Mark Madden stories, Page 22

The Pittsburgh Steelers need a left tackle. Dan Moore Jr. was serviceable this past season, making improvement on his rookie year. He has started all 33 games at left tackle since he was drafted in the fourth round in 2022. But Moore might help more moving to guard or being...

We can hold two truths to be self-evident in the wake of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ four-game losing streak that got extended Thursday at PPG Paints Arena via a 7-2 massacre by Edmonton: • The Penguins should be sellers between now and the March 3 NHL trade deadline. • They need...

The Pittsburgh Penguins have lost three in a row, looked bad doing it, and are currently not in a playoff position. They finally got their starting goalie back after a month out, but he soiled the blue paint and blew Monday’s must-win home date with the New York Islanders. Tristan...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are, at best, a first-round playoff loser. That’s their ceiling, and they might not reach that. There’s lots of blame to go around, but none should fall on this past offseason’s retention of Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin, thus preserving the core three along with Sidney Crosby....

I’ve been listening to sports talk radio since it started. (The first local show was probably Myron Cope’s, which started in 1968. John Cigna also dabbled.) The Steelers have been through a lot of quarterbacks in that time. When the quarterback faltered back when — whether it was Terry Bradshaw,...

As the March 3 trade deadline looms, locker rooms and fan bases in each NHL city clamor for their team to make a deal that gets it to the next level, even a Stanley Cup. False optimism can drive that sentiment even with teams that should be sellers. Seems like...

After wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster left Pittsburgh and signed with Kansas City during the 2022 offseason, he went relatively quietly. Smith-Schuster minimized his addiction to social media and self-promotion, chipping only occasionally. Did Smith-Schuster stop dancing on opposition logos, climbing milk crates, going to high school proms and starring on TikTok...

A certain vulgarity used to describe absence of bravery does not, as popularly thought, have an anatomical origin. Rather, it derives from the word pusillanimous, which is defined as “showing a lack of courage or determination; timid.” That understood, the Pittsburgh Penguins are as pusillanimous as can be. The latest...

Patrick Mahomes is already being talked about as the GOAT, including by people whose opinion is to be respected. But Mahomes can’t be the GOAT. He’s not going to win seven Super Bowls like Tom Brady. If he comes close, the conversation will come around to Brady beating Mahomes in...

The Super Bowl is uniquely American. Many who care little about football watch in the context of it being a social event. The Monday after should be a national holiday. Call it Joe Namath Day. (More later.) Never mind the game: The Super Bowl’s peripheral audience is into the commercials,...

As the Steelers ponder their future at backup quarterback, Mitch Trubisky likely is pondering whether he wants to stay in Pittsburgh. Trubisky has a year left on his contract, so he has no choice if the Steelers insist. But coach Mike Tomlin wants volunteers, not hostages. Trubisky’s base salary for...

Sidney Crosby says he’d like to see the NHL playoff format switched to seeding the teams in each conference from 1 through 8. That’s instead of playing within divisions (allowing for the possible crossover of a wild card) for the first two rounds. This met with manic approval from Toronto...

Hockey is my favorite sport. Because that’s true, I feel qualified to analyze why the NHL’s national TV ratings are down 22% from last year. There are regional blackouts. Start times aren’t staggered; games hit intermission at the same time. Cord-cutting takes ESPN and TNT off the radar of too...

The NHL trade deadline is March 3. This space and others like it are debating what the Penguins should do between now and then. Honestly, I don’t know what the Penguins should do. Or can do. But I know they can’t do nothing. GM Ron Hextall has to determine a...

With the NHL trade deadline one month away and the Pittsburgh Penguins in a funk, the usual strategy beckons: Trade all our bad players for all their good players. Something like Jeff Carter, Kasperi Kapanen and Danton Heinen to Chicago for Patrick Kane. That deal won’t be discussed by either...

The Penguins’ goaltending situation is in shambles. That’s ironic considering the current GM was a goalie and his predecessor was, too. When the Penguins won their second straight Stanley Cup in 2017, their goaltending was the NHL’s best 1-2 punch. They had Matt Murray, who had played the biggest part...

The Steelers are reportedly glad to be rid of JuJu Smith-Schuster because he’s “me-first.” They’re likely happy that Chase Claypool also left, citing similar reasons (and the second-round draft pick he fetched from Chicago, too). But Smith-Schuster is a decent receiver, as evidenced by 78 regular-season catches for Kansas City....

It’s difficult to draw a bead on the Penguins. The Penguins mostly look like excrement on skates lately, but have points in each of their last six games (3-0-3). They’re in the Eastern Conference’s second and last wild-card berth, but only two points ahead of hard-charging Buffalo, which has five...

The Baseball Hall of Fame drifted further toward insignificance when third baseman Scott Rolen somehow made the grade. Rolen is a ham-and-egger. Mid, no better. Rolen hit .281 lifetime with 316 home runs and 1,287 RBIs. Former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Dave Parker has better statistics in every category but isn’t...

The Pittsburgh Steelers must make sure the NFL doesn’t play its conference championship games at neutral sites. Because the NFL surely wants to. The NFL mooted the concept because of the Damar Hamlin near-tragedy, which caused cancellation of the Week 17 game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. Because...

The NHL should change its overtime format. Three-on-three stinks. Three-on-three OT started out exciting, but coaching ruined it. It used to be played with reckless abandon. Now it’s about endless doubling back with the puck and staying ahead of your foe’s changes. It’s mostly boring. It’s too tactical. It would...

When quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem, the left supported and the right got angry. When Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to wear a pride-themed jersey during warmups, the left got angry and the right supported. Each man did the same thing, namely exercising freedom...

The Pittsburgh Pirates are at any number of disadvantages when pursuing free agents, not least that good players have other choices and all those options are better. But right-handed pitcher Trevor Bauer is a good player who might not have alternatives. Bauer, 32, is at loose ends after being cut...

Up to this point in his tenure as Pittsburgh Penguins GM, Ron Hextall has done little. Hextall has made two token deadline trades, doled out two awful contracts, retained lots of players, put the team in salary cap hell and won zero playoff series. That’s a lean two years. Hextall...

Now that Andrew McCutchen is again a Pirate, a big switch must be made: McCutchen should change his uniform number from 22, the digits he wore during his prior Pittsburgh tenure. It doesn’t matter what number McCutchen uses. It just has to be different. There’s no conflict: No. 22 has...