Welcome to Thursday’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.
THURSDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NHL: Ducks at Bruins, 7 p.m. (NESN)
NFL: Bengals at Dolphins, 8:25 p.m. (NFL Network)
NBA: Knicks at Bulls, 8 p.m. (TNT)
NBA: Warriors at Clippers, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)
College football: South Florida at Houston, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
College football: Rice at North Texas, 7:30 p.m. (FS1)
College football: Louisiana-Monroe at Troy, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
College football: Arizona State at Washington State, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)
MLS: Montreal at Houston, 8:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
AROUND THE WEB:
‘¢ Boston is getting used to hosting championship celebrations, and that was evident Wednesday night, as the city was able to minimize the misbehavior following the Red Sox‘ World Series-clinching Game 6 victory over the Cardinals.
On the same day President Barack Obama spoke in Boston, police were busy preparing for the mayhem of a Red Sox championship celebration.
Police set up barriers around Fenway Park to keep revelers who did not attend the game out of the area. A large group formed by the Boston Marathon finish line and blocked traffic there, but that group was dispersed by police, who announced via Twitter that there were nine arrests for unruly behavior overnight. There was evidence of at least one car being overturned, but no serious injuries were reported.
The biggest issues appeared to involve college students who remained at school. On the UMass campus in Amherst, officials said 15 people (14 of them students) were arrested — mainly for failing to disperse, although two face charges of assault and battery on a police officer — after thousands of students gathered in the southwest residential area of campus to celebrate.
At the University of New Hampshire, officials said police used pepper spray and pepper balls to break up a crowd of several hundred, some of whom had thrown glass bottles at officers. And according to WMUR-TV, there were fires and destruction of light poles at Plymouth State.
‘¢ Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov was arrested Wednesday after a domestic incident one day earlier and charged with second-degree kidnapping and third-degree assault.
Varlamov, a 25-year-old Russian, turned himself in and was held overnight, as he needs to appear before a judge before he can post bail.
The team released a statement that read: “The Colorado Avalanche organization is aware of the allegations concerning Semyon Varlamov. At this time, and until the conclusion of this investigation, the Avalanche organization will have no further comment on this situation.”
Varlamov, in his third season in Denver, is 7-1 with a 1.76 ERA for the Avalanche, who are off until Friday after last playing Sunday.
‘¢ Florida Atlantic University football coach Carl Pelini and defensive coordinator Pete Rekstis resigned Wednesday after admitting to using illegal drugs.
“I apologize for exercising poor judgment,” Pelini said in a statement distributed by the school. “My greatest concerns at this time are for me family, the dedicated FAU players and my staff. I am confident that [athletic director] Pat Chun and the university administration will continue to move the program forward.”
Pelini was in his second year at FAU after serving as defensive coordinator at Nebraska under his brother, Bo Pelini. He was 5-15, including 2-6 this season.
“We hold ourselves to a standard here,” said Chun, who learned of the allegations Monday and confronted the coaches Wednesday. “That behavior is unacceptable for a lot of reasons. Like I told our student-athletes today, we all have responsibilities. When you wear the logo of Florida Atlantic University, you wear it 24 hours a day. … We hold you to a higher standard and you have to hold yourself to that standard. Decisions were made that ultimately hurt some people, and there’s consequences for those decisions.”
ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On Oct. 31, 2004, the Patriots’ 18-game regular-season winning streak was ended with a 34-20 loss to the Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Pats lost only one other game that season, going 14-2 and winning their third Super Bowl. Which other team beat them?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We have a lot of players with heart. We probably don’t have the talent that we had in ’07 and ’04, but we have guys that are capable [of staying] focused and do the little things.” — David Ortiz, after the Red Sox captured the World Series with Wednesday night’s 6-1 victory over the Cardinals
STAT OF THE DAY: 2 — Teams in Major League Baseball that have won a title after finishing last the year before, with the Red Sox joining the 1991 Twins
‘NET RESULTS (mobile users, check the website to see the videos): In case you haven’t seen it enough, here’s the final out from the World Series.
Kaz Uehara, son of Red Sox closer Koji Uehara, gives the best interview of Wednesday night at the trophy presentation ceremony.
From a high school football game in Oregon, Sherwood High lines up for a PAT but sends the holder into a series of leapfrogs as a distraction before converting a pass.
TRIVIA ANSWER: The Dolphins, 29-28, on Dec. 20 in Miami
SOOTHING SOUNDS: Tom Paxton was born on this day in 1937.