Sunday, October 13, 2019

Fire Dave Hyde and Greg Cote

Dave Hyde of the Sun-Sentinel and Greg Cote of the Miami Herald are the deans of south Florida sports journalists. They should both be fired.

The Miami “Dolphins” are throwing football games, trying to lose. They are throwing an entire season’s worth of games. They want to go 0-16. That’s the plan! It is sport-unethical, sport-immoral, corrupt, cynical, dangerous to the players, and it breaks a team’s relationship with its paying ticket holders. If you are a true Dolphan to Hyde and Cote you should be rooting for your team that you have paid money to watch, to lose.

Hyde and Cote have been the most vocal advocates of this corrupt bargain.

Here is what the NFL Players Association said about “Dolphin” corruption:

The first NBA-style “trust the process” tank job isn’t going unnoticed.

“It’s unethical and morally reprehensible as far as I’m concerned,” former NFL Players Association president Domonique Foxworth recently said on ESPN, via the Miami Herald.

“We understand how dangerous football is as a game. Putting guys out there in this type of danger is a problem. You can put that aside. As an employer you have an obligation to provide as safe a working environment as you can and also provide people an opportunity to succeed. These young men have committed their lives to getting to the NFL.
...
“The expectation is once you get to the NFL, the team will do the very best they can do to make sure you succeed. They are not doing this there and that’s not fair. These guys are physically paying the price. These guys are putting bad film on tape because they’re not trying to win and it’s going to shorten their careers.

“You know who’s going to benefit from them? The owner, General Manager, and maybe the potential future coach. These guys aren’t going to benefit from it. These guys are going to be out of the league having their careers ruined by a selfish team like the Dolphins.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/sports.yahoo.com/amphtml/former-nflpa-president-dubs-dolphins-203631433.html

Here is what Greg Cote has written.

Under the headline,

“Quit Whining! Miami Dolphins tanking is best thing this franchise has done in 20 years”

So, yeah, OF COURSE the Dolphins are tanking.

Fans should be on board with this and accept that one really horrendous season portending much better days ahead beats the hell out of that unending parade of numbing mediocrity.

Players should buy into that, too.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/greg-cote/article234920642.html

The overtly tanking Dolphins are 0-3 by a combined score of 133-16, the worst negative three-game points differential in the NFL since 1950. Trading talent for future draft picks makes the future bright maybe but for now leaves the franchise of Don Shula and Dan Marino among the worst in football history.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chicagotribune.com/sns-tns-bc-bkn-cote-column-20190928-story.html%3foutputType=amp

The Season Like No Other, the Great Tank of 2019, plows unstoppable toward the top of the 2020 NFL Draft.
...
This is about a plain lack of talent — the direct result of Miami trading away most of its best players to accrue a bounty of first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and ‘21.

With some luck, smart drafting and just the right franchise quarterback — such as Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa — there will be a payday for the misery of ‘19.

It is why plenty of Dolfans are all-in on the tanking. It also is why the stadium was one-third empty Sunday, far less than the 64,278 tickets distributed.
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At the same time, there is an argument this season — now at the quarter mark entering a bye week — is unfolding almost perfectly for what Miami needs of it.
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The Dolphins need to be bad enough to secure the overall No. 1 draft pick or at least one very high. Good start on that one.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/greg-cote/article235477732.html

Now Hyde:

Despite my attempt to buy a tank, my encouraging fans to hop aboard the tank-wagon, my main question being why they didn’t drive further down Tank Avenue — despite such seeming tip-offs, there seems some doubt on my thoughts about the Miami Dolphins’ strategy.
So let me be as obvious as the 0-16 record ahead:

I’m all in on this tank job.
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So hop aboard the tank-wagon, folks. After two decades of mostly drek, what’s 16 more games of puke, especially when it comes with an actual and understandable plan out of the wilderness?
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Don’t lose focus. Do your job. Keep the blinders on.
One loss at a time, folks.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-hyde-dolphins-tank-trade-20190902-ukrzbntcnfc7jirehsc66cxwg4-story.html%3foutputType=amp

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was planted into the ground often enough to grow roots, said, “It’s never good to get embarrassed like that.”
Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, whose eight months of preparation were gone in the eight opening seconds, said, “We’ve got problems on offense, defense and special teams.”

Here’s what I say:
One down.

And 230 days until the No. 1 pick.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-dolphins-ravens-hyde-column-20190908-a2wl5qdtlnbjlfpbilmp3sjx24-story.html%3foutputType=amp

Tank-wagon. Tank-wagon. Tank-wagon. Tank-wagon.
All-l-l-l-l abo-o-o-oard?
...
Bad is good. Up is down. Losing is winning. That’s the mindset you’ll need to have, and some anti-nausea medication might help. Tank-wagon? Hop aboard, losers. This season promises to be a disaster.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-hyde-sunday-sep1-20190830-iltyu3fi5fhlxarslkveyqitem-story.html

Perfect day. Perfect game. Perfect scene.
...
Perfect decision.
“We were going for 2 all the way,’’ Dolphins coach Brian Flores said of the two-point conversion with six seconds left.

Perfect play.
“We worked on it all week,’’ Flores said.

Perfect pass.
“I just dropped it — I’ve got to hold up my end,’’ Drake said.
And so a perfect ending.
Dolphins win, 16-17.
Meaning, they lost to Washington, 17-16, on Sunday, but they won while losing.
...
... they lost on that final play.
That’s everything, at least if you have your eyes on the No. 1 draft pick.
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“The end result is what the end result is,’’ Drake said. “It’s a loss.”
Absolutely, draft-ilicious perfect.
 https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-hyde-dolphins-washington-column-20191013-bpmitevrfvdipofv2q4gpssxfi-story.html


Hyde and Cote have committed the most grievous, irresponsible, unethical journalistic malpractice. They should have their tickets pulled and be unceremoniously fired.