 1976. Friday, current owner and son Hal Steinbrenner said the organization will allow “well-groomed beards” effective immediately. Smart. Overdue. A franchise trying to recover its mojo with a first World Series title since 2009 can ill afford to lose a coveted free agent over a facial-hair rule straight outta the 1950s.
8. POLITICS: 4 Nations anthem singer’s subtle jab at Trump: If you don’t know O Canada by heart, you probably missed it, but singer Chantal Kreviazuk subtly changed a line in Canada’s national anthem sung before the U.S.-Canada final of the 4 Nations Face-Off. She changed “in all of us command” to “that only us command,” and her publicist acknowledged the change was a direct response to President Trump’s continuing remarks about making Canada the 51st U.S. state. Kreviazukl told the AP she changed the word’s because “I believe in democracy, and a sovereign nation should not have to be defending itself against tyranny and fascism.” Points taken. Why would Trump volunteer himself as a face of American arrogance?
9. CRIME: Chileans who targeted sports-star homes lead league in dumb: The seven Chilean burglars who targeted rich-athlete homes like those of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and NBA player Bobby Portis must be some of the dumbest (alleged) criminals ever. No education is required for their line of work. It shows. The FBI and local law enforcement finally cracked the case with the help of the bad guys posting a selfie online of themselves with the stolen goods. Pro tip: Dear dumb-as-dirt criminals, perhaps best to not incriminate yourselves on social media.
10. MORE CRIME 2: New Canes QB Beck, girlfriend have luxury cars swiped: New UM transfer-quarterback Carson Beck and girlfriend Hanna Cavinder, a Canes basketball player, had their cars stolen in a home burglary. Miami-Dade cops are reported to have made an arrest. Beck said he and Cavinder were asleep when the theft happened. A Mercedes, a Lamborghini and a range Rover were stolen. Two thoughts: 1) Buy a big, barky dog to jar you from your sound sleep. 2) Back in my day, poor college athletes drove used Toyota Tercels.
THE LIST: SPORTS MOVIES AND THE OSCARS: With the Academy Awards looming March 2, the five sports-themed films to win the Oscar for Best Picture:
Year Movie (Notes)
1959 Ben-Hur (You call chariot racing a sport? Charlton Heston did.)
1976 Rocky (Sylvester Stallone in the boxing ring. Yo, Adrian!)
1981 Chariots of Fire (No chariots, just two guys running.)
2000 Gladiator (Russell Crowe and more charioteering.)
2004 Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, boxing.)
Other most recent stuff from me: Must-win MLS season for Messi, Inter Miami a tough climb, as opening 2-2 home loss shows // 15 years later, Dolphins Cancer Challenge is the life-saving legacy of Jim Mandich // Rivalry! Politics! Power shift? NHL is ice on fire with U.S.-Canada in 4 Nations final // Young, low-budget Marlins open spring as biggest underdogs in Miami sports history // Previous HB // Colleges to pros, a revolution in sports is all around us // What Eagles win tells teams like Dolphins, plus Super Bowl winners & losers // Super Bowl LIX pick // Miami misses on Durant, but trading Butler brings gust of fresh air -- and Heat got plenty in return // Dolphins trading for Browns defensive star Myles Garrett would be boldness Miami needs // Amid Miami’s Butler drama, all-star Herro, Ware lead surge of Heat home-grown talent // Unprofessional Jimmy Butler quit on Heat, ruined his legacy in Miami // Hurricanes bank on QB Carson Beck to lead ‘monster jump’ to 6th national title // Our Top 10 biggest Miami/South Florida sports stories of 2024 // Canes’ Larranaga lost heart for game in ‘new world’ cannibalizing college sports // Messi, Inter Miami out in MLS playoffs’ first round a stunning disappointment // Pete Rose wasn’t perfect, but MLB’s endless lack of mercy followed him to grave // And my latest podcast:
This story was originally published February 23, 2025 at 9:44 AM.
