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:
World Series: Royals at Mets, 8:07 p.m. (Fox; WEEI-AM)
NBA: Raptors at Celtics, 7:30 p.m. (CSNNE)
NBA: Heat at Cavaliers, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
NBA: Warriors at Rockets, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)
NHL: Bruins at Panthers, 7:30 p.m. (NESN)
College football: Dartmouth at Harvard, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
College football: East Carolina at UConn, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College football: Louisville at Wake Forest, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
College football: Louisiana Tech at Rice, 8 p.m. (FS1)
College football: Wyoming at Utah State, 10:15 p.m. (ESPN2)
AROUND THE WEB:
John McNamara guided the Red Sox to within one strike of the 1986 World Series title. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
— The Mets have lost the first two games of the World Series, just as they did in 1986. The year, of course, New York rallied to beat the Red Sox in a series that featured an unforgettable Game 6, which ended with the Mets scoring the winning run in the 10th inning when a Mookie Wilson grounder went through the legs of Sox first baseman Bill Buckner.
John McNamara, who managed that Red Sox team, remembers that series as well, and he continues to say he has no regrets about leaving in the aging and weak-kneed Buckner that night.
“Not at all,” the 83-year-old McNamara said when contacted by the New York Daily News at his home in suburban Nashville, Tennessee.
“After the ball game, I said [Buckner] just didn’t get the glove down on the ball. As I watched that numerous times over the years, on baseball channels or whatever, it is very accurate,” McNamara said. “He did not get the glove down to the ground and that’s how the ball went through his legs. His knees were sore, but not enough to sit him out. I would check with him every day, every night. And he wasn’t one to say, ‘I want to get out.’
“But no, I have no remorse about that.”
When the Red Sox captured the first two games in ’86 — both in New York — McNamara said he wasn’t overconfident heading back to Fenway Park.
“No, in baseball you never take anything for granted,” he said.
While saying he’s too old to analyze the teams, McNamara said the bottom line is the Mets just aren’t coming through offensively in this series against the Royals, but he doesn’t know why.
“If I had the answers to that, I would be a millionaire and I’d sell it to ball clubs all over the country,” McNamara said. “It’s just lack of hitting. If you knew how to solve that, like I said, you’d be a millionaire.”
— In their first meeting since DeAndre Jordan changed his mind about signing with the Mavericks and rejoined the Clippers, the center helped Los Angeles to a 104-88 victory in a matchup that featured plenty of trash talk, hard fouls and four technicals.
The chatter started before the game, when Mavs owner Mark Cuban said, “You can change the owner, you can change the players, but the Clippers are still the franchise that they’ve been for the last 30 years.”
The Mavericks repeatedly fouled Jordan late in the first half as part of their strategy to put the weak foul shooter on the line. Dirk Nowitzki fouled Jordan hard at one point.
Jordan wouldn’t bit when asked about firing up the rivalry with his offseason shenanigans.
“It’s definitely an emotional game,” he said. “The emotions were high obviously because it was our home opener. We wanted to give the fans what they missed.”
Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he understands that some emotions from the Jordan free agent saga crept into the game.
“We didn’t look at it that way, but obviously there’s got to be something there from all the [offseason] stuff,” he said.
— Clippers guard Austin Rivers is $25,000 lighter in the wallet after he was fined by the league for throwing a seat cushion that hit a fan in the stands during Wednesday’s game in Sacramento.
Rivers was about to sit down when he took the cushion and flung off to the side without looking. It soared about 10 rows into the baseline seats and hit a woman.
“The pillow was light and it just flew into the air backwards. I didn’t really look when it went into the crowd,” Rivers said Thursday. “I actually stood up for a second and I was like, ‘I apologize. I didn’t mean to do that.’
“I tried to tell the NBA that,” he added. “This has never happened before with me. I don’t have a history of throwing things. It’s unfortunate, but you just learn your lesson not to take your anger out on anything. I told the NBA that I apologize and that it will never happen again.”
Rivers invited the fan and her family to the locker room after the game and apologized in person before taking a photo with her.
“She was very nice about it,” Rivers said. “The bottom line was, it was an accident. I didn’t throw anything at anybody. Throwing something and hitting something that went somewhere are two different things. I try to stay clear of things like this. I mean, this fine was more than what I got for being ejected from a game two years ago.”
ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On Oct. 30, 1954, the Celtics lost to the Rochester Royals, 98-95, in a game that marked the debut of which two NBA rules that had a big effect on the way the game was played?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “There’s nothing more satisfying than saddling the Indianapolis Colts with a loss, something the Patriots did 16 times in Willie McGinest‘s career.” — Patriots owner Robert Kraft, during Thursday night’s halftime ceremony honoring Willie McGinest
STAT OF THE DAY: 69 — Games in which Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has passed for 300 yards or more, the third-highest mark in NFL history, after Thursday’s 356-yard performance in a 36-7 rout of the Dolphins
‘NET RESULTS (mobile users, check the website to see the videos): Oregon scores a game-tying touchdown against Arizona State with 12 seconds left as quarterback Vernon Adams scrambles on fourth-and-goal, throws a desperation pass from the 25-yard line, and gets rewarded when Dwayne Stanford hauls it in despite colliding with a teammate. Oregon went on to win in three overtimes.
Weird Al Yankovic and friends parody postgame press conferences.
TRIVIA ANSWER: The 24-second shot clock and the limit of six team fouls per quarter before the fouled team shoots free throws
SOOTHING SOUNDS: Grace Slick, former lead singer of Jefferson Airplane/Starship, was born on this day in 1939.