When the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat take the court tomorrow night in Philly, much more than a first-round playoff series is at stake. The Heat’s goal will be to bring the series back to Miami for a Game 6, while the Sixers are looking to complete a gentlemen’s sweep of the Heat, wrap up the series at home 4-1, and get a chance to recover from what has been a taxing series for both teams.
Football pros talk in macho clichés, so most sports columnists might get a pass for crafting a tortured metaphor out of an Adam Gase line about wanting “alpha dogs” on the Miami Dolphins. But Armando Salguero isn’t most sports columnists.
After getting their asses handed to them by the 76ers in Saturday’s 130-103 Game 1 loss, the Heat entered Monday’s Game 2 needing a hero. They needed someone to step up and meet each Sixers basket with a basket of his own. They needed a familiar face to turn back the clock and make big-time plays in a big-time game. They needed leadership and strength.
This past Saturday night, the Miami Heat got absolutely dominated by the Philadelphia 76ers, who won Game 1 of their first-round playoff matchup 130-103. Tonight, the Heat has a chance to put that embarrassment behind the team in Game 2.
Once again, gun violence and murder intersect at the Liberty Square apartment complex, better known as the Pork n’ Beans. On April 8, two young men were killed and another were two injured while they chilled outside a row of apartments at NW 63rd Street and 13th Place. Witnesses heard…
Superman versus Batman. Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier. Freddy versus Jason. The Miami Heat “culture” versus the Philadelphia 76ers “process.” The Heat’s Saturday-night, first-round playoff matchup is the proverbial immovable object versus the unstoppable force. Something. Must. Give. It’s time for the big-boy pants.
The Miami Marlins are just awful. They’re worse than Devin Nunes, Mark Zuckerberg, and the Pharma Bro. They probably won’t challenge the famed 1899 Cleveland Spiders for worst-ever MLB record, but no one would really be shocked if they did!
Do you want to talk about dreaming big? Imagine Dwyane Wade hoisting his fourth championship trophy above his head in June. Imagine sticking the landing and sending off the greatest athlete in South Florida sports history in the most amazing way.
The media pitchforks have come out for Sinclair Broadcast Group, the conservative, pro-Trump company that owns the most local TV stations across the United States. But Sinclair wouldn’t be the force it is today without Bill Clinton and Barack Obama helping the company grow along the way.
ESPN NFL Draft expert Todd McShay released his latest mock draft Wednesday, and if his predictions come true, the Miami Dolphins will be sending a clear message to Ryan Tannehill: Start looking for a good real-estate agent, because your time in Miami is almost up. If McShay’s prediction is correct…
Hope you’re planning on some barbecue at Tortuga Music Festival this year, ’cause it’s a straight-up sausage fest.
Late last week, things between Marlins Man and his beloved home team got messy. Miami lawyer Laurence Leavy, better known as “Marlins Man” after getting prime TV seats at sporting events nationwide in his Day-Glo orange jersey, announced that for the first time in 25 years, he wouldn’t be paying for Marlins season tickets.
Heat fans should hope the team draws LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs this year. It’s meant to be. It’s needed to make the universe right. Without a Heat-Cavs LeBron-Wade series, there will forever be a void no other matchup can fill.
The Marlins will probably lose more than 100 games this season. Players you’ve never heard of will take over for stars such as Giancarlo Stanton and Marcelo Ozuna, who were shipped off to save cash. There will probably be some nights that will take Marlins fans back to a time when they sat in a cavernous Pro Player Stadium surrounded by orange seats and foul balls nobody wanted. The Marlins might make history this season, and not the good kind.
The TV news industry cannot get enough of Stormy Daniels, the porn star who allegedly had a sexual affair with Donald Trump 12 years ago. For months, the mainstream media has been chewing on the story that the president’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 to keep her mouth shut about her liaison with Trump.
Yesterday Donald Trump called up Vladimir Putin — a strongman who was recently caught deploying nerve gas to kill dissidents on the soil of America’s oldest ally — to heartily congratulate him for winning a sham election. Trump made the call despite the fact that his own aides told him not to and even typed in all caps on his morning briefing “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” regarding an item about Putin’s victory.
The Dolphins should already be on the phone with Colin Kaepernick to get him on a plane to Miami for a workout. He’s the best option available to back up Ryan Tannehill.
It’s time to mount a serious campaign to end tolls in Miami-Dade County. Any time the government wants to charge people money, we should be allowed to vote on it. Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise and the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) are highway robbers preying on predominantly poor motorists struggling to have a roof over their heads, put food on the table, and take care of their families.
Before last season, any NFL fan asked to name the Miami Dolphins’ biggest star could list at least a few options: Jarvis Landry, Mike Pouncey, Jay Ajayi, Ndamukong Suh, and maybe Ryan Tannehill. Now, after a slew of offseason moves, that list has dwindled to one: Tannehill, who hasn’t played football for the Dolphins in 19 months.
If you’re a fan of South Florida’s teams, Stephen Ross doesn’t think you’re a good sports fan. The Miami Dolphins’ owner made that sentiment clear earlier this week when he said as much during an impromptu interview with the New York Daily News. Ross made sure to hedge his hot take by pointing out that Miami is a “great city,” just not so hot when it comes to sports fandom.
As long as Miami had to stomach Jeffrey Loria, the spawn of Scrooge McDuck and Cruella de Vil, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross got a pass. Sure, his teams were just as putrid as the Marlins, but at least Ross didn’t donate to Donald Trump and stood up for his players’ right to protest police brutality during the National Anthem.
The Miami Dolphins are boring. They lack star power. They aren’t appointment television unless you’re marking it in your calendar to miss their games. Their decades-old sad act has their fans finding much more in common with apathetic Marlins lovers than they do Heat Nation. The Dolphins are in desperate need of an exciting change of course, and fast, or South Florida will lose interest.
