Welcome to Tuesday’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.

TUESDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NHL: Penguins at Rangers, 7:30 p.m. (Versus)
College basketball: Duke at Ohio State, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ Shaquille O’Neal is making the rounds promoting his book “Shaq Uncut,” in which he takes some shots at former teammate Kobe Bryant. However, during an appearance on Los Angeles’ KTLA television Monday, Shaq acknowledged Kobe’s status at top Laker. “Based on what he’s done, he’s probably the greatest Laker of all-time,” O’Neal said. “If he gets another championship, he’ll tie with Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar, with six]. That will put him up there.”

Added O’Neal: “It’s a different kind of great. He had the skills to be an all-around player. I’m just a big man so I just do big-man stuff. I’m just in the big-man category.”

♦ Bills receiver Stevie Johnson acknowledged his mistake in taunting the Jets during his touchdown celebration Sunday, when he pretended to shoot himself in the leg to mock Jets receiver Plaxico Burress, then did the Jets’ “flight” celebration before crashing to the ground. Burress, who said Johnson called to apologize, continued to take the high road Monday.

“I don’t think he took consideration for everything that happened to me when he did it,” Burress said. “And I think a day later he’s realized what he did and how he made himself look — he embarrassed his team, his organization, his players, his coaches and everything like that. But those are things you learn; it’s being young and being immature at times.”

But if it happened when Burress was younger? “Oh, man, I probably would have met him outside before he got on his bus,” he said.

Some of Burress’ teammates were not as forgiving of Johnson. Nose tackle Sione Pouha found the “flight” part especially insensitive.

“Us being from New York, we like to hold ourselves to some integrity, and that airplane thing, in my opinion, was kind of a dagger considering the circumstances of remembrance of what we just had on Sept. 11,” Pouha said. “It was just unprofessional. We all stand for pride around here, and that’s a sacred moment for a lot of people and it’s a very sobering moment.”

♦ The president of a support group for sexual abuse victims on Monday called for Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim to resign or be fired in the wake of the sexual abuse allegations against former assistant coach Bernie Fine. “These boys were members of the basketball program,” said Rev. Robert Hoatson of Road to Recovery. “Jim Boeheim’s responsibility is to oversee that program, and the children were not safe on his watch.” School trustees contacted by the media declined comment.

♦ With college conference realignment ending some rivalries, Real Clear Sports looks at the top 10 defunct rivalries in sports. The only one with New England ties is UConn-Tennessee women’s basketball, which was sixth. No. 1 is Oklahoma-Nebraska football, which ended when Nebraska joined the Big Ten.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Nov. 29, 1965, the Red Sox lost three players in the Rule 5 draft: Gary Geiger to the Braves, Bob Heffner to the Indians, and which minor leaguer to the Cardinals who would return years later to manage the Sox?

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We never really talk about the team’s record, we talk about the team. We talk about the team we’re playing, what their strengths and weaknesses are, what they do, how they’ll try to attack us and what we’ll try to do to attack them. You expect every team to play their best against you. We always expect to see their best plays, because that’s we prepare for.” – Patriots coach Bill Belichick, during his appearance on The Big Show Monday, on facing the winless Colts Sunday

STAT OF THE DAY: 3 – Games Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty was suspended for his hit to the head of Penguins defenseman Kris Letang in Saturday night’s game

‘NET RESULTS: A camerawoman faints during Urban Meyer‘s introductory press conference at Ohio State.

Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa plays solo baseball while in the space station.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Jimy Williams

SOOTHING SOUNDS: Chuck Mangione turns 71 Tuesday.

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