Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Dolphins vs. POW Drought, Canes stay hot, Messi, Belichick comeback

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (SEPTEMBER 8): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US THIS WEEK: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 notes column -- back after one week off -- 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 72nd edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the HB10:

1. DOLPHINS: Is this the year Miami finally ends the ‘POW Drought’?: That’s the playoff-wins drought, with Miami’s at a current NFL-worst 23 straight seasons after last winning in the postseason in 2000. Expectations and hopes are high. They have been before. I’m done drinking the Kool-Aid. Prove you can do what you haven’t done in almost a quarter-century, Dolphins. That starts Sunday at home vs. Jacksonville with a Tua Tagovailoa-Trevor Lawrence rematch of the 2019 college national championship game won by Lawrence and Clemson over Tua and ‘Bama.

2. INTER MIAMI: New opening-date means Messi may never play in new stadium: Inter Miami a bit too triumphantly announced its new Miami Freedom Park officially would open for the 2026 MLS season. It was disappointing news, in fact, because the club previously targeted a 2025 opening that would have assured superstar Lionel Messi would play in the new stadium. Now that’s iffy, as Messi is under contact through 2025 with an option for ‘26. Legal and other issues have caused myriad delays; the original targeted opening was 2022! So Miami will have played in its temporary stadium in Fort Lauderdale for six years before finally moving south. Meantime Inter (Not Yet) Miami leads the MLS East with with seven games left in regular season and Messi’s return from injury imminent.

3. HURRICANES: Now we see how Cristobal, UM deal with the team out front: No. 12 Miami (up seven spots) is the new ACC betting favorite after a resounding 41-17 opening rout at rival Florida, coupled with a nightmarish 0-2 start by Florida State and an opening loss by Clemson. And quarterback Cam Ward bolstered his top-five standing in the Heisman Trophy race. Canes got to 2-0 Saturday with the wholly expected 56-9 home rout of Florida A&M and have another softy next week vs. Ball State. Coach Mario Cristobal spent his first two seasons chasing. Now his Canes are the team being chased.

4. TENNIS: Finally! American woman and man both in U.S. Open finals: American Taylor Fritz, the 12th seed, will face No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy today/Sunday afternoon in the men’s final of the U.S. Open -- the first U.S. man in the Open final since Andy Roddick in 2006. Saturday, American Jessica Pegula, the No. 6 seed, fell in the women’s final to No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 7-5, 7-5. America had not previously been represented in both U.S. Open championship matches since 2002.

5. NFL: Uh oh. Is Belichick plotting a coaching comeback?: Bill Belichick left the Patriots not under the best of circumstances and spent last season out of coaching while building something of a media empire. He turned down defensive-coordinator positions with the Falcons, 49ers and Rams. But now reports he is weighing a comeback if the situation is just right. Clearly we wants a head-coach role with a Super Bowl-challenging team -- the kind of job that seldom pops open ... but might for Belichick? Even at 73? One likely motivator for Bill: He “retired” trailing Don Shula in all-time NFL coaching wins, 347 to 333.

6. SOCCER: Farewell in retirement to USWNT great Alex Morgan: She didn’t get the perfect ending after surprisingly being left off the U.S. team that won recent Olympic gold in Paris. But Alex Morgan got just about everything else -- facing the highest expectations and exceeding them -- in a career ending with today’s final match for the NWSL’s San Diego Wave. Morgan, 35, ends with 123 international goals, fifth all-time among USWNT stars, two World Cup titles and an Olympic gold medal. Her retirement gift? She announced she’s pregnant with her second child. Congrats for it all, Alex. You helped lift women’s sports -- on and off the field.

7. MARLINS: Only drama left in lost season is avoiding 100 losses: The loss-pace is 102 entering today/Sunday. The bright side moving forward: A healthy ace Sandy Alcantara entering ‘25, a potential future ace in Eury Perez, and the fragile hope a few young prospects will blossom fast and big. The reality: ESPN’s ranking of all clubs based on “core talent” under contract the next two years has Miami 27th of 30, with the NL East rival Braves second, Phillies fifth and Mets ninth.

8. SOCCER: No Messi, no Ronaldo. An epic era ends in international men’s soccer: Newly announced 30 finalists for the 2024 men’s Ballon d’Or award saw both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo not nominated for the first time since 2003. The Ballon is to be presented October 28 to the global player of the year. Messi has won a record eight times and Ronaldo five. But Messi at age 37 with Inter Miami in MLS and Ronaldo at 39 with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia both are winding down epic careers. Brazil’s Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid is seen as a big favorite to win the latest Ballon.

9. SPORTS FANS: Kansas City superfan ‘ChiefsAholic’ had a secret life, got caught: Chiefs superfan Xaviar Babudar, 30, used to be known as ‘ChiefsAholic,’ a guy dressed toe-to-head in a full gray wolf costume wearing a Chiefs jersey at games. Now is he better known as the guy who just got slapped with a 17 1/2-year prison sentence without parole for a string of armed bank robberies across the U.S. He admitted stealing more than $800,000 in 11 robberies across seven states and laundering the dough through casinos. Not sure how he got caught, although, in that criminals are not generally renowned for intelligence, I’d like to imagine it was because he wore his ‘ChiefsAholic’ getup during the heists.

10. DUMB INJURIES: Why is ‘throwing out the first pitch’ still a thing?: Olympic soccer gold medalist and NWSL Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune will miss the rest of the season after suffering a serious knee injury throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals game. She had become the favorite to win 2024 NWSL rookie of the year, but is now the favorite to win 2024 weirdest way to get seriously injured.

Other most recent stuff from me: Miami Dolphins own city’s heart, now it’s time to reward starved Dolfans with new glory days // NFL Week 1 picks: Dolphins-Jags, Aaron Rodgers’ comeback, 5 (!) upsets & all the rest // NFL Thursday: Upset in the air (rather, on the ground) as Ravens-Chiefs opens season // Le Batard Show reveals major new partnership, 20th anniversary plans // Cristobal’s Hurricanes stake best-in-ACC claim with 41-17 opening rout at Florida // 2024 NFL Team Rankings: 1 to 32, Super Bowl to dregs // Previous HB10 // Poll Dance: South Florida’s Next Champion // Miami Dolphins fans rank No. 6 of 124 pro teams on ‘Misery Index.’ But help’s on the way! // Mario Cristobal’s rebuild of Miami Hurricanes has been ‘massive.’ Now it’s time to win big // Messi at 37 has missed more than half of Inter Miami games. Cherish him while you can // U.S. women are back! Soccer team announces return to power with Olympic gold // Pitbull alliance with underdog FIU escalates a turf war with Miami Hurricanes // Book it! Miami Hurricanes will vie for ACC title, make playoff in huge return to power // Jazz trade continues Miami Marlins’ losing cycle of talent-for-prospects cost cutting // Rain soaks Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup celebration ... and it was glorious // And my latest podcast: