Greg Cote: Starting to trust the tea leaves pointing Messi to Miami & more in new Hot Button Top 10

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (MARCH 5): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US LATELY: Our every-Sunday Hot Button Top 10 feature had been blog-only but with our blog recently 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. Or think of it as 10 lil’ mini columns! Welcome to the seventh edition of the new HB10:

1. SOCCER: More tea leaves pointing Messi to Inter Miami: Didn’t take a sleuth to notice Inter Miami began its fourth season in MLS with nobody wearing uniform numbers 10 or 5. Hmm. Those happen to be the numbers worn by Argentine futbol god Lionel Messi and Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets -- who each have been in extended talks about a potential move to Miami when their contracts expire at the end of June. Team David Beckham is either saving those numbers with expectations of both arriving -- or stoking interest via the mere possibility. This, too: Inter Miami single-game home ticket sales have been shut down after a June 3 match. (Bulletin: With Messi here, the single-game ticket price would go through the bleepin’ roof.) Miami is said to be offering Messi a one-third ownership stake, and MLS commissioner Don Garber and the league seem on board with helping make it happen.

2. HURRICANES: Taylor named fulltime to Cristobal staff: Hall of Famer Jason Taylor has had no silver spoon in earning his coaching chops. After five years as a defensive assistant at local prep powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas he became UM’s parttime “defensive analyst” last season. Now he is promoted to fulltime as defensive ends coach. He’s known for awhile he might want to coach. While a Dolphin in 2007, Taylor tried to tutor younger teammates at this position but was told no by then-coach Cam Cameron. Cam went 1-15 and got fired. Taylor went to Canton.

3. CANES HOOPS: UM men top-seeded in ACC tourney: For the first time since 2013 Jim Larranaga’s No. 16-ranked Miami men are top seeds in the ACC Tournament after Saturday night’s 78-76 home win over No. 25 Pitt. Six 3-pointers by the fabulously named Wooga Poplar sparked The U. Miami (24-6, 15-5 ACC) shares the season title with Virginia, but is top-seeded via a win over the Cavs in their only meeting.

4. COLLEGE TRACK: .Jacksonville University stinks of scandal: A bigger sport and a bigger school and this would be all all over SportsCenter. Jacksonville U.’s women’s track and cross country coach Ron Grigg resigned in shame Saturday from the northern Florida school, with AD Alex Ricker-Gilbert noting “concerning information shared online” about Grigg’s treatment of student-athletes. Years of bullying is alleged. Now the parents of one are suing the school and Grigg over her death, saying the coach told Julia Pernsteiner, “Kill yourself,” a month before her 2021 suicide. If the allegations are true, Grigg should lose more than his reputation and career.

5. NFL DRAFT: Athletes do dumb things (another in a continuing series): So Georgia DT Jalen Carter, a consensus top-five pick in next month’s draft, had his time at the NFL scouting combine in Indy briefly interrupted when he turned himself in to police on an arrest warrant for reckless driving and racing, both misdemeanors although the resulting January crash killed a Bulldogs teammate and a recruiting staff member. Will it dissuade teams from drafting him or impede his NFL future? Somewhere, Deshaun Watson is laughing at the very question.

6. SWIMMING: Ledecky dominance beginning to wobble?: Katie Ledecky’s nine-year winning streak in U.S. water ended Friday when she was beaten by Canadian Summer McIntosh, 16, in the 200-meter freestyle at a Pro Series meet in Fort Lauderdale. It was Ledecky’s first domestic loss in a freestyle long-course final of 200 meters or longer since 2014. At 25, Ledecky is a seven-time Olympic gold medalist including three straight golds in the 800-meter freestyle entering the ‘24 Games in Paris.

7. NFL: Flores’ lawsuit allowed to go to jury trial: In a loss for the NFL, a federal judge ruled that former Dolphins head coach and current Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and three teams -- the Broncos, Giants and Texans -- may proceed toward a court trial instead of going to arbitration. Unfortunately, the judge agreed with the NFL that Flores’ claim against the Dolphins would go to league arbitration due to the employee contract he’d signed with Miami. The NFL’s arbiter? One-man jury, impartiality not required ... it’s Commissioner Roger Goodell!

8. KOBE BRYANT: Settlement in grotesque sharing of photos: Widow Vanessa Bryant settled remaining claims with Los Angeles County for $28.85 million over the sharing of photos of her husband and others in the deadly 2020 helicopter crash. Co-plaintiff Chris Chester settled for $19.95M, meaning taxpayers paid almost $50 million because a handful of heartless, soulless L.A. deputies and firefighters forever shamed themselves by sharing photos of dismembered bodies.

9. WBC: World Baseball Classic unfurls and it’s great, unless...: The Dominican Republic, U.S. and Japan are betting faves (in that order) as the 20-nation WBC begins Tuesday and runs through March 21, extracting players from their MLB teams and spring training. Marlins Park is the hub, hosting the group with the D.R., Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Israel and Nicaragua, and also the championship game. Notable Marlins in it: Sandy Alcantara and Johnny Cueto (D.R.), and Luis Arraez, Jesus Luzardo and Jean Segura (Venezuela). The WBC is a great idea. Unless your top player gets injured in it. Then it’s ill-timed and it stinks.

10. NFL: Dolphins near top as players grade teams: The NFLPA surveyed 1,300 players who graded their own teams in eight categories, and the Dolphins were graded A+ or A in seven. The only slip was a C+ in “treatment of families.” Miami was ranked second overall behind only Minnesota. Dead-last: Washington. Jacksonville ranked 28th, somehow ahead of four other teams despite a lockerroom ... rat problem!

Other stuff from me this past week: Dolphins’ Tua delay smart if related to X-factor Lamar Jackson / Jake Paul’s unearned arrogance got comeuppance it needed / And my latest podcast: