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: Eagles at Saints, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN; WEEI-FM)
NBA: Timberwolves at Nets, 7:30 p.m. (NBA TV)
Premier League Soccer: Southampton at West Bromwich Albion, 3 p.m. (ESPN2)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ The surprising Colts are 5-3 after Sunday’s win over the Dolphins, and the fact that they’re doing so well while their coach is off battling leukemia is even more impressive.

Chuck Pagano, weakened by chemotherapy treatment, paid a visit to the locker room after Sunday’s game and delivered an emotional pep talk.

“As I mentioned before the game, you guys are living a vision, not circumstances,” Pagano told the players. “Because you know where [the prognosticators] had us in the beginning, every last one of them, but you refused to live in circumstances. And you decided consciously as a team, as a family, to living a vision. And that’s why you bring things home the way you brought it home today. That’s why you’re champions, and well on your way.

“I’ve got circumstances. I understand it. You understand it. It’s already beat. … My vision, I’m living to see two more daughters get married, dance at their weddings and hoist the Lombardi Trophy several times.”

♦ Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams helped his team to a victory in Washington on Sunday, and he explained that part of Carolina’s motivation was Washington’s decision to make the contest a “homecoming” game, welcoming back 150 former players and wearing throwback uniforms.

“That was definitely motivating,” Williams said. “I mean, you don’t say you’re going to have a homecoming in the National Football League. I mean, you do it in college. It’s [against] one of those teams that’s just terrible. You don’t book a good team for homecoming. … I don’t know if they had a dance or anything; I just know you don’t give a team extra motivation by putting that on your program, just blatantly coming out and saying, ‘You’re our homecoming game.’ ”

Added Williams later on Twitter: I’ve never been more insulted in the nil until today!

♦ The New York City Marathon was canceled due to the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, but that did not deter thousands of runners, who showed up Sunday morning in Central Park to run an adjusted version of the 26.2-mile race.

“A lot of people just wanted to finish what they started,” explained Lance Svendsen, who organized an alternative marathon called Run Anyway that drew about 600 participants.

Meanwhile, other would-be marathoners took a ferry to Staten Island to help people in the neighborhoods that suffered the most damage.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Nov. 5, 1946, the newly founded Celtics played their first-ever home game, which was delayed after which player damaged the backboard during warmups?

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