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: Knicks at Heat, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
NBA: Thunder at Warriors, 10:30 p.m. (NBA TV)
College basketball: Boston University at Stony Brook, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Iona at Fairfield, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
SATURDAY:
NBA: Kings at Jazz, 9 p.m. (NBA TV)
College basketball: St. John’s at Duke, noon (ESPN)
College basketball: Marquette at Villanova, noon (ESPN2)
College basketball: West Virginia at Syracuse, 1 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Texas at Baylor, 1 p.m. (CBS)
College basketball: Georgetown at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Virginia at NC State, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: St. Mary’s at Brigham Young, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
SUNDAY:
NHL: All-Star Game, 4 p.m. (NBCSN)
NBA: Cavaliers at Celtics, 6 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI)
NBA: Bulls at Heat, 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
NBA: Spurs at Mavericks, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Michigan at Ohio State, 1 p.m. (CBS)
College basketball: Georgia Tech at North Carolina, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)
AROUND THE WEB:
‘¦ Two days after Peyton Manning publicly lamented the Colts’ situation, team owner Jim Irsay criticized the franchise quarterback, calling him a “politician.”
“I don’t think it’s in the best interest to paint the horseshoe in a negative light, I really don’t,” Irsay told reporters Thursday following the introduction of new coach Chuck Pagano. “The horseshoe always comes first, and I think one thing he’s always known, because he’s been around it so long, is that, you know, you keep it in the family. If you’ve got a problem you talk to each other, it’s not about campaigning or anything like that.”
Manning, who missed the 2011 season following neck surgery, apparently got the message.
“At this point, Mr. Irsay and I owe it to each other and to the fans of the organization to handle this appropriately and professionally, and I think we will. I’ve already reached out to Mr. Irsay,” Manning told The Indianapolis Star. “I wasn’t trying to paint the Colts in a bad light, but it’s tough when so many people you’ve known for so long are suddenly leaving. I feel very close to a lot of these guys and we’ve done great things together. It’s hard to watch an old friend clean out his office. That’s all I was trying to say.
“I just want to keep rehabbing and working hard, and when the time is right for Mr. Irsay and I to sit down, I look forward to a healthy conversation about my future. I’ve worked too hard and have such great respect and have so many great relationships inside the building and out, and it’s incredibly important that those remain.”
‘¦ What started out as an apparent case of team loyalty over individual glory has spiraled into a major embarrassment for Yale. Quarterback Patrick Witt had announced on Nov. 13 that he would play against Harvard six days later, the same day he had a scheduled interview with the Rhodes scholarship committee, thus ending his candidacy.
His coach, Tom Williams, implied that he faced a similar decision when at Stanford, but that turned out to be misleading at best, an outright lie at worst. Williams, who made similar inaccurate claims on his resume, resigned in December while the school was investigating.
On Thursday, The New York Times reported that there was a more compelling reason why Witt did not interview for the award. Witt had been accused of sexual assault by a fellow student, and when the Rhodes Trust learned of the accusation, it suspended Witt’s candidacy.
Meanwhile, Yale’s new coach has been making some news of his own. Tony Reno left his job as a Harvard assistant to return to the school where he had been an assistant for five seasons. He has proceeded to take three other Harvard assistants with him, leaving the defending Ivy League champion Crimson scrambling to rebuild the staff.
“Obviously, it’s an unusual, if not unprecedented, situation,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy told The Boston Globe. “They obviously made lucrative offers to our assistant coaches. That’s why they are no longer working at Harvard.”
‘¦ The Pacers knocked off the Bulls, 95-90, in Chicago Wednesday night, but they appear to have given the Bulls some inspiration in the process.
“I’ll never forget how they celebrated just from winning this game,” Bulls guard Derrick Rose said after his team’s first home loss of the season. “I can’t wait to play them again.”
Added teammate Ronnie Brewer: “When you’re walking off the court, you’re in the same corridor. And we were walking into our locker room, and you could hear those guys celebrating, cheering, screaming, and that kind of hit home with a lot of guys on our team.
‘We’re all competitors. They’re in our division. Every time we play them it’s a tough matchup. And especially in front of our fans, you don’t want to have a letdown and lose at home. To hear them do like that adds a little fuel to the fire. We talked about it after the game.’
ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Jan. 27, 1986, which Patriots defensive standout announced his retirement after setting a team record for most games played with 210?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Joe Paterno left this world with a clear conscience.” — Son Jay Paterno, during Thursday’s memorial service for the longtime Penn State coach
STAT OF THE DAY: 27 – Points the Celtics were down before they rallied to beat the Magic Thursday night, 91-83
‘NET RESULTS: Lorenzo Brown from NC State hits an 85-footer at the halftime buzzer against North Carolina.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Defensive end Julius Adams, who played 15 seasons with the Patriots
SOOTHING SOUNDS: Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who went by the name David Seville when he created the Chipmunks, was born on this day in 1919. (He died in 1972.)
