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. https://weei.stats.com/multisport/front.asp
MONDAY'S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:NBA: Portland at Detroit, 7 p.m. (NBATV)NBA: Dallas at LA Clippers, 10:30 p.m. (NBATV)
AROUND THE WEB:
-- For those who are disappointed by the Patriots' Super Bowl LII loss, there is already a glimmer of hope for next season.
According to OddsShark, Vegas odds have New England as the favorite to win the 2019 Super Bowl at +350 followed by the Packers at +800, Eagles at +850, Steelers at +1000 and Vikings at +1200.
#SuperBowl 53 futures: pic.twitter.com/pNabWelO2F
— OddsShark (@OddsShark) February 5, 2018The Patriots open as +350 favorites to win #SuperBowl 53 @5Dimes pic.twitter.com/1OuQfYihhX
— OddsShark (@OddsShark) February 5, 2018The Browns, coming off a rock-bottom 0-16 season, round out the list at +10000, along with the Jets, Bears, Bengals and Bills.
Super Bowl LIII will be played in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Feb. 3, 2019.
-- The NFL showed an In Memoriam tribute video at U.S. Bank Stadium before Sunday's Super Bowl but one of the players shown was a questionable choice.
Former Patriot Aaron Hernandez was apparently included in the video, almost a year after committing suicide in prison following his 2015 murder conviction.
Reports from those at the game say Hernandez and a number of relatively unknown NFL players who passed away this year were shown in the tribute video.
"To clarify, the Aaron Hernandez moment during the rollcall of players who passed away in 2017 was on a slide with a half-dozen relative unknowns which flashed almost too fast to read," Bleacher Report NFL writer Mike Tanier tweeted. "Other recent or well-known players were honored with photos or highlights on individual slides. I have no strong opinions on how Hernandez was *honored*, simply reporting."
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I don't know how you heard that, but I am definitely going to look at my future, for sure. Sit down the next couple of weeks and see where I am at." -- Rob Gronkowski, on if he is thinking about retirement
