Mark Madden: After unexpected success this season, can the Penguins win a playoff series?
As the Pittsburgh Penguins lurch toward a playoff spot in the slightly more good than bad fashion that’s marked their season, it’s time for perspective. When hostilities commenced in October, the Penguins were thought to be a bottom-five team, the goal being to get a top-five draft pick and select what...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Bucco Fever is boiling again, and it’s an odd disease
It was a great day at the ballpark for the Pirates’ home opener Friday. I didn’t go. I’m getting prepared for that area being under martial law — worse yet, Roger Goodell’s iron fist — when the NFL Draft comes April 23-25. I can’t wait to stay away. Or till...
Mark Madden: The Pirates made a bold move with Konnor Griffin, but it can’t stop there
I never thought the Pittsburgh Pirates would sign Konnor Griffin long-term. I never thought the overlap of having both Griffin and Paul Skenes would be as lengthy as it now could be. Might be three years beyond this one. I never thought the Pirates would suddenly show legit ambition concerning anything...
Mark Madden: These Penguins might be flawed, but they have heart and guts
Refreshing Pittsburgh Penguins notes: Love is in the air, and so is playoff hockey! Don’t you just love spring? • Ditch the disclaimer: Erik Karlsson is the Penguins’ MVP, and that includes Sidney Crosby. Karlsson put the team on his back in March, shepherding the Penguins to an 8-6-3 record...
Mark Madden: Tiger Woods’ latest crash exposes America’s double standard
The current Tiger Woods situation has turned America into a sociological experiment. Woods got popped for his second DUI. Rolled his car. Could have killed somebody. It’s his fourth major car accident. Yet a vast fraction of the population passionately leaps to his defense. “He has a problem.” “Show some...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Shortstop, 1st base, 3rd base, DH? How can the Pirates fix Oneil Cruz?
This space previously mooted the possibility of trading Oneil Cruz after his “Yakety Sax”-style meltdown when the Pittsburgh Pirates opened their season Thursday at New York. But the Pirates seem unlikely to do that. His raw talent is undeniable. Cruz is affordable at $3.3 million and, if he keeps disappointing,...
Mark Madden: All the tools, but no toolbox; Pirates’ biggest problem might be Oneil Cruz
The Pirates should trade Oneil Cruz. There must be some MLB team still impressed by his amazing athleticism and willing to ignore that he’s 27 and hasn’t yet learned how to play baseball. Beyond occasional flashes, Cruz is useless. Cruz is a .233 lifetime hitter, a tragic .172 against left-handed...
Mark Madden: Is it still hating if it happens? Expect 77 wins for these Pirates
I’m often accused of hating the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not true. I’m just a beacon of harsh truth. The Pirates were my first big sports love. I have 41 sets of ticket stubs from the 1971 world championship season to prove it. That includes Game 4 of the World Series at...
Mark Madden: Playing it safe with top prospects could be costly for Pirates, Penguins
The Pirates sent 19-year-old phenom shortstop Konnor Griffin to Triple-A. The Penguins continue to keep 21-year-old phenom goaltender Sergei Murashov at their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm team. I don’t agree with either decision. But I understand. Griffin has never had an at-bat in Triple-A and has just 83 at the Double-A level....
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Golden Goal puck should be displayed where Americans can enjoy it
Jack Hughes — he of the Golden Goal — briefly wrangled with the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto over ownership of said puck. The Hockey Hall of Fame won that war because possession is nine-tenths of the law. The dolt with the white gloves and dorky haircut who babysits...
Mark Madden: The Pirates will be better, but can they contend for a playoff berth?
The Pittsburgh Pirates are spending more. But are they spending enough? The Pirates will be better. But how much better? The Pirates went out and got three solid bats. But not Aaron, Clemente and Mays. A lot is being assumed by cockeyed optimists and media fanboys. But with Opening Day less...
Mark Madden: ‘Evgeni Malkin hat trick’ reignites debate of his future with Penguins
When a hockey player gets a goal, assist and fighting major in the same game, that’s a Gordie Howe hat trick. On Monday at Denver, we saw the birth of the Evgeni Malkin hat trick: A goal, assist and dumb offensive-zone penalty in the same game. (Though it’s hardly the...
Mark Madden: Does international sports hype live up to the substance?
We’re locked in a feeding frenzy of international sports. The U.S. swept Canada in men’s, women’s and sled hockey. The World Baseball Classic provided Paul Skenes a chance to pitch for a team that could win. We’ve long since quit waving Old Glory in the name of decency and humanity,...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Penguins should lean on most confident player in shootouts
After Friday’s NHL games, the Pittsburgh Penguins were two points clear in a playoff spot. They are 3-3-3 without injured captain Sidney Crosby, 1-1-2 without Crosby and the suspended Evgeni Malkin, who will sit one more game. Splitting the points through the absences of their two star forwards seems the...
Mark Madden: The Ravens did nothing wrong but follow NFL’s template of greed, megalomania
To everyone griping about the Baltimore Ravens’ “lack of honor” or “dishonesty” because they loopholed their way out of acquiring Maxx Crosby from Las Vegas by way of buyer’s remorse after paying too steep of a price: Are you freaking kidding me? The NFL is built on “lack of honor”...
Mark Madden: Pirates will honor Andrew McCutchen, whether he deserves it or not
Some characterize Andrew McCutchen’s departure to Texas as “sad.” Nah. Not from the Pittsburgh Pirates’ point of view, anyway. The Pirates didn’t want their clubhouse to be a museum. They moved on from a player who is old and past significant usefulness. A nostalgia act. An extra pierogi. It’s sad...
Mark Madden: Penguins’ gutsy comeback felt like a season-saver and more sports notes
Spring ahead, fall back, but it’s always time for refreshing sports notes! (I have no idea what time it is.) • The Pittsburgh Penguins’ 5-4 overtime win over Boston at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday felt like a season-saver. The Penguins showed maximum guts after trailing 3-0, igniting a furious...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: In Johnstown, ‘Slap Shot’ lives on — and so does great hockey
JOHNSTOWN — “Dunlop, call the meat wagon.” “I already did.” That’s an exchange between Syracuse Bulldogs captain Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken and Charlestown Chiefs player/coach Reggie Dunlop from the overdubbed, network-sanitized version of the legendary hockey comedy “Slap Shot,” released in 1977. The original, R-rated version of that dialogue is...
Mark Madden: Evgeni Malkin’s meltdown couldn’t have come at a worse time for the PenguinsVideo
Evgeni Malkin wants to play another season with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He didn’t do that ambition any good via his actions in Thursday’s 5-1 home loss to Buffalo. Malkin is often petulant and occasionally selfish but took both concepts to an insane level of self-indulgence when he slashed the Sabres’...
Mark Madden: Steelers should gamble on Kyler Murray, not wait on Aaron Rodgers
Kyler Murray is getting cut by Arizona. The Pittsburgh Steelers want Aaron Rodgers to return at quarterback. Instead of waiting on Rodgers, the Steelers should grab Murray. Rodgers is 42. Murray is 28. Rodgers is playing out the string. Murray would be playing for his career. He could conceivably be...
Mark Madden: Evgeni Malkin has earned another season, but should the Penguins give it to him?
Evgeni Malkin wants to play another season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. His performance this season merits that. But do the Penguins want Malkin to play another season? It’s not a simple decision. He has 13 goals and 34 assists in 44 games. Not a lot of goals, but over a...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Thanks, Maz, for being the hero that never disappointed
When I was 9, I fell in love with sports. Specifically, baseball and the Pirates. (Neither had been ruined yet.) I wrote my first fan letter to my favorite Pirate. (Kids did things like that then.) He sent me a signed postcard. I still have it. It made a big...
Mark Madden: A blueprint for how the Penguins survive during Sidney Crosby’s absence
Sidney Crosby won’t play for at least four weeks because of a lower-body injury, widely presumed to be a strained knee. The most frightening two words contained in that prognosis are “at least.” The Pittsburgh Penguins were five points safe in a playoff berth when NHL play resumed Wednesday night....
Mark Madden: Jack Hughes should jump from golden goal to NHL’s golden goose
The face of hockey is 38 years old. No offense to Sidney Crosby, but it’s time for a new face. That new face has a broken tooth. That face is Jack Hughes, 24, who scored the golden goal for the U.S. at the Olympics and plays in the New York...
Mark Madden: Pittsburgh-powered penalty kill helps Team USA prove critics wrong
Plenty of hockey “experts” — including me — thought U.S. GM Bill Guerin and his staff erred in picking his Olympic men’s hockey team. The exclusion of high-octane weapons like Jason Robertson, Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson was bemoaned. Less-talented role players were preferred. But the proof of the pudding...
