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: Houston at San Antonio, 8 p.m. (TNT)NBA: Oklahoma City at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)NHL: St. Louis at Boston, 7 p.m. (NESN)NHL: Los Angeles at Nashville, 8:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
AROUND THE WEB:
-- Tom Brady received a special message from his high school on Instagram on Wednesday wishing him well ahead of Super Bowl LII.
Students at Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, Calif. got together on the football field to spell out "Beat Philly" for the Patriots' superstar quarterback.
A post shared by Serra High School (San Mateo) (@serrapadres) on Jan 31, 2018 at 3:34pm PST
Brady played football, baseball and basketball at Junípero Serra and graduated in 1995.
-- NFL security is taking measures ahead of the Super Bowl to make sure fans going to the game on Sunday don't have to stand in the Minnesota cold while waiting to be screened for entry.
In a briefing on Wednesday, NFL Chief Security Officer Cathy Lanier said remote satellite checkpoints are being used for the first time, allowing fans to be checked by security at the Mall of America and take a light rail to U.S. Bank Stadium.
.@SecNielsen participates in the NFL security press conference on securing the Super Bowl pic.twitter.com/R4BJxxXabp
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 31, 2018Talking securing the Super Bowl with @nflcommish and NFL's Senior Vice President of Security Cathy Lanier in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/GvZSM1Exlp
— Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) January 31, 2018Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said there will be more security at the game but there is no threat.
"Obviously due to its size and its scope it is and can be an attractive target," Nielsen said at the briefing. "We don't have any credible or specific threat intel but we will continue to actively monitor channels with our international partners."
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I raised my arms up over my head, and right when I raised my arms up, the dog jumped up, and I guess was going for my neck and the guy grabbed the dog back down and the dog got my thigh on the way down. I was standing there with a bunch of tough guys, and they all saw it. They're like, 'Are you OK?' I'm like, 'Yeah, of course I'm OK,' but I could feel the cut.' . . . I'm with the toughest guys in the world, so I just sucked it up for like an hour after we said hi to all the guys." - Tom Brady, on being bitten by a dog at Gillette Stadium a few years ago, NOT on Wednesday
