Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Paris & The Last Supper, plus Tua, Messi, Jazz, Kermit the Frog & more

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (JULY 28): 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 now to the 67th edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the HB10:

1. DOLPHINS: Tua mega-contract extension ends 1st week of training camp happily: He wanted the $50M-per-year average the NFL market has set as the standard for top-tier QBs. Took awhile, but Tua Tagovailoa finally got it from Miami with the new four-year, $212. 4 million deal that is the richest in club history. The extension is controversial with many fans, but was necessary and smart. The Fins finally are paying Tua like they believe in him. Like he’s elite. So now the onus is on him to do more than play like he is, but to win like he is.

2. OLYMPICS: Thoughts on rainy Opening Ceremony, big Sunday and more as Paris Games dig in: U.S. men’s basketball vs. Serbia, Simone Biles and gymnastics, medal rounds in swimming and U.S.. women’s soccer vs. Germany highlight Sunday action. The boat parade of nations along the Seine was rained-on yet spectacular. Loved the sight of LeBron James out front on the Team USA boat holding the flag in a pouring rain. Loved Celine Dion’s emotional performance, Beyonce’s hype video and Paris flaunting its history of fashion and art.

3. OLYMPICS: The silly furor over the so-called ‘Last Supper’ thing: In a now-controversial scene during the Opening Ceremonies, drag queens and dancers lined a long table in an image that some easily-offended saw as resembling Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” portrait of Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles. And it did. Then again, I saw it as Paris celebrating its own diversity. I saw it as a bold, unabashed celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and of inclusivity. Yet a tech company, C Spire, quickly dropped its Olympic advertising after the supposed “mockery.” The religious far-right is not renowned for its sense of humor and seems to forget it was Jesus who said, “Love they neighbor as thyself.”

4. OLYMPICS: An athlete who should never have been in Paris is booed before loss: Steven van de Velde is a Dutch beach volleyball player who did prison time for having sex with a 12-year-old girl, yet qualified for his Olympic team, played his opening match early Sunday (today) and was booed before losing. Van de Velde did not speak to reporters after the three-set loss to Italy, against IOC policy. Dutch team spokesman John van Vliet, asked if the team was protecting a convicted child rapist, said: “We are protecting a convicted child rapist to do his sport as best as possible and for a tournament which he qualified for.”

5. MARLINS: Perpetually rebuilding Fish deal Jazz to Yanks for prospects: The MLB trade deadlines (it’s Tuesday) means only one thing in Miami: The Marlins trading top players (meaning big salaries) for prospects (meaning small salaries). And they’re doing it again. This time it’s OF/2B Jazz Chisholm to the Yankees for three prospects: Triple-A catcher Agustin Ramirez and infielders Jared Serna and Abraham Ramirez. Fish also dealt reliever A.J. Puk, after earlier this sad season ominously trading batting-champ 2B Luis Arraez. The Jazz trade isn’t awful. He underperformed and never rose to the hype, and Ramirez looks like a majors-ready answer to Miami’s huge problem at catcher. Overall, though, the Marlins continue spinning wheels with a low-spending owner and no cogent path higher in the tough brutally NL East.

6. INTER MIAMI: Win over Puebla sans Messi reminds Herons not a 1-man team: Lionel Messi watched Saturday night in a walking boot from his ankle injury in Argentina’s Copa America final win. No matter. A year after his storybook Inter Miami debut in the inaugural Leagues Cup, even sans-Messi, Miami’s defense of its defense of its League Cup crown bean with a 2-0 home win over Mexico’s Puebla in the tourney opener. Messi also has missed 13 of Inter Miami’s 25 MLS matches this season, yet Miami is on a 7-1 run without him and leads the MLS East. Herons return to the pitch this coming Saturday with a second Leagues Cup group-stage match vs. Mexico’s Tigres in Houston, with Messi’s availability uncertain but Miami a strong bet to advance to the knockout round.

7. HEAT: Summer League ”title” can’t salvage disappointing offseason: Miami’s Summer League crown surely rivals the Lakers’ In-Season Tournament trophy in prestige, but it doesn’t rescue the Heat from an offseason of inertia that saw a three-year extension for Bam Adebayo, the free-agency departure of Caleb Martin and not much else. ESPN’s c-minus offseason garde for Miami was better than only four teams. And especially high marks went to the East rival Sixers (A), Knicks (A-), (Celtics B+) and Bucks (B+).

8. WNBA: Rookie star Angel Reese big get for Unrivaled 3-on-3 league: Brash and talented Chicago Sky rookie star Angel Reese became the 10th player and biggest star yet (along with Breanna Stewart) to commit to the WNBA’s new Unrivaled 3-on-3 offseason league that will begin play in Miami in January. The league will feature six teams with five players each in an abbreviated 10-week season designed to keep WNBA players from having to play overseas for extra income. Still unanswered: Will Unrivaled get a commit from the grand prize, Caitlin Clark?

9. NFL: Raiders stupidly cross line making fun of Mahomes: Love when pro teams have fun with their social media accounts. But sometimes the “fun” gets personal and mean and crosses a line. The Las Vegas Raiders caused a stir with a video showed members of the team mocking Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes with a Kermit the Frog puppet -- and obvious jab at the way he speaks. Mahomes was asked if the video would provide extra motivation when the AFC West rivals play. “It’ll get handled when it gets handled.,” he said. Mahomes’ personal trainer, Bobby Stroupe, posted, “We will remember.” Dear Raiders: Mahomes is the best. You’re nobody, and you just poked the bear. Dumb.

10. AUTO RACING: Formula One is rescued from the boredom of excellence: The end of the predictable, monotonous excellence and dominance of Max Verstappen has saved Formula One racing from itself.

Other most recent stuff from me: Dolphins paying Tua like he’s elite with new $212 million extension. Now it’s on him to win like it // Gold, silver and bronze to protest, tension and threats as Paris Olympics begin // Time for Tua to play hardball, boycott Dolphins camp amid contract impasse // Dolphins open training camp under Tua contract cloud and with everything to prove // Previous HB10 // Poll Dance: Olympics // Why U.S. should fire Gregg Berhalter after early exit from Copa America // The stand-pat Miami Heat must keep up as aggressive 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 // And my latest podcast: