Tebow’s rise puts Dolphins in fishy spot

What were the Miami Dolphins thinking?

Winless and desperate to attract fans, the Dolphins will be honoring the 2009 BCS champion Florida football team at halftime of Sunday's game against Denver. The Fish were hoping Gators fans would fill those empty seats at Sun Life Stadium by trotting out former coach Urban Meyer and some of his players.

One small problem: one of the Gators to be honored is Tim Tebow, now the Broncos' starting quarterback and a god to Florida fans. So while the Dolphins might see a spike in attendance, those extra people coming through the turnstiles won't be rooting for them. Instead, there will be a lot of No. 15 Tebow jerseys -- both Florida and Broncos variety -- spotted in the stands.

Oops.

Of course, the marketing geniuses who came up with this promotion in August had no idea Tebow would be playing Sunday, let alone starting for the Broncos. The move also isn't sitting well with University of Miami fans; the Hurricanes play in the same stadium as the Dolphins and have no love for the Gators.

Of course, fans of the U have bigger problems these days than a lame promotion, such as pending NCAA investigations.

■ COACHING CONFRONTATIONS -- The postgame handshake flap between 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and Lions coach Jim Schwartz wasn't the only midfield disagreement over the weekend.

At the Georgia-Vanderbilt game Saturday in Nashville, Tenn., the postgame meeting between the coaches turned contentious. Vandy's James Franklin was upset by some less-than-classy behavior by a Georgia player and one of coach Mark Richt's assistants after the Bulldogs defeated the Commodores, 33-28.

Georgia's Shawn Williams was talking smack to Franklin, and when Franklin confronted Bulldogs assistant Todd Grantham about it, a melee nearly broke out.

Richt apologized to Franklin, calling his player and assistant "dumbasses" for what they did.

Oddly enough, that's the same term we had in mind for Schwartz and Harbaugh.

■ CHERRY APOLOGIZES -- Canada got something over the weekend as rare as a beach day in February -- it heard Don Cherry apologize.

The longtime between-periods host on "Hockey Night in Canada" admitted he was wrong for his opening-night rant Oct. 8, when he criticized former NHL enforcers Chris Nilan, Stu Grimson and Jim Thomson for their stand against fighting. Cherry labeled them hypocrites for calling for a ban on fighting and linking the job of NHL enforcer to depression and substance abuse.

"I was 100 percent wrong," Cherry said on his "Coach's Corner" segment on Saturday. "When you are wrong, you have to admit it."

Nilan appreciated the gesture.

"I want to thank Don Cherry for standing up and making a public apology to the (three) of us. Means a lot. We are friends once again," Nilan posted on Twitter.

COMPILED BY STEVE CARP
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL