February 7 8:30 a.m.

The Dolphins have hired San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel as their new head coach. The graduate of Yale replaces Brian Flores. He is the latest of young offensive gurus to be given the reins of an NFL team, having worked with Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay and Matt LeFleur. Hired as an intern with the Broncos at the age of 22 in 2005, McDaniel then went on to be part of the Texans' staff from 2006-08. His next stop was in the now defunct UFL, where Orlando once hosted the Tuskers. But McDaniel joined the California Redwoods in 2009 as an assistant with Dennis Green. That staff also featured former UCF head coach Mike Kruzcek. The franchise was owned by Paul Pelosi, that would be the husband of the current Speaker of the House- Nancy. McDaniel was on the staff in 2010 when the team was moved from the Bay Area to Sacramento and given the nickname- the Mountain Lions. In that 2010 season, Daunte Culpepper was the team's quarterback. He returned to the NFL in 2011 and joined Mike Shanahan's staff in Washington.That staff included the following assistants on offense: Kyle Shanahan (offensive coordinator), Matt LeFleur (quarterbacks), Sean McVay (tight ends), Keenan McCardell (wide receivers) and McDaniel (offensive assistant)...

Tuned into the Pro Bowl and saw we now allow two-hand touch to equal a tackle. Deion Sanders took to twitter to rip the game, which he once said was real football as opposed to what we have today. I don't know what to do with the Pro Bowl. The game is a joke, but it will draw a decent television audience and league is committed to playing the game. The new home in Las Vegas makes it a destination for players. But how can anyone really take the game serious when the Bills Josh Allen opted out of the game for an injury but then appeared on TV all weekend playing in the PGA's Pebble Beach Pro-Am?...

After going 4-2 and making fans wonder if the Magic have turned the corner, the team lost by 20 to the Grizzlies and 33 to Boston and stand 12-43. I am not bashing the Magic. I remain consistent about separating the record to the progress of the young players that matter. But it is a fair question to ask the team about Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac and their return. It's been more than a month since the team said Fultz was close to returning and involved in basketball activities. I don't know what that really means. With 55 games into the season, it appears Fultz and Isaac may not play at all this year. Does it matter? Yes, it does. Any time on the court for either is a chance to evaluate in some form. December 28th and 30th of 2019 is the last time Isaac played back-to-back games for more than 20 minutes. He was injured in the team's New Years Day game in 2020 and was injured in his second return in the bubble on August 2nd and not played in a game since. As for Fultz, it's been over 13 months since his ACL injury. It's hard to see either as part of the Magic's future, which makes the journey to relevance that much tougher...

Auburn may be moving on from Bryan Harsin after one season. One season! The Tigers went 6-7 and ended the season on a five game losing streak. When the year ended the transfer portal saw a high number of players enter and then Harsin lost his defensive coordinator, Derek Mason, to Oklahoma State and his newly hired offensive coordinator, Austin Davis, quit shortly after he arrived. While the Tigers finished with a top 20 recruiting class, it was 8th best in the SEC. Additional off the field rumors have added fuel to the fire that has some wondering if the powers at the school will move on one year after paying UCF's Gus Malzahn over $20M to leave. And here's why the money is on Harsin likely being out: he can't control the narrative. I said the same thing about Dan Mullen and it applies here. When the media and message board world speculate on what's happening and the coach can do nothing to stop it, the coach is done. Auburn's center, Nick Brahms, went on twitter asking for the new school president and board of trustees to meet with team leaders and hear them out about Harsin. It's a nice gesture and one can say it's the right thing to do. But we all see where this is headed. The question is, where does Auburn turn in an off-season at this point for a coach? And who can satisfy a fan base by recruiting a top 10 class and beating Nick Saban once in a while? Oh that's right. They had that guy in Malzahn...

Odd. At times, it was even comical. Not sure the Ice Cube music break worked, but I give Nascar huge props for trying something different with its Clash at the Coliseum. The racing event at the LA Coliseum was worth watching to see how they would pull it off. Was it great racing? No. Was it hard to follow? At times, it was. But why not. I praise sports who say "let's do something different" and see what happens. The circuit championship is not impacted by anything that happened in the weekend. Will there be a race in 2023? Nascar and the facility have a three-year deal but Nascar has 90 days to exercise an option for a race in 2023. Whether they are back next year or not, good for them for trying something different...

Elevator protocol came into play for me this past weekend in Memphis. Upon entering an elevator, I was the fourth person to join three people already inside the elevator. Still trying to keep a respectable distance from each other, I stood closest to the door as we moved down to the lobby area. There was a man and two women along with myself. I had my UCF radio equipment (a 50-pound case) with me positioned in front of me with my back to the other three people. Being the gentleman I am, I usually allow a woman, elderly person or child to exit the elevator before I do and offer to hold the door open. But in this situation that would have required me to move to a side and slide my equipment box over as well and that would have slowed the exiting process. I made a quick leadership decision and exited the elevator when the door opened, with my equipment case. This allowed the others to exit in a timely manner. Within 10 steps after exit, the man- who was among the four in the elevator said "next time, it would be polite to allow the women to exit first." In a polite voice I responded: "I normally do but I didn't want to block anyone with my equipment box." He looked deep into my eyes and responded: "What a creep." What did I do wrong? What is the elevator protocol here? I'm a great rider in the elevator. I always am willing to press others' floor buttons and most of the time offer a friendly farewell. Let me tell you, you want me in your elevator...

Final thought: The average hotel room is about 330 square feet, about half the size of rooms 25 years ago.