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.

WHAT’S HAPPENING LOCALLY THURSDAY:
NHL: Maple Leafs at Bruins, 7 p.m. (NESN)

AROUND THE WEB:

Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo is hearing boos from the home crowd this season. (AP)

♦ Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, who Boston fans remember for his inconsistency and insult of Tim Thomas in the Stanley Cup finals — is off to a slow start this season, and Vancouver fans are letting him know they don’t like it. During Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to the Rangers, Luongo received steady boos in his own arena.

Responded Luongo Wednesday: “The good thing is it has happened so many times, I’ve gotten used to it.”

Luongo’s teammates, including backup goalie Cory Schneider, came to his defense. “It kind of sucks,” said Schneider, a Boston College product. “For a guy who’s done more for this franchise perhaps than any other goalie in the history of the team, you would think he might get a bit of slack or some more leeway.”

♦ Wednesday started out as a typical day for Jets coach Rex Ryan, with him bragging to the media — this time claiming he would have led the Chargers to multiple Super Bowl titles had he been named coach in 2007. “Well, I think I would have had a couple of rings,” Ryan said in a conference call with San Diego media as part of the lead-up to Sunday’s game. “I’m telling you, those teams were loaded.”

After Ryan realized his comments could be construed as an insult to Norv Turner, Ryan complimented Turner and put in a call to the coach who beat him out for the job. Turner didn’t reveal specifics of the discussion but said: “It really was between he and I. I think we’d had enough coaching drama in the league the last few days and we don’t need any more.”

Turner then got in his own a dig at Ryan, who has claimed the past two seasons that the Jets would win championships. “I hadn’t seen his quote [Wednesday] and I was a little bit surprised by the call,” Turner said. “And then after I saw the quote, I didn’t have a chance to ask him this, but I was wondering if he had those rings with the ones he’s guaranteed the last couple of years.”

♦ In Tuesday’s episode of “Real Sports” on HBO, host Bryant Gumbel compared NBA commissioner David Stern to a “modern plantation overseer” for treating NBA players like they were “his boys.” Despite the ensuing backlash, Gumbel is not backing down.

“Some will of course cringe at that characterization, but Stern’s disdain for the players is as palpable and pathetic as his motives are transparent,” Gumbel said.

♦ Banning chewing tobacco has become a cause celebrate at the World Series, after the U.S. Senate asked baseball to prohibit the use of all tobacco products at games. In USA Today, Christine Brennan writes that a ban will have to wait until a new collective bargaining agreement after this season. And she suggests another ban — one of Cardinals coach Mark McGwire for his use of performance-enhancing drugs as a player.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Oct. 20, 1991, the Patriots beat the Vikings in overtime, 26-23, on a 42-yard field goal by which kicker?

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “All of a sudden we don’t, we don’t perform well and these things are now brought about by an unnamed source? Shame on them. If it’s a player, if it’s a trainer, a coach, management, ownership. Shame on you, if you can’t come out and be a part of it.” – Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, during an appearance on WAAF’s Hill-Man Morning Show Wednesday

STAT OF THE DAY: 1 – Pitchers in Major League Baseball history who have lost the All-Star Game and playoff games in the ALDS, ALCS and World Series in the same year, with Rangers lefty C.J. Wilson becoming the first

‘NET RESULTS: An Ohio State water skier has a rough go of it at the national championships this past weekend.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Jason Staurovsky

SOOTHING SOUNDS: Tom Petty turns 61 Thursday.

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