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:
MLB: Twins at Red Sox, 7:10 p.m. (NESN; WEEI-FM)
MLB: Braves at Giants, 10 p.m. (MLB Network)
NHL playoffs: Senators at Canadiens, 7 p.m. (CNBC)
NHL playoffs: Islanders at Penguins, 7 p.m. (NBCSN)
NHL playoffs: Wild at Blackhawks, 9:30 p.m. (NBCSN)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ The umpires in Cleveland are coming under fire after missing a home run with two outs in the top of the ninth inning of the Athletics’ 4-3 loss to the Indians. Oakland’s Adam Rosales struck a ball that hit off the railing a few feet above the left-field wall, but somehow the umpires could not see it when they went to watch the replay.

“Probably the only four people in the ballpark,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin, who was ejected for arguing after the botched call.

“Our whole team thought it was the wrong call,” Rosales said. “The replays showed it hit the railing. With six eyes on it [the three umps that went to review it], you would have thought they’d make the right call.”

Second-base umpire Angel Hernandez insisted the review did not offer anything conclusive.

“It wasn’t evident on the TV we had it was a home run,” Hernandez told a pool reporter. “I don’t know what kind of replay you had, but you can’t reverse a call unless there is 100 percent evidence and there wasn’t 100 percent evidence.”

♦ Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman took his involvement in U.S.-North Korea relations to a new level Wednesday, as he tweeted to his friend, Kim Jong Un, asking him to release Korean-American Kenneth Bae. The 44-year-old Bae, a tour operator who was in North Korea with some Chinese businessmen, was sentenced last week to 15 years of hard labor for undisclosed “hostile acts” against the country.

I’m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea or as I call him “Kim”, to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose.

— Dennis Rodman (@dennisrodman) May 7, 2013

Rodman, who visited with the basketball-loving Kim in February, explained that he was responding to a challenge from the Seattle Times to prove his friendship with Kim by intervening in this dispute.

♦ A 28-year-old woman died Tuesday after choking on a hot dog at a Cubs game two days earlier. Maureen Oleskiewicz, an Illinois junior high school teacher, was at Wrigley Field on Sunday when she collapsed and was taken out in an ambulance.

“They were watching the action on the field, sitting next to each other, and all of a sudden [younger brother] Martin said she was on the floor,” Oleskiewicz’ mother explained. “And he said, ‘What are you doing? Get up!’ And she was totally out of it. She had no pulse.”

The family kept her alive until Tuesday so that her organs could be donated.

“The Chicago Cubs are saddened to hear news of the untimely death of Maureen Oleskiewicz,” the team said in a statement Wednesday. “We express our deepest sympathy to her family and friends. We will continue to keep her family in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On May 9, 1989, which Red Sox catcher dropped a foul popup, ending his major league-record errorless streak of 159 games?

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Dennis Rodman says the FBI has reached out to him for information on North Korea, hoping to use his recent trip to the country to help settle tensions as North Korea threatens to use nuclear force against the United States.

The White House did not originally embrace Rodman’s trip to North Korea in February, saying Kim Jong Un‘s government should be focusing on the welfare of its citizens instead of “celebrity sporting events.”

But as Rodman told The Miami Herald at a recent charity event, the FBI now is hoping to use Rodman’s first-hand experience with the North Korean elite to its advantage.

“They wanted to know what went on and who’s really in charge in North Korea,” Rodman told the Herald. “I have been invited back to North Korea in August, and I want to go.

“I know what Kim Jong Un is threatening to do regarding his military muscle,” he added. “I hope it doesn’t happen because America will take whatever actions to protect America and our allies. I do think that we have to talk to people who want to cause us harm, so hopefully they won’t.”

Rodman said he isn’t apologizing for North Korea’s human rights offenses, considered some of the worst in the world by the State Department. But he said his personal experience with Kim Jong Un, who took power in 2011, was a positive one when he visited North Korea with the Harlem Globetrotters to film an HBO series.

“He’s a good guy to me,” Rodman said after the trip. “As a person to person, he’s my friend. I don’t condone what he does.”

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: Warriors at Celtics, 7:30 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI-FM)
NBA: Grizzlies at Heat, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
NBA: Thunder at Nuggets, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Harvard at Princeton, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Loyola (Md.) at Iona, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Fairfield at Manhattan, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
NHL: Blue Jackets at Blackhawks, 8:30 p.m. (NHL Network)
College hockey: Ferris State at Michigan, 7:30 p.m. (CBSSN)
College hockey: Wisconsin at Nebraska-Omaha, 8:35 p.m. (NBCSN)
MLB preseason: Pirates at Red Sox, 7:05 p.m. (NESN; WEEI-AM)
MLB preseason: Tigers at Mets, 1 p.m. (MLB Network)
World Baseball Classic: Australia vs. Chinese Tapei, 11:30 p.m. (MLB Network)
Soccer: CONCACAF U-20 semifinal, United States vs. Cuba, 6 p.m. (FSC)
Soccer: CONCACAF U-20 semifinal, El Salvador vs. Mexico, 9 p.m. (FSC)

AROUND THE WEB:

Darrelle Revis

♦ It’s no secret that the Jets are looking to unload cornerback Darrelle Revis rather than give him a new contract before he becomes a free agent after next season. If Revis plays out the final year of his pact, the worst-case scenario for Jets fans is that Revis joins the Patriots, who have long needed a shutdown corner. According to the New York Daily News, that’s a possibility.

“It’s not that far-fetched,” an NFL source told the Daily News. “It would not shock me if he’s in a Patriots uniform next year.”

Revis is due $6 million this season in the final year of his four-year, $46 million deal. He reportedly wants $16 million per year in his next contract, despite coming off a season in which he played just two games before tearing his ACL. He’d certainly have to accept less to play in New England, but the thought is that he might want to get revenge on the Jets by playing for their rival.

“Why wouldn’t Revis want to play for the Patriots?” the source said.

♦ Former NBA star Dennis Rodman spent time with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday, reportedly announcing in a speech, “You have a friend for life.”

Rodman, who arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters and a documentary film crew, sat next to Kim as they watched Americans and North Koreans play basketball.

According to the founder of the VICE production company, Shane Smith, Kim told Rodman that he hoped the visit would break the ice between the United States and North Korea.

♦ Former Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro said he was joking when he implied in a recent interview that he considered “driving into a tree, off the Throgs Neck Bridge” if not for the support of his wife, Cassandra.

DiPietro, a former Boston University standout, is playing for the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers after being demoted by the Islanders despite having eight years left on his 15-year, $67.5 million contract. The 31-year-old insisted that “never again” will he joke about his depression.

“I’m just trying to bring light to the fact how important my wife has been,” DiPietro said Thursday. “It’s been a trying last couple years. There have been times that I’ve been depressed, and I don’t know where I’d be without the support of my wife.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On March 1, 1997, the Bruins sent Adam Oates, Bill Ranford and Rick Tocchet to the Capitals for which three players (plus a third-round draft pick)?

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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: Bruins at Islanders, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN, NHL Network)
College basketball: Indiana at Minnesota, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Memphis at Xavier, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Auburn at Alabama, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Towson at George Mason, 7 p.m. (CSNNE)
College basketball: Florida at Tennessee, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Nebraska at Wisconsin, 9 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
College basketball: Wake Forest at Florida State, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
MLB preseason: Yankees at Phillies, 1 p.m. (MLB Network)
MLB preseason: Diamondbacks at Angels, 4 p.m. (MLB Network)

AROUND THE WEB:

Johnny Damon

♦ With Curtis Granderson out for an estimated 10 weeks after breaking his arm, the Yankees are looking for outfield help. Former Yankee (and Red Sox) Johnny Damon is eager to return, but he isn’t expecting he’ll get a call.

“I don’t think it will [happen],” Damon told the New York Post. “They’ve had plenty of opportunities since 2009 and it hasn’t happened. But if they call, I’m ready to go.”

Damon was released by the Indians after hitting .222 in 64 games last season. He lobbied for a chance to prove his worth to the Yankees, for whom he hit 24 home runs during their 2009 World Series championship season — although even then he was moved to a DH role as his outfield skills deteriorated.

“I would play for the minimum [$490,000 one-year deal] for six weeks,” Damon said. “If Granderson returns, I would leave. If there’s no room for me, I am gone.”

♦ The Jets added to speculation that they want to part ways with cornerback Darrelle Revis when they avoided contact with Revis’ camp at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, according to a New York Daily News report.

Jets general manager John Idzik, coach Rex Ryan and owner Woody Johnson reportedly had no contact with Revis’ representatives, who were staying at a hotel a few blocks from the Jets brass before departing Monday. Meanwhile, the Jets executives met with representatives of a number of other Jets players.

Revis suffered a season-ending knee injury after playing just two games last season. He is scheduled to earn $6 million in 2013 and is looking for a long-term deal, ideally to remain in New York.

♦ Dennis Rodman and three members of the Harlem Globetrotters are part of a group heading to North Korea as part of an HBO show. Rodman, the controversial former NBA star, is visiting the country that is in a state of war with the United States two weeks after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test in defiance of a United Nations ban.

“Is sending the Harlem Globetrotters and Dennis Rodman to [North Korea] strange? In a word, yes,” said Shane Smith, VICE media company founder who is host of the upcoming series. “But finding common ground on the basketball court is a beautiful thing.

“These channels of cultural communication might appear untraditional, and perhaps they are, but we think it’s important just to keep the lines open,” he said. “And if Washington isn’t going to send their generals, then we’ll send our Globetrotters.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On Feb. 26, 1994, Patriots fans bought 5,968 season tickets, a team single-day record, following the previous day’s announcement that Robert Kraft had purchased the team from which man?

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Dennis Rodman shakes hands with his estranged father in the Phillipines on Wednesday. (AP)

Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman went to the Philippines to play an exhibition game, but afterward he met his father for the first time in 42 years.

The two hadn’t met since December of 1969, even though Philander Rodman Jr. tried to see his son six years ago. At that time Dennis didn’t want to talk about his father.

“I’ve been trying to meet him for years. And then last night, boom, I met him. I was really, really happy and very surprised,” said the Vietnam war veteran, who now operates the Rodman’s Rainbow Obamaburger restaurant in Angeles City, a city in the northern part of the country.

The 71-year-old met his son for three minutes and gave Dennis his phone number.

During the game, Dennis announced his father’s presence at the arena.

“I don’t hate the guy that brought me into this world,” Dennis said to reporters. “The fact is, if I saw him, I’ll just tell him, ‘You know, you’re a friend of mine.’ ”

Philander, who admitted he has 29 children from 16 mothers, said he wanted to tell his son he didn’t abandon his family.

Welcome to Wednesday’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.

WEDNESDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NBA: Jazz at Celtics, 7:30 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI)
NBA: Magic at Knicks, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
NBA: Spurs at Kings, 10 p.m. (NBA TV)
NHL: Red Wings at Blue Jackets, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
MLB preseason: Yankees at Braves, 1 p.m. (ESPN)

AROUND THE WEB:

Joba Chamberlain leaves a press conference Tuesday in Tampa after discussing his foot injury. (AP)

♦ Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain met the media Tuesday for the first time since suffering an open dislocation of the subtalar join in the heel area in a trampoline accident last week. Chamberlain claimed the injury was not as bad as reported, and he said he plans to return later this season.

“One of those things that bothered me, people calling me asking me if it was life-threatening and that I was going to lose my foot,” Chamberlain said. “There was no bone out of my ankle. It bothered me to have my family go through that. I broke no bones. I didn’t dislocate my ankle. Nothing was out of the skin. I didn’t lose a lot of blood, contrary to what people wrote. It wasn’t life-threatening and I wasn’t planning on losing my foot. Basically, when you rolled your ankle the skin just went.”

Chamberlain, who has been rehabbing after Tommy John surgery last year, was jumping on trampolines at a facility with his 5-year-old son when he was hurt. He insisted he was only trying to be a good father.

“I would never do anything considered reckless with my son,” he said. “There are certain elements of everyday life you do. I don’t second-guess anything.”

♦ Mets knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey reveals in a forthcoming autobiography that he was sexually abused as an 8-year-old, a secret he kept even from his wife until they were married for eight years. An excerpt from “Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball” in this week’s Sports Illustrated detailed Dickey’s challenge to overcome the anger and shame he felt after the abuse at the hands of two teenagers.

“I have spent so much of my life running and hiding, and I wasn’t going to continue doing that in the book,” Dickey told the press Tuesday at spring training in Port St. Lucie, Fla. “What would be the point in doing that — perpetuating untruth. It was important to me to tell the truth, to be completely authentic. Sharing the pain I went through is part of the healing for me, a catharsis in many ways.”

Dickey also wrote about finding a syringe in the clubhouse when he played for the Rangers in 2001, although he did not accuse any players of using performance-enhancing drugs.

♦ A representative for Dennis Rodman said in a court filing that the former NBA star is broke and cannot afford to pay more than $800,000 he owes in back child support for two children he had with his third wife, Michelle. Rodman also owes $51,000 in spousal support.

Rodman appeared in court Tuesday in Orange, Calif., to face charges that he has not paid the support in four months. His sentencing was moved to May 29.

Rodman’s financial adviser, Peggy Williams, told the court that the Hall of Famer is an alcoholic.

“His sickness impacts his ability to get work,” Williams said in the court documents, according to the Daily Pilot newspaper in Costa Mesa, Calif. “This case, especially his wife filling for divorce, has put him on a binge that I have never seen before. He is extremely hurt and extremely sick. He is often unable to obtain work because of this sickness. And his sickness is getting increasingly worse.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On March 28, 1986, the Red Sox made a trade with the Yankees to acquire designated hitter Don Baylor, who helped the Red Sox win the 1986 American League pennant. Which player did the Sox trade to New York?

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Tuesday it was learned that Dennis Rodman‘s clothes from this Friday’s Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will be put on display in Springfield. It is also being reported that Rodman will arrive at the ceremonies via helicopter.

Speaking with The Miami Herald, Rodman said he wanted to enter on a colorful float, “but they wouldn’t let me block off the street.” He also said he will hire a few acrobats to perform and “a couple of my outfits will be ‘out there.’ Whatever might be too zany is not too zany.”

Rodman’s marketing agent, Floyd Ragland, said Rodman is spending $60,000 to fly in Penny Marshall, Howard Stern and other friends for his induction. Phil Jackson will be Rodman’s presenter.

Some will remember Dennis Rodman for his defensive and rebounding prowess as well as his five championships in the NBA, two with the Pistons and three with the Bulls. Most will remember him for his off-the-court antics that include wearing a wedding dress, his short-lived marriage to Carmen Electra and even his recent appearance on “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Now the Basketball Hall of Fame has found a way to combine the best of both worlds.

According to successive tweets from NBA.com’s Scott Howard Cooper, Rodman, who will be inducted into the game’s hallowed Hall on Friday in Springfield, has promised Hall of Fame officials that there will be “no antics” during his enshrinement speech. The Hall of Fame reciprocated the offer by saying that it will keep Rodman’s Friday outfit on display because Cooper notes, “It’s worth seeing.”

Love him or hate him, Michael Jackson was an icon. From his days as a child star to his tremendous success with Quincy Jones to questionable surgical procedures to accusations that eventually proved to be false, the King of Pop always seemed to be caught up in headlines. A day after his death, nothing has changed.

Coverage of Jackson’s death has been inescapable since the news broke yesterday afternoon. In addition to undoubtedly being an inspiration to his fans — “Black or White” — MJ had an impact on athletes all over the world. Many have sent their condolences through the media and Twitter.

“rip micheal jackson. wut a sad day. my homies gone,” said Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard via Twitter on the same day his team acquired Vince Carter from the Nets. “y are people so controversial on here. i am very shocked about mj. i have every song he ever put out. i am shocked and sad … today isnt a good day to talk about trades. really not. im sorry.”

Meanwhile, Chad Ocho Cinco did the unthinkable by taking it a little too far, something he had never, ever, done before. Check out some of these tweets from 85:

“Okay, first Mrs. Fawcett now Mr. Jackson, please tell me that this is a mistaken rumor, if not this is just as sad as 9/11 …”

“okay not as bad as 911, its sad period, both situations my goodness people, they just said he is okay in the hospital …”

“The 9/11 was a bit over the top, i am just in an emotional state right now, bare with me while i regroup people, be back in 10 minutes …”

“Sorry 85 million times, today sucks man, i still have my jacket with the zippers on it, wow”

Surprisingly enough, Dennis Rodman had the sincerest (and best-written) tweet of the trio:

“Mourning the loss of the greatest pop star and icon of my lifetime. Michael Jackson was truly the best. I wish his family well.”

In a chat during yesterday’s Red Sox game on the the Full Count Blog, former Sox ace Curt Schilling gave his two cents on the death of the pop star.

 ”I am not sure how to react to that other than to feel sad he is gone,” said Schilling. ”[The] last half of his life I felt incredibly sorry for him.”

Athletes didn’t just wait for his death to pay tribute to the King. Who could forget Donovan McNabb turning to the following dance for inspiration on his touchdown celebration? 

And Carmello Anthony felt he had to tell everyone just how much Allen Iverson loved Jackson last year.

Chris Rock famously said America’s love for MJ was apparent when his child molestation accusations weren’t taken seriously. As is usually the case with Rock, the video contains explicit language.

Here’s a glimpse at what some of his fellow pop stars had to say in Jackson’s memory. Note that Paul McCartney still spoke highly of Jackson despite the fact that MJ screwed him over in an auction for the rights to Beatles songs. Apparently Jackson made all things right again in his will.

Despite the accusations, skin transformations and which babies Jackson may or may not have endangered on a certain balcony, the King of Pop is gone. Clearly, he will be remembered.