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:
NFL: Draft, Round 1, 8 p.m. (ESPN, NFL Network; WEEI-AM)
MLB: Astros at Red Sox, 6:35 p.m. (NESN; WEEI-FM)
MLB: Blue Jays at Yankees, 7:05 p.m. (MLB Network)
NHL: Lightning at Bruins, 7:30 p.m. (NESN Plus)
NHL: Penguins at Devils, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
NHL: Ducks at Canucks, 10 p.m. (NHL Network)
NBA playoffs: Heat at Bucks, 7 p.m. (TNT)
NBA playoffs: Nets at Bulls, 8:30 p.m. (NBATV)
NBA playoffs: Clippers at Grizzlies, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ The Lakers are down 2-0 in their playoff series against the Spurs after dropping Wednesday night’s Game 2, 102-91, and they’re limping back to Los Angeles for Friday’s Game 3.

Already without Kobe Bryant (torn Achilles tendon) for the rest of the season, the Lakers saw guards Steve Nash (hip/hamstring), Steve Blake (hamstring) and Jodie Meeks (ankle) come up lame Wednesday night.

“This has been far and away the worst season for injuries I have ever been a part of personally and collectively,” Nash said.

WIth the backcourt issues, the Lakers are looking for the frontcourt to provide a spark. Center Dwight Howard had 16 points and nine rebounds Wednesday, but he picked up a technical and was in foul trouble after getting two fouls on the offensive end early in the third quarter. He also got into an exchange with Spurs center Tim Duncan, jawing at him as the two walked down the court after getting tangled up in the second quarter.

“It is frustrating,” Howard said of the defensive pressure he’s been facing. “I just have to trust my teammates to make shots. On whatever they do defensively, I have to be aware of my arms and try not to get tangled up.”

♦ The inaugural College Football Championship Game will be held Jan. 12, 2015, at Cowboys Stadium, as the Cotton Bowl home was chosen over Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., to be the host.

“The stadium itself was the biggest determiner,” BCS executive director Bill Hancock said Wednesday of the facility that can seat more than 100,000 fans. “It’s still THE stadium with a capital ‘T.’ ”

Said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in a statement: “We couldn’t be more excited about bringing college football’s biggest game to Cowboys Stadium. Rest assured, we all pledge to do everything we can to make sure this game exceeds everyone’s highest expectations.”

The Rose (Pasadena, Calif.) and Sugar (New Orleans) Bowls will host the semifinal games on Jan. 1, 2015. The Cotton, Orange (Miami), Chick-fil-A (Atlanta) and Fiesta (Glendale, Ariz.) Bowls are part of the six-site semifinal rotation. In years they are not hosting a semifinal game, the other bowls in the rotation will host a BCS-type bowl game on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

♦ With the NFL draft set to start Thursday night, Real Clear Sports has a list of the top 10 undrafted free agents in NFL history.

Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon is No. 1, followed by Hall of Fame defensive back Dick “Night Train” Lane, tight end Antonio Gates and quarterback Kurt Warner. Two Patriots made the list: kicker Adam Vinatieri (8) and wide receiver Wes Welker (9).

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On April 25, 1950, the Celtics became the first NBA team to draft a black player when they selected which Duquesne star in the second round?

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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:
NFL: Colts at Jaguars, 8:20 p.m. (NFL Network; WEEI-FM)
NBA: Thunder at Bulls, 8 p.m. (TNT)
NBA: Clippers at Trail Blazers, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)
College football: Louisiana-Monroe at Arkansas State, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College football: Florida State at Virginia Tech, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN; WEEI-AM)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ The Lakers are 1-4 after Wednesday’s 95-86 loss to the Jazz in Salt Lake City, and Kobe Bryant, who only days ago was ripping impatient critics, is having trouble containing his frustration with everyone around him.

Bryant played Wednesday night with an anger he acknowledged he had not displayed in a while, although he wouldn’t say the reason for his motivation.

“Nothing I care to share,” said Bryant, who finished with 29 points and six turnovers.

Said teammate Dwight Howard: “Sometimes I think as a team, we ought to be able to not really show our frustrations that much. A lot of the guys look at me and Kobe and they feed off us, so we have to do a better job of keeping our frustrations on the inside and just playing through it so our teammates won’t get down on themselves.

“I know [Bryant] was a little frustrated tonight. He wants to win just as bad as all of us do. We’ve just got to stay together, remember it’s a process and stay focused.”

Meanwhile, Lakers executive vice president Jim Buss isn’t ready to give up on coach Mike Brown.

“I have no problems with Mike Brown at all,” Buss said. “He just works too hard and he’s too knowledgeable for this to be happening.”

♦ Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has also been the team’s general manager for many years, but former coach Jimmy Johnson insists that Jones’ implication that he was calling the shots during the team’s dynasty years in the early 1990s is false.

“This is completely a bunch of crock,” Johnson said in an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show.” “Jerry started putting all those titles on himself after I left. He didn’t call himself general manager and president and all that stuff when I was there. He was just the owner.”

Actually, Jones was listed as president and GM while Johnson was coaching, but that means little to Johnson.

“It was in my contract that I had total responsibility for all football decisions,” Johnson said. “It was all in my contract, and he didn’t allow anybody to have that in their contract after I left.”

♦ Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said he spoke to center Joakim Noah about his decision to shoot a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of a 99-93 victory over the Magic in an attempt to win free hamburgers for fans at Chicago’s United Center. If the Bulls had scored 100 points, all fans in attendance would have received the free burger.

After Noah missed one free throw with 23 seconds left and teammate Kirk Hinrich missed two free throws with 10 seconds left, the fans missed out on the treat, and many of them booed at the final buzzer.

“You have to respect the game because you never know what can happen in a game,” Noah said. “I just got caught up in the moment and I was trying to get the people a Big Mac. They really wanted a Big Mac [judging by how loud the crowd was getting] and I felt like, not only did I take the shot and miss the shot, we didn’t even get the Big Mac. Next time, I won’t take that 3-pointer.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Nov. 8, 2000, which player was named the 16th captain in Bruins history?

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Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did not have a good day Sunday. Before, during, and after the game, things just did not go his way.

In an interview with Bob Costas prior to the game, Jones, the team’s owner and GM, said he would have fired another general manager who was in the position he’s in.

“Well, I think so, because he was there to dismiss,” Jones told Costas. “I have always worked for myself, and you can’t do that. You basically have to straighten that guy out in the mirror when you work for yourself. But certainly, if I’d had the discretion, I’ve done it with coaches and certainly I would have changed a general manager.”

Jones also affirmed his support for coach Jason Garrett.

“This is a long-term thing with me,” Jones said. “I like what I’m seeing. I don’t like that we are 3-4, but I like the direction.”

The Cowboys lost a close game to the undefeated Falcons, 19-13. The game could have gone the Cowboys’ way if they’d made a few key plays.

“Very disappointed that we didn’t have a chance and play better in the second half,” Jones said. “A play here, a play there might have made a difference. They’re 8-0 because they’re a good team. They play tough at home.”

Matt Barrie of NBC5 in Dallas-Fort Worth tweeted that following the game, Jones was seen pounding angrily on the Cowboys’ locker room door because he was locked out.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo could not have been happy with his three interceptions in the second half of Sunday’s 34-30 loss to Detroit, but does that frustration make an apparent snub of the team owner acceptable? Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner blog posted a video Monday morning in which the Cowboys quarterback appeared to shake off Dallas owner Jerry Jones in the waning moments of Sunday’s loss.

The Lions (4-0) had been trailing by 24 points in the third quarter, but thanks to Romo’s interceptions and a 51-yard field goal from kicker Jason Hanson, the Lions roared back to life with a 31-point second half.

Sunday marked the second time this season that the Cowboys (2-2) have blown a double-digit second half lead. Dallas lost its season-opener, 27-24, to the Jets after taking a 14-point fourth-quarter lead.

Romo has been playing through a fractured rib and wore a protective vest during the game. The Cowboys have a bye in Week 5 to think about the loss and then return to action on Oct. 16 on the road against the Patriots.

At one point during the early stages of NFL free agency, the Cowboys were the front-runners to land prized defensive back Nnamdi Asomugha. While Asomugha ended up with the division rival Eagles, Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones told the Dallas Morning News the cornerback wanted to play in Dallas.

“We had known that he really wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy,” Jones said. “And that’s a fact. There, for about an hour, I thought he was going to be a Dallas Cowboy … We obviously wanted him or we wouldn’t have been in the $10 million and up range to get him.”

In the end, the Eagles were willing to go well above that range, offering the five-year, $60 million deal that Asomugha signed on July 29. The Cowboys play the Eagles in Week 8 (October 30) and Week 16 (December 24) this season.

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.

WHAT’S HAPPENING LOCALLY FRIDAY:
NBA: Celtics at Rockets, 8:30 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI)
MLB Preseason: Tigers at Red Sox SS, 1:05 p.m.
Red Sox SS at Rays, 7:05 p.m.

SATURDAY:
NHL: Bruins at Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. (NESN)
NBA: Celtics at Hornets, 8 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI)
MLB Preseason: Red Sox at Pirates, 1:05 p.m. (NESN)

SUNDAY:
MLB Preseason: Red Sox at Orioles, 1:05 p.m. (NESN)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ GQ magazine has a piece on the worst fans in sports. Red Sox rooters, described as “insufferable hypocrites,” came in sixth. Holding the top two spots are Eagles and Phillies supporters, with the Philadelphia residents termed “the meanest fans in America.” Others of note: Yankees fans are ninth, Canadiens fans are 11th, and Lakers fans are 15th.

♦ With Tennessee set to begin play in the NCAA tournament, coach Bruce Pearl might be preparing for his final game with the Volunteers. In The Tennessean, David Climer looks at the predicament the Boston College product has gotten himself into.

♦ Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is being cast as a villain in the NFL lockout. In the Forth Worth Star-Telegram, Randy Galloway writes about Jones’ tough year and how he deals with the hits on his legacy.

♦ The New York Times has a piece on former racehorses that are starving to death because a charity designed to provide for them, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, has been slow or delinquent to pay for their upkeep.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On March 18, 2000, Bruins legend Ray Bourque became the first defenseman to reach which goal-scoring milestone?

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The NFL offered fans who bought Super Bowl tickets but ended up without a seat tickets for a future Super Bowl, but that isn’t enough for some.

Michael Avenatti, a founding partner of Los Angeles-based law firm Eagan Avenatti, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he is preparing to file a class action lawsuit representing approximately 1,000 people against the NFL, the Cowboys and team owner Jerry Jones.

“We think that this is a pretty straightforward matter,” Avenatti said. “People did not obtain what they were told they were going to get.”

The Cowboys and the NFL added 15,000 temporary seats for the Super Bowl, but many of them were not ready by Sunday. The league moved 850 fans to different seats, but another 400 were left without seats and forced to watch from standing room areas.

Eagan Avenatti is also investigating claims that the Cowboys deceived season ticket holders into buying $1,200 seats with obstructed views, according to the New York Daily News.

“These season ticket holders are rightfully irate at Jones and the Cowboys,” Avenatti said in a statement. “Jones sold the very fans that helped finance the construction of the stadium on the idea of attending the Super Bowl, took their money, and then put them in illegitimate seats with obstructed views. What team or owner on the planet would treat its best fans like this?”

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:
Celtics at Bobcats, 7 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ This Super Bowl hardly went off without a hitch. The biggest blunder Sunday was the failure of workers to complete 1,250 temporary seats at Cowboys Stadium that had been sold for $800 apiece. The NFL re-seated most of the affected individuals (taking seats away from Cowboys staff and families), offered three times the price as a refund, and put the remaining people in standing room areas where they had to watch a video screen. At FanHouse, David Whitley writes that the game was doomed by the Curse of Jerry, referring to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, whose quest to set a Super Bowl attendance record was thwarted by the seating issue. At The New York Times, media critic Richard Sandomir looks at the failure of Fox to report on the ticket problem.

♦ Las Vegas sports books also had a rough day Sunday, as bettors were the big winners despite all efforts by the bookies to catch up.

♦ Christina Aguilera messed up a line in the national anthem (video below), and later said she loved her country and hoped that “the true spirit of its anthem still came through.”

♦ One of the four men featured in a Visa credit card commercial for having attended every Super Bowl had his streak ended Sunday. Robert Cook of Brown Deer, Wis., was hospitalized over the weekend. The 79-year-old Cook was depressed about missing the game, his wife said. His two daughters went in his place.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Feb. 7, 1999, which Patriot was named co-MVP of the Pro Bowl after helping the AFC to a 23-10 victory?

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Jason Garrett was introduced as Cowboys coach Thursday, and owner Jerry Jones said Garrett will have authority to choose his coaching staff and players.

“Jason will have the final say on any person that leaves the coaching staff or comes to the coaching staff,” Jones said. “There won’t be a player on this team that Jason does not want on the team. … That’s the way we’re going to operate.”

Garrett avoided a question about whether he requested such power. Jones said it is not written into the coach’s contract.

“Ultimately, we’re going to feel good about the decisions we make as an organization,” Garrett said. “We’ll communicate, we have very similar football values and we’ll come to the right conclusions together.”

According to an ESPN source, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is still “at least three weeks away” from returning from his fractured collarbone. Romo threw for the first time Sunday since suffering the injury against the Giants on Oct. 25, and was reportedly due for X-rays either Sunday or Monday. Even if the team is officially eliminated from playoff contention, owner Jerry Jones insists Romo will play as soon as he’s ready. Jones believes in the importance of ending the season with a “good taste” in the mouth, which would explain if Romo does play this December.