This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Happy Tuesday. Thanks for rocking with TMW today.
The Jimmy Butler saga in Miami just keeps getting worse.
The dude just got back from a prior team suspension, and now, apparently, he’s suspended indefinitely for walking out of a team shootaround.
Is he taking it seriously? Absolutely not. He’s posting memes about how he doesn’t have a job anymore, like Tommy from Martin.
Guys. Who could’ve seen this coming?
OH, WAIT. We did.
Heat fans, I hate to say I told you so, but I definitely told you so.
The Miami Heat needed to trade Jimmy Butler weeks ago when this whole suspension saga started, but at the very least, it needed to happen last week when the team decided to suspend him for two games.
JIMMY BUTLER IS A CHAOS AGENT: Things have steadily gone downhill since he returned to the Heat from suspension.
Butler walked out of shootaround because, according to Kevin Love’s extremely hilarious and messy Instagram post, the Heat planned on starting Haywood Highsmith over him in their next game.
On one hand, I get it. Butler hasn’t been part of the team over this last month. He’s actively tried to force his way out. So it makes sense to reward someone who actually wants to be there with a starting spot over a guy who doesn’t.
On the other hand, Butler is better than Highsmith on his worst day. That’s not a knock on Highsmith — it’s just the truth! We all know it. So, yeah, I can see Butler crashing out a bit when he gets that news.
Here’s the thing: The Heat are trying to out-petty Jimmy Butler right now.
Butler is doing things to get under the team’s skin, and Miami is doing the same in return. They’ve demoted him, suspended him, and taken chunks of his salary away. That wouldn’t go over well with anyone, but certainly not the guy who has burned every bridge he’s walked across in his career.
And that’s the thing, man. Somebody needs to tell the Heat that they won’t out-petty Jimmy Butler. He won’t let you do it. He’s going to get the last laugh. He always does. Just ask the Timberwolves how that goes. That man embarrassed his team in practice and then sat down with Rachel Nichols to let us all know that he did it.
He always finds a way to embarrass you in the end. That’s what he does. He’s chaos through and through. So, sure, the Heat may have him cornered now with the demotion and the suspension. But this isn’t over. Not by a long shot.
I am begging Miami to please trade this man before things get worse.
MLB, please be cooler next season
We absolutely need to see minute-long home-run trots like the one Junior Caminero did in LIDOM, a professional Dominican Republic winter league.
Look at him strut, y’all.
An all-time home run trot from Junior Caminero with an incredible call to match. pic.twitter.com/N7d3WhqqXj
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 28, 2025
Mary Clarke has more on the situation here. This is definitely a strut-worthy moment.
“Monday night saw the close of the LIDOM, a professional Dominican Republic winter league, with Game 7 of the championship between the Leones del Escogido and the Tigres del Licey. And in the top of the ninth inning with the game tied 5-5, Caminero — an infielder for the Tampa Bay Rays — absolutely blasted what would end up being the game-winning home run to deep center field to give the Leones del Escogido the lead.”
Do something like this in Major League Baseball and you’re likely to get pelted by a ball six months later when you face the same pitcher again for the first time. It’s so corny.
MLB is a great league, but it can be so much more fun if it brings life like this into it. Please, baseball, let it happen someday.
It’s OK to hate the Chiefs
Ever since Nate Burleson went on his spiel about how people need to appreciate the greatness of the Chiefs after Kansas City made it to a third consecutive Super Bowl, there’s been a conversation going about whether that’s actually necessary.
And, look. I like the Chiefs. I’m someone who loves to see a video game boss in sports. Patrick Mahomes is my GOAT QB.
But people don’t have to like them. They don’t have to like anyone. It’s sports! Sometimes, you can be a hater. It’s fine! The Chiefs have everything else already. They don’t need your love, too.
Cory Woodroof spelled it out better than I ever could here.
“The Chiefs are everywhere, and we’re now expected to be happy for them lest we disrespect the very game of football. This is like forcing people to be happy for a billionaire who finds a twenty-dollar bill on the sidewalk.
How many times do we have to hear Kelce yell the lyrics to the Beastie Boys until we’ve justifiably had enough? How many times do we need to hear NFL broadcasters wax poetic about the greatness of Mahomes when he’s not even playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL?
How many times do we have to hear a team that has won three Super Bowls in five seasons groan on and on about how nobody believed in them when they’re literally the most popular team in the country?
How many reruns of that obnoxious David Lynch nightmare State Farm Bundle-Rooski commercial do we have to watch until we “Bundle-Rooski-Doo” our remotes into the television screen and watch it shatter into a million fragments of color?”
Put them hater-shades on, folks. It’s alright.
Quick hits: The Super Bowl is scripted … Oof, Liam Coen … and more
— The Super Bowl logo is perfectly color-coded again smh. HOW DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?!? Andrew Joseph has more.
— Liam Coen screwed up the “Duval” chant in his opening press conference with the Jaguars. Cory Woodroof has more.
— South Carolina suspended a DJ who played a song tied to Flau’Jae Johnson. Sheesh. Meg Hall has more.
— Mac McClung deserves a roster spot if he’s going to keep saving the NBA Dunk Contest. Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with more.
— Jerry Jones is defending the Brian Schottenhimer hire like only Jerry Jones can. Cory has more.
— Remember that phantom flag at the end of the Bills-Chiefs game? Here’s an explainer for that. Christian D’Andrea has more.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Have a fantastic Tuesday. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
