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Matter Around the Water Cooler

I found out today from one of my ace reporters that a good buddy of mine from high school Tim Howard will end his association with Manchester United and move to Everton permanently after the season. The funny thing is, I had no idea he even played professional soccer. Mind you this was close to 10 years ago when I last saw him. So congrats to you and good luck in Everton. Let’s see what’s floating around in the water cooler today…

• The Dolphins have signed TE Aaron Halterman to a free-agent contract. He spent a brief period of time on the team’s practice squad in October before subsequently signing in San Diego, where current Dolphins coach Cam Cameron was at the time.

• Dolphins coach Cam Cameron is sorry his old boss, Marty Schottenheimer, was fired by the Chargers. But don’t look for Schottenheimer to be working for the Dolphins anytime soon. There really is no logical spot for Schottenheimer, who also coached at Cleveland, Washington and Kansas City, to land on Cameron’s staff in Miami.

• Ed Belfour’s shutout against the Canadiens on Tuesday tied him for eighth all-time with Tony Esposito. It was Belfour’s 76th shutout of his career. It also marked the veteran’s first shutout since the playoffs in 2004. He has had an inconsistent season this year, but still has the magic within him to put up a special game every once in a while.

• Two close associates say Miguel Cabrera, who will be in Arizona for Friday’s arbitration hearing, missed FanFest because he wanted to spend more time at his home in Venezuela and avoid the hassles of extra traveling, not because he’s fuming over arbitration. But Cabrera’s camp won’t be surprised if the Marlins broach his FanFest absence during the hearing.

• Florida never gave serious thought to pursuing Yankees free agent center fielder Bernie Williams, who’s waiting out New York. But the Marlins were very disappointed about not getting center fielder Darin Erstad, who preferred the Chicago White Sox despite a similar financial offer from Florida ($1 million range).

• James Posey asserts no team has a better bench than the Heat. ”They have the perfect role players,” Charlotte’s Jeff McInnis said. ”Now,” the Spurs’ Brent Barry said, ” `Eddie Jones can come in 15 minutes and just [concentrate] on defense.”

• Something not South Florida related. Hop on over to Gaslamp Ball to check out a great interview with one of my favorite guru’s in baseball, Paul DePodesta. Great stuff from a great blog!

• the Miami Sports Dude wrote a great piece in response to Dan LeBatard’s column in the Herald today regarding Pat Riley’s convenient return to the bench. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

That’s it for today. I really appreciate everyone being patient during the upgrade process of my blog. Everything is now back to normal! The Cats are back on the ice after a sensational performance from Eddie Belfour last night. They take on the Sens from Ottawa at 10:30 PM EST.

Have a great evening!