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Matter Around the Water Cooler

Today was a fairly quiet day in sports. I learned Dwyane Wade has some competition to take over the throne of Michael Jordan, by the Jewish Jordan. Today, Pat Riley revealed to the South Florida media that his Jan. 3 leave was due to more than his impending surgeries. Ultimately, these past six weeks, Riley said, provided a much-needed mental hiatus from the 13-17 start he oversaw before handing the reins to assistant Ron Rothstein. Interesting. I’m not about to make a stink about this like the media will. I just want to win basketball games. Let’s check out what you missed today while working for Art Vandelay at Vandelay Industries. Onto the water cooler…

• Dolphins signed P Ryan Flinn. He was last in Green Bay and will compete with Donnie Jones for a starting job. Jones enjoyed a good 2006 season and should be the favorite.

• The Dolphins haven’t told Ricky Williams their plans for him in 2007. Publicly, Miami says they won’t make a decision about Ricky until he comes off suspension. It sounds like they are open to adding a backup at the position in free agency or the draft.

• Jozef Stumpel will play tonight, after missing most of the month with a shoulder injury. Stumpel first sat out on February 6th, but his right shoulder finally feels ready to go. He says he’s not 100 percent yet, but will still play. The center is third on the Panthers with 16 goals and 42 points this season.

• Florida called up goalie Craig Anderson, as team backup Alex Auld is out with a sore left knee. Ed Belfour has taken over the starting duty in Florida, having played the last 11 games. Auld has struggled, basically playing himself out of the crease. To make room, Florida sent Kamil Kreps to Rochester of the AHL. We doubt Anderson will see much action, but has played well in the AHL this season.

• If you haven’t checked it out already, SporTech commenter Phinsider runs a great Dolphins blog Phinsider.com. Today he had a guest writer breaking down the dual running back situation the Dolphins have with R&R. Check it out!

• The President’s Day holiday enabled one prominent Marlins fan and his family to attend Monday’s workout in Jupiter. Former Miami Heat coach Stan Van Gundy is an avid Marlins fan.

“We’ve really enjoyed them the entire time we’ve been in Miami,” said Van Gundy, who was on hand with his children. “It’s been a good team to watch. They’ve always been in contention.”

• Dolphins coach Cam Cameron doesn’t simply want to show the proper respect to Dolphins legend Dan Marino. He wants to cultivate a relationship, too. Cam said he has talked with Dan Marino several times and wants to continue tapping into Marino’s NFL knowledge.

• The Dude went to the beach yesterday and apparently did some kind of weird drug that made him come up with this in the ESPN NBA Trade Machine. I wonder if New Jersey knows about Wayne’s Salmonella. Oh well does it really matter?

That’s it for today. Hope everyone had a lovely one. The Cats are back in action tonight finishing up their home at home with the Lightning. Puck drop is at 7:30 from the St Pete Times Forum in Tampa, FL. Check em out on FSN Florida and your radio home of the Panthers, 560 WQAM.

One last note for the day, I sent out 2 welcome emails for the SporTech Fantasy Hardball League. If you DID NOT receive your email or lost it in your spam folder, please let me know by leaving a comment and I will resend it out. Please disable auto deletion of spam emails so you do not lose the resent email. If you have received your welcome email and have yet to create your team, please visit the league page and follow the instructions. Also, if you have created a team and have not left your team name on the league page by leaving a comment, please do so now so I can update the GM list. Thanks!

Have a great evening!