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: Celtics at Thunder, 7 p.m. (CSNNE, ESPN; WEEI)
NBA: Lakers at Mavericks, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: West Virginia at Notre Dame, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Kansas at Texas A&M, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
NHL: Bruins at Blues, 8 p.m. (NESN)
NHL: Kings at Avalanche, 9 p.m. (NBCSN)

AROUND THE WEB:

Jeremy Lin is on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the second week in a row. (AP)

♦ Even after a loss, the legend of Jeremy Lin continues to grow. Nets forward Kris Humphries, who is regularly booed at NBA arenas following his separation from reality TV star Kim Kardashian, said Lin offered support to him after Lin’s Knicks lost on Monday to New Jersey.

“I saw him in the tunnel outside the locker room after the game,” Humphries said during an appearance on Tuesday’s “The Scott Van Pelt Show” on ESPN Radio. “He’s a really nice guy. He just said, ‘Hey, I don’t know why they boo you, but I think it’s crap, and you’re playing really well.’ That was nice of him to say. He’s a really nice guy. … It’s nice to see great things happen for nice people.”

Humphries had 14 points and 14 rebounds in Monday’s game and appeared to enjoy quieting the Madison Square Garden fans.

“I love the hostile environment,” Humphries said. “There’s nothing better than sending 19,000 people home upset [Monday] night at the Garden. We love that. People are getting rowdy — whether they’re booing me or not — but to get a win like that felt great, and sometimes you’ve just got to mess with the crowd back.”

Meanwhile, Lin is on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the second week in a row, becoming the first New York athlete ever to have that distinction.

♦ Broncos backup quarterback Brady Quinn is reaching out to Tim Tebow after unflattering comments Quinn made about Tebow appeared in a GQ article. In the Michael Silver story, Quinn was quoted as saying the team “had a lot, I guess, luck, to put it simply,” and that “the fans had a lot to do with” Tebow getting the starting nod over Quinn.

“There was a big calling for him,” said Quinn, who is an unrestricted free agent. “No, I don’t have any billboards. That would have been nice.”

After the article came out Tuesday, Quinn went on Twitter and insisted the comments do not reflect his true feelings about his “great teammate.”

♦ Lakers legend Magic Johnson is starting his own cable television network, called Aspire, set to debut June 30. It’s the first of 10 new independently owned channels Comcast promised to launch by 2018 as part of an agreement with the FCC and Department of Justice to diversify the cable landscape.

“This is so exciting for me, I’m pinching myself,” Johnson told The Los Angeles Times. “This is big for myself, for the African American community and the African American creative community. I wanted a vehicle to show positive images and to have stories written, produced and directed by African Americans for our community. Aspire — that’s how I’ve been leading my life.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Feb. 22, 1934, which Bruins defenseman played his final game and then became the first NHL player to have his number retired?

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome back to “Name that Tweet”–the game show where everybody’s a loser (including the host)! If you didn’t catch the first or second episode, here’s the deal: An athlete or celebrity posted the following 140-character thought on his/her twitter account over the last week. It’s your job to figure out who produced these Shakespearean efforts.

1. “I can’t believe September is here, crazy! This is always my favorite time of year, I’m lovin’ it ”

– Landon Donovan or Queen Latifah?

Landon plays for the Galaxy, kicking balls. Latifah is as big as a galaxy, kicking rhymes. Donovan reportedly fathered a child out of wedlock, but I’m guessing Queen isn’t the mother, since she, ahem, lives with a personal trainer named Jeannette.

Answer: Click here.

2. “We lost our first game Cowboys?!?!?!?.I have carpet burn!”

– Martellus Bennett or Jessica Simpson?

They’re two of Tony Romo’s favorite tight ends. Romo dumps Simpson the night before her birthday, and he dumps it to Bennett on Sundays. Martellus gets carpet burn from the Cowboys Stadium turf. Jessica gets carpet burn from, well, use your imagination.

Answer: Click here.

3. “how good of a job was it for the guy who just talked in a deep voice in all the boyz 2 men songs?”

– Andy Roddick or Jennifer Hudson?

Roddick dates Brooklyn Decker, and Hudson eats double-decker sandwiches. Roddick smashes overhands, and Hudson smashes cheeseburgers. OK, OK, enough fat jokes. How about this: She took home an Oscar for Dreamgirls, and he just takes home dream girls.

Answer: Click here.

4. “Who watched the VMA’s? How funny was the little intro skit? Restraining orders never stops me! LOL”

– Terrell Suggs or Kim Kardashian?

Both legitimately have experience with restraining orders. Terrell had one taken out on him; Kim took one out on a stalker. Oh, and they’ve both been on top of Reggie Bush.

Answer: Click here.

5. ” Yeahhhh the bears won, I might do a superbowl shuffle. Haha”

– Danica Patrick or R. Kelly?

Both Illinois natives, these two have a ton in common. As a NASCAR driver, Patrick is a girl among men; meanwhile, Kelly is a man among girls. Danica dresses up and poses for Go Daddy, while R. makes girls dress up, pose and call him daddy. Kelly recorded “Trapped in the Closet”, and Patrick just might be trapped in the closet? They’re practically the same person.

Answer: Click here.

Thanks for playing again, folks. Two more terrible Twitter puns this week: If you got four or more wrong, you’re a Twignoramus; if you got four or more right, you’ve got Twisdom. Until next week, and, as Ron Burgundy said, “Stay classy” New England!

Ah, the Super Bowl. The biggest game of the year is Sunday in Miami, and the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints will finally end the waiting as they fight for the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl XLIV.

But what makes the Super Bowl the greatest game of the season is much more than just the matchup itself, even if few games have had as much hype as this year’s. Yes, the Super Bowl is the spectacle that it is because of the myriad betting opportunities it presents. And while Super Bowl squares are always fun, nothing is better than prop bets.

You can always bet the over/under or the spread, but isn’t it more fun to wager on whether Austin Collie catches the first touchdown or not? (He is at 10-1 odds right now.) So without further ado, here are some of the ridiculous prop bets to be watching for this year.

Okay, one quick disclaimer here: WEEI.com in no way, shape or form encourages gambling, even on the most hilarious of the bets below. Use your money for more important things, like party supplies.

Carrie Underwood’s national anthem: Over/under 1 minute 42 seconds

A little bit of research shows that Underwood, the country music star and former American Idol winner, sang the Star Spangled Banner back in 2006 for the NFC Championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers.

If you notice, that video is 1 minute 45 seconds long. It’s going to be a close call, but on an even bigger stage Underwood might embellish the performance a little bit.

Which commercial will have the highest rating on USA Today’s Ad meter?

The choices presented to us are Doritos, Coca-cola, Anheuser-Busch, Godaddy.com, Career Builder, Focus on the Family or other. Now, maybe the appearance of Tim Tebow will push the “Focus on the Family” ad to greater heights. Maybe there is a Budweiser commercial on the level of this:

But curiously absent from the set list is the Super Bowl commercial that could be the most compelling: the McDonald’s remake of the classic Larry Bird-Michael Jordan “Showdown” ad with NBA superstars LeBron James and Dwight Howard.

So many questions can be asked. Will either wear an outfit as terrible as His Airness? Will they bother to say no dunking? And why remake the best commercial of all-time with someone who can’t even shoot? Those questions alone could make it the most-watched commercial of the night.

How many times will Archie Manning be shown on TV?

The line is set at two and a half. But Manning has two allegiances in this game: the Saints, and his son Peyton. That means he can be shown whenever either team is being discussed. Drew Brees throws a touchdown? The former Saints signal caller could be on the screen. Manning hits Dallas Clark for a big gain? You bet they will probably show his father beaming with pride. This could be the easiest prop bet of all to predict.

Anything with Kim Kardashian

How many times will Reggie Bush’s girlfriend be shown on screen? What color top will she be wearing? Will she be engaged to Bush by July 31st if the Saints pull out the win? All of these are actual bets for this game. She might end up playing a bigger role in this telecast than Dwight Freeney.

What CBS show will get the most promos during the game?

The logical choice might be Undercover Boss, the new show that will follow the game. From this sneak peek, it looks pretty intense.

I suppose that makes it a drama? But don’t discount NCIS. After all, it is America’s No. 1 show, for reasons described here. Who would have thought a naval crime scene show could be so popular? Another darkhorse? Any of the CSI shows, which, of course, feature theme songs by a certain Super Bowl halftime performing band.

How many times will Pete Townshend perform his legendary windmill move?

That clip is 19 seconds long. In it, Townshend does his patented windmill move twice. With a set list that includes a mashup of five songs, Townshend will have ample opportunity to strut his stuff on stage and rock out. If this one doesn’t entice you, you can always bet on whether any member of the band will break a guitar, and if so, what it will hit first.

The game.

And here we get to the game itself. There are too many bets to list, from the coin toss to whether either team will score in the last three minutes of the game. The best of the best? The over/under on Drew Brees’ passing attempts, which is set at 33.3, and whether Manning will have throw for more yards than in the Colts victory in Super Bowl XLI, when he passed for 247 yards. In what could be a shootout, both seem ripe for the over pick.