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Sports Agenda For Wednesday (4/4/12)

Big Story:
A South Florida team made the playoffs last night, but it wasn't the Panthers. It's opening night for the Fish, and for some reason unknown to me, Bill Parcells is the hot coaching commodity out there.

Lyrics of the Day:
"Who are you? Where ya been? Where ya from? Gossip burning on the tip of your tongue. You lie so much you believe yourself. Judge not lest ye be judged yourself. Holier than thou….you are!" -Metallica, "Holier Than Thou"

Heat: (vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, 8 p.m., Sun Sports/ESPN2)
Well, at least South Florida has the Heat.
That way we always have at least one playoff contender as long as the Big Three are here.
How about putting Ronny Turiaf in the starting lineup.
Something I've been saying for more than week and bang, he comes in and hits 6 points and grabs 6 boards.
Not bad, not bad at all.
Best stat from Turiaf….no turnovers!
So if there was any question about who's team this is, LeBron put it to rest last night.
With D-Wade for some reason out of the game, more on that in a minute, LeBron proceeded to use and abuse the 76ers.
LBJ came down with 41 points on 15-25 shooting for the game. Not too bad.
But please, someone explain to me why Chris Bosh shot two 3-pointers??!?!
He's the only person I know who is an athletic freak, stands 6'11", and is afraid to get into the paint and fight for rebounds.
Okay, back to D-Wade.
Chris Broussard of ESPN tweeted that Wade and Spoelstra were in a bit of a disagreement over something which could have contributed to him not playing.
I doubt it was much, but Broussard is right about this team more often than not.
So, my guess is Wade, Spo, LeBron, and Riley all had a little meeting about it and things will get settled asap.
My hunch is that Wade simply needed some rest as he's older than Bosh or LeBron, so he'll need more rest for the playoff push.
Kudos to the Heat for making another playoff run.
A few more victories, and the 2 seed will be locked up for the playoffs.
Now, let's just get Chris Bosh back to how he was playing to start the year, along with Mario Chalmers and we got ourselves a serious contender.
Trust me, this team will only go as far as Bosh can help them go. If he disappears in the playoffs, this team is toast.

Panthers: (off Wednesday, @ Washington Capitals Thursday)
You're the Florida Panthers 2012.
You are up 3-0 in the second period of the game you need to win to seal a playoff berth up for the first time in more than a decade.
Then you're goalies disappear and give up four goals over the last two periods and then give up the game winner in overtime.
Seriously?
Only a team in South Florida could pull defeat from the jaws of victory like this.
The Panthers are now 1 point away from the playoffs.
Standing in their way?
The second-place Washington Capitals.
Washington will have to beat Florida on Thursday and then hope Florida loses on Saturday and then beat the New York Rangers to overtake the Panthers.
Here's where things could get dicey.
Let's say Florida loses to Washington, a likely possibility at this point, and on Saturday to Carolina.
Then Washington beats the Rangers and then…
Buffalo wins Thursday over the Flyers and then can beat the Bruins, we have a three way tie for the seventh and eighth playoff spot.
Florida, Washington, and Buffalo would all finish with 92 points.
A three-way tie for the last two playoff spots.
I don't know what the tiebreakers would be, but that would be hella fun.
All Florida needs to do to avoid it is get at least one point against Washington or Carolina.
Not a tough thing to do, but for this squad in the last month, anything outside of skating has been tough.

Marlins: (vs. St. Louis Cardinals, 7:05 p.m., ESPN)
Bienvenido beisbol!
The Marlins make their long-awaited debut at Marlins Park as the Miami Marlins tonight versus the Cardinals.
I'll have more on this on the website today.
Here's what to watch for tonight:
Is Josh Johnson fully back from last year's debacle. He showed great stuff in spring, but he needs to start strong to show he's back to being a Cy Young contender.
Can Hanley handle third base? So far, so good, but now things count and we'll see how it goes.
Can Hanley recover his swing? He was nailing the ball in spring training nearly hitting .400, so let's hope he can keep it going into the season.
Is Giancarlo Stanton ready? Can he take his game next level and become the All-Star Miami hopes he will become.
Will the stadium make a difference? Fans will be there tonight, but what about in May and June? They've got the brand new digs paid for by you and me, so let's see if they can actually win something in there now.
That's a good list to start with tonight.
Enjoy it tonight Marlins fans, because they won't be in town for another week after Wednesday's season opener.

NFL Update:
Sometimes I wonder if the owners in the NFL shouldn't be the ones given the Wonderlic test.
For some reason beyond me, Bill Parcells has become the hot name in coaching again with the Vikings apparently telling him to name his price.
Way to build up support for Leslie Frazier there guys!
Really? When was the last time he won a Super Bowl again? EXACTLY.
What did he leave in Dallas? How about Miami?
This is the guy you want heading up your team?
Look, he was good with the Giants and decent with the Patriots.
Outside of that, he's been a close but no cigar guy living off his past accomplishments.
He's like the girl at the high school reunion who was the most popular in high school but now looks like she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down, but still thinks she's all of that.
He put Miami into the ground and Dallas can't get past anyone to get to the Big Game, so how is he this NFL savior again?
I hope he does come back and his antiquated style of football is again exposed for being a fraud in today's game.
And if he does come back, I want the Dolphins, Cowboys, Patriots, Giants, and Jets to all slaughter the team he's coaching.
For me he's somewhere between Nick Saban and the Jets organization.

All of the sports that is fit to print later on CBSMiami.com/sports
Follow me on Twitter @timkephart33 for the latest sports and general news updates.

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