Welcome to Friday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.
FRIDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NBA: Pacers at Celtics, 7:30 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI)
NBA: Bulls at Magic, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
NBA: Trail Blazers at Suns, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Butler at Wright State, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College football: Cotton Bowl, Kansas State vs. Arkansas, 8 p.m. (Fox)
SATURDAY:
NFL playoffs: Bengals at Texans, 4:30 p.m. (NBC; WEEI)
NFL playoffs: Lions at Saints, 8 p.m. (NBC; WEEI)
College football: Compass Bowl, SMU vs. Pittsburgh, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
NHL: Canucks at Bruins, 1 p.m. (NESN, NHL Network)
NBA: Bucks at Clippers, 10:30 p.m. (NBA TV)
College basketball: Duke at Georgia Tech, noon (ESPNU)
College basketball: Kansas at Oklahoma, 2 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Boston College at North Carolina, 2:30 p.m. (WEEI)
College basketball: Notre Dame at Louisville, 4 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Miami (Fla.) at Virginia, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)
SUNDAY:
NFL playoffs: Falcons at Giants, 1 p.m. (Fox; WEEI)
NFL playoffs: Steelers at Broncos, 4:30 p.m. (CBS; WEEI)
NBA: Spurs at Thunder, 7 p.m. (NBA TV)
College basketball: Wisconsin at Michigan, 1:30 p.m. (CBS)
College basketball: Maryland at NC State, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)
AROUND THE WEB:
‘¦ The Jets’ blame tour continued Thursday with former Jets center Kris Jenkins assigning blame to quarterback Mark Sanchez for not speaking up earlier in the season about selfish teammates. Earlier in the week, rookie quarterback Greg McElroy said there was a “corrupt mindset” in the locker room.
Said Jenkins: “The No. 1 quarterback should have said that a long time ago. It would have been all part of the process of him growing a pair, standing up and being a man. But the thing is, he lost his because he got caught up in the wash that is New York, the spotlight, taking pictures in the magazines and doing all that stuff. That’s just what everybody has seen with Mark Sanchez, they got tired of it.”
Former Jets backup QB Erik Ainge (nephew of Celtics boss Danny Ainge) was not pleased that a third-stringer was criticizing his teammates.
Wrote Ainge on Twitter: Someone tell McElroy to keep his mouth shut about the NYJ ‘Locker Room’ speaking in the media about your teammates, entitled brat!
Meanwhile, linebacker Bart Scott was fined $10,000 by the team for swearing at and giving a New York Post photographer the middle finger in the locker room Monday.
“Bart’s actions were inappropriate and unacceptable,” the team said in a statement.
‘¦ In a college basketball game in Bowling Green, Ky., Thursday night, Louisiana-Lafayette beat Western Kentucky on a layup in the closing seconds. The only problem was Louisiana-Lafayette had six players on the court for the deciding play, a fact the officials did not realize until after the game was over. Now, the officials could be suspended by the Sun Belt.
“This probably happens more than we realize,” retiring Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters said. “Coaches are on the court, too. If the official had stopped it then it upsets the flow of the final seconds of the game. But we wish it wouldn’t have happened.”
‘¦ Fran Rosa, who worked for The Boston Globe for more than 50 years as a hockey writer and sports editor, died Wednesday in Lexington. In 1987, Rosa joined the Hockey Hall of Fame as winner of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association’s Elmer Ferguson Award.
ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Jan. 6, 1989, which Patriots player was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I sat down with [Rajon] Rondo when he got back into town, when the lockout ended, and I just told him the truth of what was going on. And that was it. I’ve had conversations since, told him exactly what was happening. ‘¦ I was not trying to trade Rajon Rondo. There’s a big difference between trying to acquire a player and trying to trade a player. Rondo knows what I was trying to do, and he knows I wasn’t shopping him around and trying to trade him, as has been reported. There’s a big difference.” – Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, during Thursday’s appearance on The Big Show
STAT OF THE DAY: 49-13 – The Bruins’ scoring differential in their last 10 games, of which they have won nine, including Thursday’s 9-0 rout of the Flames
‘NET RESULTS: Sweden beats Russia 1-0 on Thursday in the World Junior Hockey Championships on this overtime goal by Senators draft pick Mika Zibanejad.
Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki does a dramatic reading of Britney Spears‘ “Oops! … I did it again.”
A high school basketball player from Washington state has become an Internet star — but not for anything good. His thuggish play has made him the target of Internet haters.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Running back John Stephens
SOOTHING SOUNDS: Nino Tempo turns 77 Friday.
