Welcome to Monday’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.

MONDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NFL: Bears at 49ers, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN; WEEI-FM)
NBA: Magic at Hawks, 7:30 p.m. (NBATV)
College basketball: Marquette vs. Butler, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Indiana vs. Georgia, 5:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: North Carolina vs. Mississippi State, 6 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Texas A&M vs. St. Louis, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: UCLA vs. Georgetown, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Texas at Chaminade, 9:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Kasas vs. Washington State, 10 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: USC vs. Illinois, midnight (ESPN2)

AROUND THE WEB:

Bart Scott

♦ Just when you thought it might be quiet in the Jets locker room following Sunday’s win over the Rams that ended a three-game losing streak, linebacker Bart Scott provided the controversy this team seems unable to avoid. Scott, unhappy about unnamed players criticizing backup quarterback Tim Tebow in a New York Daily News story last week, ordered his fellow defensive players to say nothing but, “Both teams played hard — anonymously,” to reporters.

Scott’s influence apparently isn’t as strong as he thought, as at least two players — safety Yeremiah Bell and linebacker Bryan Thomas — ignored Scott’s instructions. Scott yelled at Thomas, calling him “a [expletive] sellout.” Interjected Bell: “Stop it. Just stop.”

Scott then relented and spoke “calmly and openly to the media,” according to the New York Post.

♦ Andrew Bynum, who has yet to play for the 76ers since being acquired from the Lakers in the offseason because of a bone bruise in his right knee, said Sunday that he injured his other knee bowling last Saturday night.

Bynum said the left knee swelled after the bowling, and on Tuesday an MRI revealed damaged cartilage.

“I didn’t twist it or fall or nothing,” Bynum said before his team played the Cavaliers. “It kind of broke off cartilage and it made the bone bruise bigger. Obviously [how] is the question, it’s relatively nothing, it’s three steps [and roll]. That’s the most important thing and why everyone is being so cautious. I can’t answer and [doctors] can’t now either, we’re trying to figure out what’s going on.”

Added Bynum: “Obviously in hindsight you shouldn’t go bowling, but it’s not more than anything I’ve done in my rehab.”

♦ Red Wings defenseman Ian White is the latest player to check in with some negative comments about NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and his might be the harshest.

“I’ve got to be honest: I personally think he’s an idiot,” White said. “Since he’s come in, I think he’s done nothing but damage the game.”

This is the NHL’s third lockout during Bettman’s tenure. The last one forced the cancellation of the 2004-05 season.

“If you think of all the moves he’s made, teams that are all struggling seem to be the teams that he put in places where there’s not viable markets for hockey,” White added. “Three work stoppages — I don’t know if he’s in control of the owners or what he’s saying, but I think it’s only seven of the owners that have to agree on something to have something pass. You’d think it’d be at least 50 percent. It just doesn’t seem like they’re running a democratic process, if you will.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Nov. 19, 2000, who became the Patriots’ all-time leader in games played when he started his 207th career game?

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Raffi Torres

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reduced Raffi Torres‘ suspension by four games. The decision was announced Monday. Bettman heard Torres’ appeal on May 17.

Torres will now serve a 21-game suspension stemming from a late hit to the head of Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa in the first round of the playoffs.

The 30-year-old already served 13 games of the suspension in the playoffs, so he will have to miss eight games at the start of the 2012-13 season. He will retain more than $680,000 of potential lost pay.

Torres has been suspended twice before. When he appealed the suspension it was concerning the amount of games and not the fact he was suspended.

Welcome to Monday’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 MONDAY:
NHL: Avalanche at Bruins, 1 p.m. (NESN)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ A 31-year-old man was arrested Sunday after running toward the seventh green at CordeValle golf course in San Martin, Calif., and throwing a hot dog in the direction of Tiger Woods during the final round of the Frys.com Open. “I was kind of focusing on my putt when he started yelling,” said Woods, who finished in a tie for 30th. “Next thing I know, he laid on the ground and looked like he wanted to be arrested, really, because he laid on the ground, put his hands behind his back and turned his head.”

The man told police he wasn’t throwing the hot dog at Woods, even though he called Woods’ name before tossing it in the air. “He was very cooperative,” Sgt. Jose Cardoza said. “They said, ‘Why did you do this?’ He just shook his head in guilt or remorse. He didn’t give a reason why he did it.”

♦ Gary Bettman, who was booed by Vancouver fans when he awarded the Stanley Cup to the Bruins in June, was cheered in Winnipeg Sunday as the new Jets played their first regular-season home game, 15 years after the previous version of the team departed for Phoenix. “A great day for the city of Winnipeg, the province of Manitboa, the entire country of Canada,” Bettman said.

♦ Brad Pitt has a hit with his portrayal of A’s general manager Billy Beane in “Moneyball,” and now Clint Eastwood appears headed for a starring role in a baseball movie. Eastwood reportedly will play a veteran scout who is trying to find one last prospect before he loses his sight in the movie “Trouble With the Curve.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Oct. 10, 1999, the Red Sox exploded for 23 runs on 24 hits, both postseason records, in a 23-7 rout of the Indians in Game 4 of the American League Division Series. Which Indians ace who would later go on to pitch for the Red Sox took the loss?

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It didn’t take long for the NHL’s newest franchise to reach it’s goal for season ticket sales. In fact, it didn’t even take 20 minutes.

The former Atlanta Thrashers set out to sell 13,000 season tickets by June 21, but shortly after fans were able to buy tickets Saturday at noon, Winnipeg reached its goal with ease. According to the Winnipeg Sun, the total reached 13,000 within 17 minutes.

“While I had no doubt the ‘Drive to 13,000′ would reach its destination,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said, “the remarkable speed at which it got there certifies the fans’ hunger for NHL hockey and their commitment to True North’s initiatives.”

The NHL was abuzz Thursday night with talk of the Thrashers relocating to Winnipeg, but the party in Manitoba may have started a bit early.

Atlanta owners still are heavily engaged in talks with True North Sports and Entertainment in Winnipeg, but company spokesman Scott Brown has denied the reported move in The Canadian Press as “not true.”

The Thrashers could very well end up north of the border, but NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is not willing to confirm anything just yet.

“I can tell you with certainty that there is no deal for this team to move,” Bettman said. “Am I predicting that there will never be or that there won’t be at some point in time? No, I’m not saying there is or there isn’t.”

Thrashers part owner Bruce Levenson has announced his desire to keep the team in Atlanta, but he has come up empty in his two-year search for a buyer.

If a deal goes through, Winnipeg would get its first NHL team since losing the Jets to Phoenix in 1996.

At the NHL general managers meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., GMs decided Tuesday not to recommend a ban on hits to the head. Some other suggestions were made instead to try to cut down on concussions.

GMs will push for tighter enforcement of charging and boarding penalties and ask for longer suspensions for illegal head hits, especially for repeat offenders.

“By the time the season is over there will be 55,000 hits, and a small percentage are resulting in concussions,” commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We want to eliminate concussions, but the view is if we can define a rule that makes sense and doesn’t cause other problems in the game, we’re going to try and do that.”

Although there has been a decrease in blindside hits to the head, the number of concussions in the NHL is still increasing, according to a preliminary report received by the NHL board of governors Saturday.

Commissioner Gary Bettman told The Associated Press that the majority of concussions this season have come from accidental or legal hits rather than the illegal hits the league has cracked down on.

“We’ve seen players suffer concussions this season when they’ve stumbled into the boards or other players without any contact at all,” Bettman said. “We’ve seen players suffer concussions when struck by pucks in the head, we’ve seen players concussed when they collide with teammates, and when they were hit legally and without head contact after which their heads have struck either the ice or the boards or the glass.

“The biggest increase in instances of concussions this season and the biggest increase in man-games lost, is from these types of so-called accidental or inadvertent contact.”