Greg Cote: Awful Dan Snyder wins, Heat/Panthers odds, 1884 Maroons & more in new Hot Button Top 10

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (APRIL 16): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US LATELY: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 feature had been blog-only but with our blog now retired it moved, re-imagined, to online-only. HB10 means what’s on our minds, locally and nationally, but from a Miami perspective and accentuating stuff that’s major, offbeat, damnable, funny or worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the 12th edition of the new HB10:

1. NFL: The shame in Commanders sale? Awful Dan Snyder wins: Dan Snyder bought the then-Washington Redskins in 1999 for $750 million. Twenty-four years later there is an agreement for him to sell the now-Commanders for an NFL-record $6 billion. In between he sank the franchise with relentless ineptitude, embarrassment and scandal. The NFL and Washington fans win in the pending sale to Josh Harris, part owner of teams in the NBA, NHL and English Premier League. Unfortunately Snyder is the biggest winner because Roger Goodell and owners-taking-care-of-owners failed to expel Snyder years ago.

2. HEAT: No. 8 seed a rare hole from which Miami must dig: This is Miami’s 24th NBA postseason in 35 years. Last year was their fifth as the No. 1 seed and first since the 2013 champions. Now is only their second as a bottom-dwelling No. 8 seed, and first since 1996. Game 1 vs. Milwaukee is Sunday in Beertown. The good news? Miami is only the third-biggest underdog of the eight first-round series based on ESPN’s BPI predictor. It gives Heat a 10 percent chance of advancing -- better than the 4 percent shot given the Hawks vs. Boston and Nets vs. Philly. How Heat fares may portend the offseason, with a quick exit suggesting and inviting winds of change and a summer of Damian Lillard speculation.

3. PANTHERS: Florida leads NHL playoffs in hardest climb: This is only the Cats’ ninth time in Stanley Cup playoffs in 29 seasons. Last year was their first time on top as the No. 1 seed. Now is their first time as the lowest qualifier at No. 8. That means they face the greatest team ever, the Boston Bruins, in Game 1 Monday in Beantown. The Bruins, who set NHL records for most wins and points and had an insane plus-128 goals differential. Sliver of hope: The Presidents’ Trophy Curse. There have been 36 previous PT winners for having league’s best record, and only eight have lifted the Cup. Sliver of hope II: FLA and BOS were 2-2 in regular season, with Bruins’ goals edge only 17-15. (Do you believe in miracles?)

4. MLB: The 1884 St. Louis Maroons are toasting in heaven: Tampa Bay Rays finally lost Friday after a 13-0 that tied the modern MLB record they now share with the 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1987 Milwaukee Brewers. The only longer opening streak in baseball history was 20-0 by the 1884 St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association. Their players included Sleeper Sullivan and Buttercup Dickerson, because they did nicknames better then. Also, all the players looked like they were 58 years old. The Maroons would finish 94-19. Not unlike the annual celebration by the 1972 Dolphins when the last unbeaten NFL team loses, we imagine the Maroons up there raising as glass of Brandy Sour right now.

5. NFL: New QB-specific helmet should be named for Tua: This is yawn-news in most cities but the ears perk up in Miami as NFL and NFLPA announce a new quarterback-specific helmet will be available for the first time in the 2023 season. Half of all QB concussions occur when helmets hit the ground; just ask the Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa. The new helmet promises to reduce the severity of those impacts. The VICIS ZERO2 MATRIX QB-model helmet performed 7 percent better in QB-specific testing than the most popular helmet worn by passers last season. Modest improvement -- but still a safety advance.

6. NBA: Being bad at tanking costs Cuban, Mavs $750K: NBA socked Dallas Mavericks with a $750,000 for “conduct detrimental to the league,” saying the club “failed its fans” by sitting several key players in the April 7 loss that eliminated the team from play-in contention. It was the third time Cuban has been fined for tanking or admitted to doing so. The practice, done more discreetly than Cuban, will be a leaguewide problem until the NBA tweaks its lottery rules to further prevent it.

7. MLB: Baseball’s beer-sales extension an illogical, dangerous money grab: MLB has changed its alcohol policy to allow teams to extend beer sales by one inning (through the eighth) because of shorter games. At least five teams already have. Huh!? Mic to Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm, on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast: “The reason we stopped in the seventh was to give fans time to sober up and drive home safe, correct? So now with a faster-pace game, if the game is going to finish quicker, would we not move the beer sales back to the sixth inning to give our fans time to sober up and drive home?” Strahm is right. MLB is wrong. (And don’t even get me started on the obscene mark-up on the cost of a ballpark brew...)

8. SOCCER: Man City, chasing 1st Champs League crown, fronts quarterfinals: Manchester City with a three-goal advantage, Internazionale (Inter Milan) and Real Madrid both two-up and AC Milan with a one-goal edge lead into this coming week’s second-leg play in quarterfinal matchups in the UEFA Champions League. Semifinals at this point are looking like reigning champ Real vs. Man City atop the marquee, paired with a Milan vs. Milan semi on the other side.

9. GOLF: LIV-id Koepka blows Masters, makes excuses: LIV Golf traitor Brooks Koepka blew a four-shot lead to lose The Masters to Jon Rahm. Then, as if that weren’t good enough, he (at least partly) blamed the slow pace of play by the twosome ahead of him, Viktor Hovland and Patrick Cantlay. Granted, Cantlay plays slower than a chess match. Still, Koepka blowing a big lead and then grousing pettily afterward was what dreams are made of.

10. UFC: Masvidal on how not to announce your retirement: Miami MMA star Jorge Masvidal lost at UFC 287 in his hometown and announced in the octagon afterward he was retiring. He then proceeded to overshadow his own news by lavishing praising Donald Trump (who was there) and leading the crowd in a “Let’s go, Brandon!” chant that never quite took off. It embarrassed the fighter, UFC and the host city. Overt, partisan politics -- right, left or center -- should stay out of sports.

Other most recent stuff from me: Change may be coming for Heat, but for now celebrate Max Strus leading Miami to playoffs / Heat season looks done. Now we see if team on the brink has any fight left / Ugly: Heat get run-over in home play-in loss to Hawks / UFC makes triumphant return to Miami, but partisan politics left sour note / Play-in game can give Miami the gift it wants: Heat-Celtics in 1st round / ‘Fat kid from Liberty City’ to Miami legend: A tribute to Heat’s Udonis Haslem / And my latest podcast: