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:
Stanley Cup finals: Bruins at Blackhawks, 8 p.m. (NBC)
MLB: Red Sox at Rays, 7:10 p.m. (NESN; WEEI-FM)
MLB: Tigers at Royals, 2 p.m. (MLB Network)
MLB: Indians at Rangers, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
WNBA: Connecticut Sun at Indiana Fever, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)

AROUND THE WEB:

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks mixed it up Tuesday night in Los Angeles. (AP)

♦ The Dodgers and Diamondbacks had a beanball battle Tuesday night, and unlike the Red Sox-Rays a day earlier, this one featured more physical confrontations.

The dispute started when Diamondbacks pitcher Ian Kennedy hit rookie phenom Yasiel Puig with a fastball that deflected off Puig’s shoulder and grazed his nose. It came in the sixth inning and apparently was retribution for Zack Greinke hitting Cody Ross the previous inning. Greinke responded by plunking catcher Miguel Montero in the back in the seventh.

“Puig gets hit in the face, Montero gets hit, it should have been really over at this point,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said, adding: “If you can’t pitch inside without hitting someone in the head, you shouldn’t pitch inside.”

It wasn’t over. In the bottom half of the inning, Kennedy hit Greinke high on the left shoulder, with the ball apparently deflecting up into Greinke’s helmet, and was immediately ejected.

“That’s when it kind of got out of hand,” Los Angeles catcher Tim Federowicz said. “You can’t do that.”

The dugouts and bullpens emptied, and the coaches inflicted and received most of the damage. Mattingly threw down Arizona coach Alan Trammel, Diamondbacks coach Turner Ward was driven into a railing, and Dodgers coach Mark McGwire and Diamondbacks counterpart Matt Williams grabbed and pulled on each other’s jerseys while having an angry exchange.

“Everything happened so fast,” Mattingly said. “It just gets a little crazy out there.”

Said Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario: “I was out of my mind just trying to protect my teammates. If you want to hit somebody, don’t hit a pitcher. Don’t hit guys in the head. That’s crazy.”

Said Montero: “It got pretty ugly. They came out of nowhere, just throwing punches. When everybody was trying to break it up, they just kept coming and throwing punches. It was like 25 against 72, because all the DL guys were out there, too. I guess their arms were feeling pretty good because they were throwing good punches.”

Following six ejections, Los Angeles went on to win the game, 5-3.

♦ Chargers linebacker Manti Te’o met the media Tuesday for the first time in a month and talked about the team keeping him under wraps as he transitions from an eventful senior year at Notre Dame.

“Coach [Mike McCoy] and the organization had a plan for me,” Te’o said. “That plan was to prepare me the best way for the season. We’re out here for football. I think that’s the bottom line. The plan was for me to focus on football, focus on getting my head in the playbook and just trying to make that transition as quickly as possible. I definitely have reaped the benefits of that and am thankful that I’ve had the time to just focus on the plays and focus on what goes on on the field. That has definitely helped me improve each day.”

Te’o insisted he hasn’t been distracted after the fallout from his fake girlfriend controversy.

“When we’re out on the football field, everything else doesn’t matter,” he said. “Thankfully for me, I’m surrounded by a bunch of teammates who have really pushed me to be better. All they care about is that No. 50 is working his butt off. I’ll take care of the work ethic part and for them, they just make sure that I’m going in the right direction. Personally, that hasn’t been difficult at all.

“We have a saying in the defensive room: `Keep the main thing the main thing.’ I’m here to play football. I’m here to be the best Charger I can be and I’m not going to let anything get in the way of that. We’ll keep the main thing the main thing.”

♦ Sergio Garcia left a note in Tiger Woods‘ locker Tuesday at the U.S. Open in Ardmore, Pa., after he was unable to set up a face-to-face meeting between the golf stars to address their recent dispute. After the two feuded through the press last month, Garcia made a racially insensitive joke and said he wanted to apologize.

“I did leave him a note — a handwritten note,” Garcia said. “And hopefully, he can take a look at it. It’s a big week and I understand that it’s difficult to meet up and stuff. So hopefully, I’ll be able to do it. If not, at least he has read the note and he’s happy with that.”

The two had a brief exchange Monday, when Garcia approached Woods and shook his hand at the practice range.

“We didn’t discuss anything,” Woods said. “Just came up and said, ‘Hi,’ and that was it.”

Added Woods when asked if Garcia apologized: “No. It’s already done. We’ve already gone through it all. It’s time for the U.S. Open.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On June 12, 1984, the Celtics defeated the Lakers in Game 7, 111-102, to win their 15th NBA title. Which Celtic scored a game-high 24 points?

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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 Pacers, 7 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI-FM)
NBA: Bulls at Spurs, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: North Carolina at Maryland, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Michigan at Purdue, 7 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
College basketball: Oklahoma State at Iowa State, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Georgetown at Villanova, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Richmond at VCU, 8 p.m. (CBSSN)
College basketball: UConn at South Florida, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: West Virginia at Oklahoma, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Minnesota at Nebraska, 9 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
College basketball: New Mexico at Nevada, 10 p.m. (CBSSN)
College basketball: Stanford at California, 11 p.m. (ESPN2)
NHL: Avalanche at Blackhawks, 8 p.m. (NBCSN)
World Baseball Classic: Japan vs Cuba, 5 a.m. (MLB Network)
MLB preseason: Dominican Republic at Yankees, 1 p.m. (MLB Network)

AROUND THE WEB:

Manti Te'o better have a good sense of humor when he gets to the NFL. (AP)

♦ Texans defensive end Antonio Smith was frank about the rough treatment Manti Te’o should expect to receive should he get selected by Houston in next month’s NFL draft.

“Our locker room is full of clowns and, oh, man, people would kill him,” Smith said in an interview with NBC Sports Network’s Pro Football Talk. “I mean, he would be the butt of every joke for at least two, three years.”

Smith said the former Notre Dame linebacker will need to show he can take some kidding about his fake girlfriend situation if he’s going to succeed in the NFL.

“You’ve just got to be a good sport, man,” Smith said. “It is what it is, and, you know, it is out now, it’s out in the papers and on TV, so all you can do now, you can’t worry about it, you can’t change it, al you can do now is laugh — laugh with us while we’re laughing at you.”

♦ The NBA on Tuesday fined Thunder center Serge Ibaka $25,000 but did not suspend him for his chop to the groin of Clippers forward Blake Griffin, and that did not sit well with some other NBA players who felt the league was being inconsistent with its discipline.

Clippers forward Matt Barnes, who has a history of aggressive behavior, was suspended one game in February for pushing Timberwolves center Greg Stiemsma in the neck. Tweeted Barnes on Tuesday: You can INTENTIONALLY grab or hit someone in the balls & not get suspended, but you push someone & get suspended. #ImConfused

And: Let me or Metta World Peace do that & I guarantee its a 5 game suspension .. I luv *how* there are different rules, for different people!

Meanwhile, LeBron James wondered why Heat teammate Dwyane Wade was suspended one game in December for his kick to the groin of Bobcats guard Ramon Sessions.

Tweeted James: So explain to me the difference? My teammate gets a 1 game suspension and 150k+ taking away from him for his groin altercation #strangetome

♦ Grambling State became the first Division 1 college basketball team to go through the regular season without a victory. The Tigers did not even stay within single digits in all 27 of their losses.

Said coach Joseph Price: “Look at it this way: It can’t get worse.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On March 6, 1986, which Bruins forward recorded his 600th NHL point with two goals in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Nordiques at Boston Garden?

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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:
NBA: Lakers at Celtics, 8 p.m. (TNT; WEEI-FM)
NBA: Bulls at Nuggets, 10:30 p.m. (WGN, TNT)
College basketball: Clemson at Virginia, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Indiana at Illinois, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Old Dominion at Drexel, 7 p.m. (NBCSN)
College basketball: Belmont at Murray State, 8 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Washington at UCLA, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Missouri at Texas A&M, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Colorado at Oregon, 10 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Saint Mary’s at Santa Clara, 11 p.m. (ESPN2)
NHL: Capitals at Penguins, 7 p.m. (NHL Network)

AROUND THE WEB:

Lance Armstrong

♦ According to a Neilsen/E-poll survey sponsored by Forbes magazine, Lance Armstrong and Manti Te’o are America’s most disliked athletes.

Both Armstrong and Te’o appeal to just 15 percent of the public.

“The Oprah [Winfrey] interview hurt [Armstrong],” Nielsen senior vice president of sports Stephen Master said. “He came off as pompous, arrogant and unapologetic.”

As for Te’o, “The story was just so creepy,” Master said.

Rounding out the list are golfer Tiger Woods (19 percent appeal), Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (21), Lakers guard Metta World Peace (21), Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (22), Eagles quarterback Michael Vick (23), NASCAR driver Kurt Busch (27), Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (27) and Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (27).

♦ In a strange story out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a top running back recruit abruptly canceled his signing day announcement at his high school Wednesday, reportedly because his mother took his letter of intent and went home, unhappy that he wanted to attend Arkansas.

Andrea McDonald wanted her son, Alex Collins, to stay closer to home and sign with Miami, and she refused to sign the papers. Collins announced in a TV appearance on Monday night that he was going to Arkansas, changing his earlier stance.

Said Collins’ older brother, Johnny: “She’s having anxiety. I know she preferred him to go to UM. Alex had said he was going to the U, and then all of a sudden he changes his mind. We found out he was going to Arkansas on TV.

“They still needed her signature. You can’t sign yourself over. It’s in black and white. But I didn’t expect any of this to happen. I’m as confused as everyone else.”

♦ The 1865 Brooklyn Atlantics baseball card discovered by a Maine man at a yard sale was auctioned Wednesday for $92,000. The Library of Congress said last month that it has the only other known copy of the team photograph, considered to be the first dated baseball card.

Neither the seller or buyer were identified, but Saco River Auction Co. manager/auctioneer Troy Thibodeau expressed satisfaction with the outcome.

“We’re happy with it and consigner is happy with it,” Thibodeau said.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On Feb. 7, 1999, which Patriots defensive player was named co-MVP of the Pro Bowl after helping the AFC to a 23-10 victory?

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Manti Te'o deleted his Twitter account on Sunday. (AP)

Manti Te’o‘s Twitter account, through which he communicated with the person pretending to be his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, has been deleted.

Te’o's handle, @MTeo_5, disappeared from Twitter during the Super Bowl broadcast Sunday, and a source told ESPN.com that Te’o will be off the social networking site for an indefinite period of time to prepare for the NFL draft. The draft combine begins Feb. 20.

Te’o dropped from No. 6 to No. 12 in the latest version of ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper‘s big board, which Kiper attributed to positional value, rather than the increasingly bizarre girlfriend hoax that has surrounded Te’o over the last month.

According to ESPN.com, Te’o's potential marketing deals have also taken a hit, and the previous promotional deals that had been discussed for him are now not at the same prices as before the hoax was revealed.

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo told Dr. Phil McGraw that the Manti Te’o girlfriend hoax he allegedly created had “everything to do” with trying to escape from his real life because he had been molested as a child.

In the interview, the second part of which aired Friday, Tuiasosopo told McGraw he was molested repeatedly by a family friend beginning when he was 12. He did not identify that alleged family friend by name and didn’t say whether he had told the police about his claim.

Tuiasosopo said that creating Lennay Kekua, Te’o's ‘girlfriend,’ validated him and allowed him to live in an alternate world and have a different identity. He also apologized to Te’o during the portion of the interview that aired Friday.

The man said to be behind the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax told Dr. Phil that he developed romantic feelings for the Notre Dame linebacker. (AP)

Last week, reports surfaced that the person Manti Te’o spoke with on the phone for all those months was Ronaiah Tuiasosopo‘s cousin, Tino Tuiasosopo. Now, though, Ronaiah has confessed to Dr. Phil McGraw in an interview that will air Thursday that he himself was the one on the phone with Te’o, pretending to be Lennay Kekua.

“There were many times when Manti and Lennay have broken up,” Tuiasosopo said, “but something would bring them back together, whether it was something going on in his life or Lennay’s life or in this case my life.”

Tuiasosopo also told McGraw that, for him, the relationship became a romantic one, and that Te’o had no idea it was him on the other end of the phone.

“Here we have a young man that fell deeply, romantically in love,” McGraw told NBC. “I asked him straight up, ‘Was this a romantic relationship with you?’ And he says yes. I said, ‘Are you then therefore gay?’ And he said, ‘When you put it that way, yes.’ And then he caught himself and said, ‘I am confused.’ ”

Many who think Te’o was in on the hoax have theorized that he did it to cover up being gay himself. When Katie Couric asked him if he was in their interview last week, though, he denied it.

“No, far from it,” he said, then repeated it with emphasis. “Far from it.”

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:
NHL: Islanders at Bruins, 7 p.m. (NESN)
NHL: Wild at Red Wings, 7:30 p.m. (NHL Network)
College hockey: Yale at Cornell, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
NBA: Celtics at Hawks, 7:30 p.m. (CSNNE; WEEI-FM)
NBA: Spurs at Mavericks, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Loyola (Md.) at Manhattan, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Green Bay at Milwaukee, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)

AROUND THE WEB:

The Manti Te'o girlfriend story continues to take twists and turns. (ABC)

♦ On Thursday, the lawyer for the man said to be behind the hoax involving Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o claimed that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was imitating a woman’s voice during phone conversations with Te’o. However, the New York Post reported Friday morning that the voice was actually Tuiasosopo’s female cousin, Tino Tuiasosopo.

“Tino is the girl that Manti has been talking to all these months,” a Tuiasosopo cousin told the paper.

A Tuiasosopo relative said Ronaiah took the blame because he “is determined to take the rap.”

Te’o released voicemail messages of the woman to ABC’s Katie Couric for his interview that aired Thursday. Said Te’o: “It didn’t sound like a man. It sounded like a woman.”

Said the Tuiasosopo cousin after hearing the tapes: “There is no doubt whatsoever that it’s Tino.”

♦ A report came out Thursday that the Jets were considering trying to trade Darrelle Revis, who can become a free agent after next season. That did not sit well with the standout cornerback.

Tweeted Revis: I’m speechless by far but more importantly I feel more upset for the jet nation for having to go through this!!! I guess will see how this plays out.

Coach Rex Ryan, who once called Revis the greatest player in franchise history, had little to say Thursday.

“You guys know how I feel about Darrelle,” Revis said. “But as [new general manager John Izdik] said, all decisions will be made in the best interest of the football team.”

♦ With John and Jim Harbaugh set to do battle in the Super Bowl, the website Sports on Earth has a list of the top sports siblings of all-time. The Harbaughs barely make the list at No. 10.

The list is headed by hockey’s Sutter brothers, followed by tennis’ Williams sisters and football’s Manning brothers. The only Boston connection is the DiMaggio brothers — Yankees great Dom DiMaggio and his brothers, Red Sox outfielder Dominic and journeyman outfielder Vince, who started out with the Boston Braves.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Jan. 25, 1956, which former Red Sox infielder and manager was elected to the Hall of Fame?

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The Manti Te'o girlfriend story continues to get more bizarre by the day. (AP)

The lawyer for the man accused of perpetrating the girlfriend hoax involving Notre Dame star Manti Te’o told the New York Daily News that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was the voice of Lennay Kekua for the many phone conversations with Te’o.

Tuiasosopo, who was president of his high school’s drama club, has had vocal and dramatic training.

“[Te'o] thought it was a female he was talking with,” lawyer Milton Grimes told the Daily News. “It was Ronaiah as Lennay.”

Grimes said Tuiasosopo was not attempting to embarrass Te’o.

“This wasn’t a prank to make fun,” Grimes said. “It was establishing a communication with someone. … It was a person with a troubled existence trying to reach out and communicate and have a relationship.”

Asked specifically what Tuiasosopo hoped to gain by the hoax, Grimes said: “I wouldn’t describe his issues at this time.” He added that his client is seeing a mental health professional and wants to tell his story.

“He’s torn by this,” Grimes said. “He didn’t mean for anyone to be hurt. Anything that he has done, he has apologized to those he could apologize to.”

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:
NHL: Bruins at Rangers, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
NBA: Nuggets at Rockets, 8 p.m. (NBATV)
NBA: Thunder at Warriors, 10:30 p.m. (NBATV)
College basketball: Lehigh at Bucknell, 6 p.m. (CBSSN)
College basketball: Duke at Miami, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Penn State at Indiana, 7 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
College basketball: South Florida at Seton Hall, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: TCU at West Virginia, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Colorado State at New Mexico, 8 p.m. (CBSSN)
College basketball: Minnesota at Northwestern, 9 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
College basketball: Georgia Tech at North Carolina, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Iowa State at Texas Tech, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: San Diego State at Nevada, 10 p.m. (CBSSN)
College basketball: Denver at New Mexico State, 11 p.m. (ESPNU)

AROUND THE WEB:

New Yankee Kevin Youkilis said he's moved on from the Joba Chamberlain feud, but he hasn't returned his new teammate's phone call. (AP)

♦ When former Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis signed as a free agent with the Yankees in December, he said his feud with reliever Joba Chamberlain was “not a big deal to me,” even though Chamberlain made a habit out of firing fastballs at Youkilis body when they were on opposing teams.

Chamberlain also insisted he was ready to move on, and he said he left a voicemail for Youkilis welcoming him to New York.

However, Chamberlain said Tuesday that Youkilis never returned the call.

“I did everything I can do,” Chamberlain said. “I can’t control what Kevin Youkilis does, I can only control what I do and, you know what, we’ll go on from there.”

Chamberlain said he wasn’t surprised that Youkilis had not called him back.

“No, not really,” he said. “I’m bound to run into him at some point. Sooner rather than later. We’ll see what happens. We’re grown men.”

♦ Six weeks after the accident that killed Cowboys practice squad player Jerry Brown, for which backup nose tackle Josh Brent was charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly driving drunk, Cowboys starting nose tackle Jay Ratliff was arrested for DWI early Tuesday after crashing his pickup truck into an 18-wheeler in Grapevine, Texas.

No one was injured in the accident, but police said the 31-year-old Ratliff failed a field sobriety test.

Ratliff, who was released on bond Tuesday morning, was limited to six games in 2012 due to injuries. He underwent a sports hernia surgery in late December.

♦ The woman whose pictures were used as part of the girlfriend hoax involving Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o told NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday that alleged mastermind Ronaiah Tuiasosopo confessed and apologized to her on Jan. 16, the day Deadspin broke the story.

“I don’t think there’s anything he could say to me that would fix this,” said 23-year-old Diane O’Meara, who was a high school classmate of Tuiasosopo’s in California.

O’Meara said she never had contact with Te’o, and that the pictures were used without her knowledge or consent.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On Jan. 23, 1981, the Red Sox traded Fred Lynn and Steve Renko to the Angels for pitchers Frank Tanana and Jim Dorsey and which outfielder/designated hitter?

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