Big Story:
Is it Friday yet? Sorry, battling a cold your kid gives you makes you really wish it was the weekend.
Last night, the Heat got schooled by the Magic, luckily the Panthers didn't play, so they couldn't lose, the Marlins outfield abomination is almost ready, and how about those Dukies!
Let's do this….

Heat: (off, next game @ Washington, 7:00 p.m., Friday)
Wow, that was a new level of suck from the Heat last night.
LeBron…I'm not even sure he was on the court in the second half.
I know he didn't show up in the scoring column with more than maybe 2 points in the second half.
I mean it was u-g-l-y and they ain't got an alibi.
Take D-Wade out of the equation and the Heat scored around 56 points…in the game.
They were absolutely abused down low by Dwight Howard, who went for 25 points and 24 rebounds.
The Heat were outrebounded 48-38.
The Magic only played 9 guys to do that to the Heat.
The Heat's lone big man, Eddy Curry, continued to ride the pine as Dexter Pittman played roughly 11 minutes and fouled someone once every two minutes.
Shane Battier finally got his shot going, but it was too little too late for the Heat.
It really exposed how small the Heat can be.
But…it's not all bad….here's why.
The Magic shot 42 3-pointers and hit 17 of them. That's insane by itself, but it's just not going to happen every night.
Still, it's reason for concern because obviously the Heat had trouble rotating their defense around to stop the 3-point shot.
Still, I see last night as more of a fluke than a symptom of things coming.
I still want to know LeBron didn't show up in the second half.
It's troubling, especially thinking back to last year's NBA Finals.
Plus, when LeBron and Bosh combine for 29 points…you know the Heat are pretty much cold as ice.
It's one of the strange things about this team….if one of the stars goes for too many points, the rest of the team is screwed.
None of the big three should go for more than about 30 a night, or the other ones are going to suffer.
And speaking of suffering…where has Bosh gone?
12 points last night just ain't gonna cut it. He played 37 minutes and got 12 points….c'mon man.
So the Heat get to regroup Thursday and head to Washington to play the awful Wizards.
One thing that's starting to worry me about the Heat is they play to the level of their competition.
Or sometimes less.
They need to come out and really put the Wizards in their place early and often to get the bad taste out of their mouth from last night.
Otherwise, this road trip may get really ugly….really fast.

Panthers: (vs. Los Angeles Kings, 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Florida)
Well, the Panthers didn't lose last night…..course they didn't play either.
Your second-place Florida Panthers, at least in the southeast division, now must try to take out the Kings from L.A., who are 7th in the western conference.
The Panthers have been falling since the calendar turned to January.
It's really sad, because for a while, it looked like the Panthers could finally be South Florida's second playoff team along with the Heat.
We know better than to expect that from the Dolphins and Marlins.
But alas, the Panthers goalie situation is flat out ugly. They are two points out of eighth in the Eastern Conference and one point behind in the southeast.
Just how bad have the Panthers goalies been?
Out of the teams currently fighting for the playoffs in the eastern conference, no team has a greater goals for and goals against discrepancy than the Panthers.
Yikes.
How's that release of Tomas Vokoun working out for you now?
Anyone else hoping Jacob Markstrom comes back next year really ready to make a difference?
Please?

Marlins Park:
I don't want to say that the new outfield sculpture at Marlins Park is ugly…but that's like Zoolander ugly.
It's so ugly….even a Kardsashian won't date it.
And it's supposed to go off every time a home run is hit.
Is it just me, or am I the only one hoping a homer is never hit at Marlins Park, at least by the Marlins.
It's what happens when you have an owner obsessed with art.
Seriously, the thing looks like a bunch of fish threw up in the outfield and are now dancing around it.
Look Mr. Loria, we know you are very challenged when it comes to building a baseball team.
But you really had to put that in the outfield of a beautiful new stadium?
It's like a giant cyst on the stadium needing to be lanced.
C'mon man.

Duke vs. North Carolina:
By the time most of you were asleep last night, Duke and North Carolina were playing another instant classic.
It ended when Austin Rivers, son of Doc Rivers, launched a three-pointer with 1 second left and drained it.
It was classic ACC basketball and makes me really look forward to the ACC tournament when they play each other and it really counts.
Plus, how much does that do for Miami!
If they can put together a few wins starting tonight against Virginia Tech…they may finally be NCAA bound.
But back to Duke…for all the haters of Coach K…hahahaha.
He's the best basketball coach this side of John Wooden and should be respected as such.
The reason people hate Duke…because they're that dadgum good.

Peyton Manning Update:
Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz said that Peyton Manning's throwing arm is a noodle.
That ain't good, considering he interviewed Peyton just a few weeks ago.
Peyton is reportedly at Duke getting more treatment and working with Duke head coach David Cutcliffe.
So he's essentially out of Indianapolis.
But if he can't throw the ball with zip, his game is completely gone.
It's just another reason why I say pass on Manning and trade up to get RGIII.
Please….please….no Peyton Manning, unless he's got lots of zip and his muscle has regenerated.