Yahoo Sports Cote: Return of Tua?, UM-FSU, World Series, Heat opens, Messi in playoffs — what a week! | Opinion
The challenge in being a sports fan is to fend off the cynicism and doomsaying when possible. For media and fans alike, complaint is the easy currency of conversation. It’s the nature of the beast. Thirty-one of 32 teams will not win the Super Bowl this season. What sports does best, certainly most reliably, is disappoint you.
So when a rare week like this comes along, it is something to celebrate, to embrace.
It is a time to appreciate teams, athletes and moments — the anticipation of those first.
To call this the “best sports week ever in South Florida” would be unquantifiable, but, for a week not starring the ultimate stakes of a champiosnhip game, I think I might nominate what’s about to happen.
Three consecutive sold-out concerts by Taylor Swift at Hard Rock Stadium sort kicked us off pretty well, eh?
Look what’s coming now, in chronology. And if you aren’t a sports fan, give this to turn you into one:
Tuesday — The NHL Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers host Minnesota, marking the first time since the Miami Heat in 2014 that any local team has begun a season as a reigning league champ. Might they actually repeat?
Tuesday — FIU football hosts Sam Houston State in prime time at the newly rechristened Pitbull Stadium. (These are the week’s hors d’oeuvres. Save your appetite.)
Wednesday — The Heat hosts its 37th season and home opener in the NBA, this one vs. upstate rival Orlando. Could this be the last of the Jimmy Butler era? The experts and oddsmakers say Miami will be mid-pack, just so-so this season. This is the Heat’s first chance to say otherwise.
Thursday — Off day. Rest up. We’re just getting started.
Friday — Inter Miami and Lionel Messi host Game 1 of their best-of-3 MLS Cup first round playoff series vs. the winner of Tuesday’s wild-card play in game between Montreal and Atlanta. After winning the Supporters’ Shield for best regular-season record, nothing short of a championship will suffice for Team Messi.
Friday — Game 1 of the Dream World Series: New York Yankees-Los Angeles Dodgers, a.k.a. Ohtani vs. Judge. With so many transplanted New Yorkers living in South Florida, and until Miami’s own major-league team starts spending like one, this is about as close as we will get to feeling like we’re in the World Series.
Saturday — The No. 6-ranked, unbeaten Miami Hurricanes host ACC rival Florida State in a prime-time game at hard Rock. UM is 7-0 and has seemed vulnerable in three consecutive narrow wins. FSU is an uncharacteristic 1-6 — all the more reason an upset win on enemy turf would make the Seminoles’ season and try to ruin Miami’s.
Sunday — The Miami Dolphins are off to an injury-wracked 2-4 start but hope to have quarterback Tua Tagovailoa back from a concussion after four games’ absence in this Hard Rock matinee vs. Arizona. Said Tagovailoa Monday: “Do I want to be known for [concussions]. No I don’t but these are the cards I’ve been dealt. I just gotta be smart and stay available for my team.” Ominously he said, “I love this game, and I love it to the death of me,” but added, “There’s risk in any and everything.”
Sunday — Homestead-Miami Speedway hosts NASCAR’s next-to-last playoff race prior to the Championship 4 in Phoenix that will determine the season champion.
A Heat season opener ... the perfect World Series ... Messi repping Miami in the playoffs ... The Canes having a generational season ... Tua’s comeback? ... if there isn’t something to excite you this week, check your pulse.
Take in a game live or save a seat on the couch.
Either way, remember why you did in the first place and fall in love with sports all over again.
