Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Paris Olympics, Copa America fallout grows, Messi, WNBA, Dolphins & more

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (JULY 21): 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. After a week off on vacation, welcome now to the 66th edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the HB10:

1. OLYMPICS: “Let’s gooooo States!” Paris hosts Summer Games starting this week: The mayor of Paris took a dip in the Seine and didn’t get E.coli. The Japanese sent home Shoko Miyata, captain of their women’s artistic gymnastics team, for smoking and drinking. And Team USA is the prohibitive betting favorite as usual to win the most gold and overall medals. So let the Games begin! This coming Friday’s Opening Ceremony gets it going with pomp, though some events begin Wednesday. Notable U.S. Olympians include LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, Scottie Scheffler, Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky. East Coast Americans, be prepared for late nights because 8 p.m. in Paris is 2 a.m. in New York (and Miami).

2. WNBA: Miami to host inaugural Unrivaled 3-on-3 season. (But will Caitlin play?): Unrivaled, a new offseason 3-on-3 league founded by WNBA stars and U.S. Olympians Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, is to play its inaugural season in Miami beginning January 2025. The league will feature six teams with five players on each in an abbreviated 10-week season designed as an option to keep WNBA players from having to play overseas for extra income. Stewart and Collier are two of nine players thus far announced to play. Still unanswered: Will Unrivaled get commits from many of the WNBA’s biggest stars including it-girl Caitlin Clark?

3. SOCCER: Repercussions continue after Copa America mess at Hard Rock: The black eye goes on for the South American football group CONMEBOL, host Miami and Hard Rock Stadium after the crowd debacle at Argentina’s 1-0 final win over Colombia. Multiple lawsuits including a federal class action suit have been filed against CONMEBOL and the stadium in the wake of the chaos by understandably angry fans who bought tickets but could not enter the stadium due to crowd-control issues. The nightmare has raised questions about the U.S. co-hosting the 2026 World Cup, with Miami among host cities. Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL Dolphins, was overrun when non-ticketed fans rushed the gates, climbing through security railings and even air vents. Facilities were damaged and ticketed fans were kept from their seats by unruly non-paying crowds in a colossal embarrassment for the city of Miami.

4. DOLPHINS: Fins open training camp this week as OBJ claims win in Nike fight: Dolphins veterans report Tuesday as full training camps open around the NFL. Meantime recently signed Fins receiver Odell Beckham Jr.’s legal fight vs. Nike ended with both sides claiming victory ... but neither really winning? An Oregon jury ruled that neither side must pay damages in the breach of contract suit. Beckham sued saying Nike it withheld royalties, while Nike countersued claiming Beckham broke their deal by customizing his gloves and publicizing the contract. The jury ruled neither side breached the contract and that each side owes the other $0.

5. INTER MIAMI: Herons widen MLS East lead, but Messi’s return uncertain: Inter Miami is 16-4-5 with Saturday’s 2-1 home win over Chicago and now leads Cincinnati by five points in the MLS East and for the Supporters’ Shield. But when will injured Lionel Messi return? Messi suffered right ankle ligament damage in Argentina’s 1-0 Copa America championship win over Colombia a week ago Sunday and is out indefinitely. He will almost certainly miss Wednesday’s MLS All-Star Game. Also in doubt: His availability July 27 as Miami defends its Leagues Cup crown with an opening match vs. Puebla in Mexico.

6. GOLF: British Open continues the major sadness for Tiger Woods: Billy Horschel carries a 1-shot lead into today’s final round of the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland, ahead of six golfers bunched one back. Rory McIlroy’s majors drought will continue. But the bigger or at least more poignant story may be that Tiger Woods’ 2024 major championship season ended with another missed cut after a 6-over 77 in the second round at Royal Troon for a 36-hole total of 14-over 156. Woods has now missed the cut or withdrawn in six of his past seven majors. Woods, now 48, is a 15-time major champion but not since 2019. His ‘24 majors tally: Made the cut but finished 60th at The Masters, then missed the cut at the PGA, U.S. Open and British. Woods won’t compete again this year until December.

7. WNBA: League to get windfall in new media-rights deal ... but is it enough?: As the WNBA celebrates a triumphant All-Star Weekend in Phoenix, the surging league would receive $200 million per year as part of the NBA’s recently approved media-rights deals -- an annual increase of about $140 million. But is it enough? The executive director of the WNBA players union, Terri Jackson, says the WNBA is being undervalued at $2.2 billion over the 11-year deal. “We have wondered for months how the NBA would value the WNBA in its deal,” said Jackson. The NBA owns roughly 60 percent of the WNBA, and its cut of $2.2 billion from a reported $75 billion deal amounts to less than a 3 percent share to the women’s league.

8. RANKINGS: Miami well-repped on ESPN’s top 100 pro athletes of 21st Century: List-loving ESPN ranks the top 100 pro athletes of the 21st Century (post-2000), with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps No. 1 overall. But South Florida influence is huge out the gate with Palm Beach-raised Serena Williams 2nd overall, Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi 3rd and ex-Heat’er LeBron James 4th. Others with notable Miami-area ties are Shaquille O’Neal (17), Miguel Cabrera (33), Dwyane Wade (35), Ichiro (37), Alex Rodriguez (43), Derek Jeter (53), Ray Lewis (61), Venus Williams (86) and Ed Reed (99).

9. SOCCER: Homegrown MLS star Sullivan sets youth record with debut at 14: When Greg Cote was 14 he was alone in his room playing Strat-O-Matic baseball. When Philly-born Cavan Sullivan was 14 he debuted in MLS with the Philadelphia Union, breaking Freddy Adu’s 2004 record for youngest player. The young American signed the largest homegrown contract in MLS history, stipulating he’ll transfer to English power Manchester City when he turns 18. Sullivan becomes the youngest player to appeared in an NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB or WNBA game at least since 1970. (Adu, by the way, enjoyed a lengthy but checkered pro career that included 133 games and 19 goals across seven MLS seasons.)

10. NFL: Current, former star quarterbacks in silly feud over the number 8: Hall of Famer Troy Aikman -- or is it Troy Eightman? -- is attempting to use “EIGHT” on apparel and bags a company of his sells. But reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson is challenging Aikman’s profiteering use of their shared No. 8 in a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office complaint. Jackson owns or has applied for several trademarks using the number in various ways, and says Aikman’s attempted use would be “likely to cause confusion, or to deceive” the purchasing public. Dear Childish Grownups: No athlete “owns” a number. But if any did own No. 8, it’d be Kobe Bryant, Cal Ripken Jr., Yogi Berra, Carl Yastrzemski (or others) -- not you two.

Other most recent stuff from me: Miami Dolphins are disrespecting Tua with ongoing contract impasse // Previous HB10 // Poll Dance: Bronny James // Why U.S. should fire Gregg Berhalter after early exit from Copa America // The stand-pat Miami Heat must keep up as agressive NBA East improves all around it // Rain soaks Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup celebration ... and it was glorious // Blasphemy! Vindication? How ‘McDavid overrated’ took on life of its own in Stanley Cup Final // Champions! Epic rise as Florida Panthers win 1st Stanley Cup, deny McDavid coronation // Willie Mays, 1931-2024: A fond and personal tribute to top-tier baseball legend // Lionel Messi is hero/savior in MLS, but Caitlin Clark is resented in WNBA. Here’s why // MLB finally adding Josh Gibson, Negro Leagues an ‘historic moment’ too long in coming // And my latest podcast: