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:
NBA: Celtics at Knicks, 8 p.m. (CSNNE, TNT; WRKO)
NBA: Spurs at Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)
MLB: Rangers at Red Sox, 7:10 p.m. (NESN, MLB Network; WEEI)
NHL playoffs: Panthers at Devils, 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
NHL playoffs: Predators at Red Wings, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
NHL playoffs: Coyotes at Blackhawks, 9 p.m. (CNBC)

AROUND THE WEB:

Eli Manning is set to host "Saturday Night Live" May 5. (AP)

♦ Giants quarterback Eli Manning will host “Saturday Night Live” on May 5 after turning down the offer a few times before. He follows in the footsteps of his brother, Peyton, who hosted the show five years ago.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Eli said Monday, as the Giants gathered for their first offseason workout program. “It’s something that’s been offered a few times and I’ve turned it down. But it seemed like the right time. I felt ready to do it and I’m excited about that opportunity.”

Eli said he has no stage experience, although he has appeared in a few commercials since arriving in New York.

“Not much Broadway or acting, so this will be a new experience for me,” he said. “I’m a little nervous about it, but excited also. It should be a lot of fun. It will take some work, but it should be something I’ll always remember.”

♦ The crystal trophy Alabama received for winning the BCS championship game shattered into pieces Saturday when a player’s father tripped and fell into the podium where it was displayed. The $30,000 trophy was on display in the athletic building. A school spokesman said the trophy will be replaced.

“In 2009 and again this season, Alabama did a great job showing the trophy off to fans even after we turned it over to them,” said Charley Green, manager of the coaches’ trophy. “Unfortunately it is fragile, and accidents can happen.”

♦ It being tax season, Real Clear Sports has a list of the top 10 players owners wish they could write off. The list includes Mavericks forward Lamar Odom, Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel, Red Sox pitcher John Lackey and, at No. 1, White Sox slugger Adam Dunn.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On April 17, 1969, which Red Sox rookie followed up his two-home run effort the day before with another home run, giving him home runs for his first three major league hits, a team record?

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Chiefs quarterback Matt  Cassel could miss the rest of the season, as his injured throwing hand will “probably” need surgery, according to coach Todd Haley.

Cassel injured his right hand late in the Chiefs’ loss to the Broncos on Sunday, the injury appearing to occur when Cassel was sacked. The former Patriots quarterback is likely out for Kansas City’s game against New England next Monday night. Tyler Palko filled in for Cassel after he was injured against Denver and stands to get the starting nod against the Patriots.

Cassel has struggled this season after hurting his ribs early on in the 2011 campaign. He is completing just 59.5 percent of his passes and has a pedestrian 10 touchdowns compared to nine interceptions. Cassel signed a six-year, $63-million contract with the Chiefs in 2009 after his breakout 2008 season with the Patriots filling in for the injured Tom Brady.

Here are more notable injuries and updates following Week 10 of the NFL season.

• Texans quarterback Matt Schaub is out for the season with a lisfranc injury, as reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter yesterday. Schaub was injured in the first half of Houston’s win over the Buccaneers on Sunday.

• It was a bad week for quarterbacks, as the Eagles’ Michael Vick was also injured on Sunday when he broke two ribs in Philadelphia’s loss to the Cardinals. It is unknown whether Vick will play against the Giants this coming week or not.

• Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno is out for the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in Denver’s win over the Chiefs on Sunday. Coach John Fox said that Moreno will have surgery on the knee in the near future.

• Bills center Eric Wood also tore a ligament in his right knee and will miss the rest of the season. Wood suffered the injury in Buffalo’s loss to the Cowboys on Sunday.

• The Bears have placed left guard Chris Williams on injured reserve after he had surgery to repair a dislocated left wrist on Sunday night. Williams was injured in the first half of Chicago’s win over the Lions on Sunday.

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Matt Cassel will once again be filling in for an injured Tom Brady, this time on the AFC Pro Bowl team. Brady’s stress fracture and subsequent foot surgery opened the door for the Chiefs quarterback to get picked for the team.

Cassel led the Patriots to an 11-5 record in 2008 after Brady went down in the first quarter of the season opener. This season, he threw for 3,116 yards, a career-high 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions to lead the Chiefs to their first AFC West title since 2003.

“It’s a huge honor,” Cassel told The Associated Press. “Being in the league for the last six years, you see the Pro Bowlers going and you go, ‘Gosh, hopefully one day I can get there.’ I’m really excited.”

As he prepares for his first playoff start in the NFL (indeed, his first postseason game since he was a quarterback at Chatsworth HS in California), Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel sat down with the New York Times for an insightful interview about his maturation as a quarterback and person. Among the interesting topics that he addressed, Cassel discussed the influence that Tom Brady had on him when Cassel was the star quarterback’s backup in New England.

From the article:

Cassel became Brady’s shadow. He arrived at the facility to work out before the first scheduled activity of the day because that is what Brady did. Everything he knows about being a leader, he learned by watching Brady, who won three Super Bowls before Cassel’s arrival.

“He’d always yell at me and say you can’t make the simple mistake,” Cassel recalled, “because how are you going to yell at your receivers, your running backs, your linemen for making simple mistakes if you’re making them?”

Once, Cassel said, he made the simple mistake of forgetting about a noon conference Brady had added to the schedule. When Cassel showed up on time for a 12:15 meeting, Brady glowered.

“He was furious,” Cassel said. “He asked me where I had been at 12 o’clock, and I remember saying: ‘Why didn’t you come get me? Because I was in the building, I was just eating lunch.’ And he said: ‘Because I’m not responsible for you. You have to be accountable for yourself.’ ”

Cassel, of course, excelled when pressed into duty by Brady’s season ending injury in the Patriots’ 2008 season opener against the Chiefs. He led the Patriots to an 11-5 record while throwing for 3,693 yards and throwing 21 touchdowns (against 11 picks). That led to Cassel receiving the franchise tag and getting traded to Kansas City, where he threw for over 3,000 yards, 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions this year.

The Chiefs will play the Ravens in the wild card round on Sunday; if the Colts beat the Jets on Saturday night, the winner of the Kansas City-Baltimore game will face the Patriots in the divisional round on Jan. 16.

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.

WHAT’S HAPPENING LOCALLY WEDNESDAY:
NHL: Bruins at Flyers, 7 p.m. (NESN)
NBA: Trail Blazers at Celtics, 7:30 p.m. (CSNEE; WEEI)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ Giants safety Antrel Rolle is not happy with New York fans who booed the team before its comeback Sunday against the Jaguars. Rolle, who signed with the Giants in the offseason after five years with the Cardinals, didn’t like the reaction from the home crowd when New York fell behind 17-6 in the first half. The Giants came back to win the game 24-20 and improve to 7-4.

“You don’t boo your team,” Rolle said. “I don’t care what happens. You don’t boo your team.”

Added Rolle: “You know, we’re 7-4. We’re not 2-10, you know? There’s going to be ups and downs during the season. [Not] under any circumstances should you boo your team. That’s just the reality of it.”

♦ Former Patriot Matt Cassel is having a stellar season in Kansas City after struggling last season. Clark Judge at CBSSports.com looks at Cassel’s resurgence and the Chiefs’ decision to acquire him.

♦ The Nets and Knicks have been at odds since the Nets started moving ahead with their plans to relocate to Brooklyn. The Knicks did not take well to a billboard ad the Nets displayed near Madison Square Garden, responding with an enormous Amar’e Stoudemire ad in Brooklyn. More recently, the Knicks produced an ad that taunted the Nets, saying: “Hey Nets, You can walk like us, you can talk like us, but you ain’t never gonna be like us.” First-year Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov offered his rebuttal before the teams met Tuesday night. “I don’t think we want to be like the Knicks,” he said of the team that hasn’t won an NBA title since 1973 or a division title since 1994. “I think we’d more like to resemble the Lakers.”

♦ Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki signed a 10-year contract extension worth almost $160 million. At Yahoo! Sports, Jeff Passan explains why it’s a big mistake for the Rockies to spend so much of their budget on one player, even one as valuable as Tulowitzki.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Dec. 1, 1961, which Red Sox pitcher — he started the season in the minors but still managed to make the American League All-Star team — was named AL Rookie of the Year?

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Former Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel continues to struggle despite the Chiefs’ 2-0 start, and his future with the team might be in question at the end of the season. Writes NFL.com columnist Jason La Canfora: “Matt Cassel is running out of excuses for his poor play. … I continue to think the Chiefs will strongly consider getting out of his contract in the offseason.”

Saturday’s loss that snapped the Bruins’ 10-game winning streak won’t keep head coach Claude Julien from returning to Montreal as an all-star. Matt Kalman of the Bruins Blog explains. Our own Joe Haggerty tells us that there will be no Bruins will be starting the game while knee surgery is on the horizon for Marco Sturm.  Meanwhile, as we first told you on Friday, Matt Cassel will be franchised by the Patriots, according to the latest story from ESPN.