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: Kings at Bruins, 7 p.m. (NESN)
NHL: Sharks at Avalanche, 9 p.m. (Versus)
College basketball: Boston University at Villanova, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ The wife of Albert Pujols went on a St. Louis radio station Monday to defend her husband after the city’s fans turned on the slugger for signing a contract with the Angels. Deidre Pujols said the Cardinals offered less money, more deferred money and fewer guarantees.

“When it all came down, I was mad,” she told Joy FM, a Christian station that Pujols helped fund. “I was mad at God. … I mean, we had no reason, not one reason, to want to leave. People were deceived by the numbers.”

“Albert has never lied,” she added. “People are like, ‘Oh, we thought we knew who he was.’ Well, we thought we knew who they were. … The city of St. Louis has absolutely been deceived and I have never seen hatred spread so fast and I understand why. Let me say that Albert and I never, not one time, ever made plans to leave this city.”

She added that Pujols’ new destination may have been a sign. “It’s just like God,” she said, “to put us on a team called the Angels.”

♦ Some UCLA football players took to Twitter to complain that team officials were withholding living expense checks from players who had not completed three workouts during finals week. “Never since I have been here have workouts been mandatory during finals week,” defensive back Randall Carroll said. “We go to a hard academic school so we have used the time studying.”

The money is to cover food and living expenses while university services are shut down during winter break and the team is preparing for a bowl game. Interim coach Mike Johnson, filling in for the fired Rick Neuheisel, blamed “miscommunication” but did not directly answer a question about the workouts being mandatory.

“I don’t know about voluntary, but the thing I want to say about that is that the last thing we want to do is to have anybody starve,” Johnson said. “They were workouts that had to be done and all we wanted to do was get three workouts and that was it.”

♦ Marlins catcher John Buck helped rescue two elderly women from an overturned car that had struck a tree last week in Sunrise, Fla. Buck was on his way to pick up his son from school when he happened upon the accident scene. Upon urging from his wife, he got out and, along with two other Good Samaritans, pulled out the women before police arrived.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Dec. 13, 1991, during the Celtics’ 117-97 victory over the visiting SuperSonics, center Robert Parish became the fifth player in NBA history to appear in 1,200 games, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elvin Hayes and which two former Celtics?

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Yeah, we’re pretty bad giving up yardage and everything, but guess what? We find ways to win. Good football teams find a way to win. … We ignore the noise. We just have to keep a level head and control what we can control, and that’s on the field.” – Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork, during his Monday appearance on The Big Show

STAT OF THE DAY: 6 – Coaches the Dolphins have had since 2004, with Todd Boles replacing the fired Tony Sparano on an interim basis Monday

‘NET RESULTS: Oral Roberts University’s Damen Bell-Holter steals a length-of-the-court inbounds pass with a second left and throws up an off-balance, one-hander that goes in at the buzzer to beat Arkansas-Little Rock.

Petey Williams of North Carolina’s Wake Forest Rolesville High School pulls off what’s being called the “Matrix” move during a recent game, leaning backward to avoid a tackle.

TRIVIA ANSWER: John Havlicek and Paul Silas

SOOTHING SOUNDS: Morris Day turns 54 Tuesday.

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