Mark Madden Columns category, Page 15
Mark Madden: Steelers got their guy in the 1st round but are still stuck in mushy middle
The Pittsburgh Steelers got a player they wanted in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday, selecting Washington tackle Troy Fautanu. Good pick? Bad pick? Who knows? Franchise-changing pick? Not this year and not likely. The Steelers need a four- or five-win season if they want to draft that...
Mark Madden: Expect quarterback fever with the 2024 NFL Draft, but wide receivers will make most impact
The NFL Draft is anything but an exact science, and the hype surrounding it is a myth. Mike Tomlin bleats about the Pittsburgh Steelers being “prepared,” but every team is equally prepared. Every team has the same resources, information and video. The only difference is how talent available to be...
Mark Madden: Getting a 1st-round WR makes sense, but the Steelers cling to outdated philosophy
Conventional wisdom says the Pittsburgh Steelers will take an offensive lineman with their first pick of the NFL Draft, 20th overall. Either a tackle or center. Whichever of those two positions isn’t addressed with that choice, they will likely select in the second round. That’s smart. If it’s the ’70s....
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Plenty of questions surround Pirates’ player development
If you need reason not to trust the Pittsburgh Pirates’ developmental process, look no further than the most obvious example. Shortstop Oneil Cruz is 25, has all the raw talent in the world and doesn’t know how to play baseball. Cruz missed almost all of last season after breaking his...
Mark Madden: Penguins no longer an elite team, have to realize nothing is guaranteed
The Pittsburgh Penguins need to understand what they are. They are underdogs. They have been for quite some time. Yes, you can be an underdog with Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. The evidence is plentiful, not least finishing 10th in a terrible conference with 38 wins and 44...
Mark Madden: Disappointing players, strategy, weeping spelled demise for Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins will miss the playoffs for a second straight season. It feels like an eternity. Or like Buffalo. Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust deserve better. Not many others do. Those who frustrated outnumber those who didn’t. These players are the most disappointing: 1. Erik Karlsson. $11.5 million doesn’t...
Mark Madden: Thoughts on Russell Wilson, NFL draft, Cutch, Erik Karlsson and more sports notes
Just remember, man, quarterbacks come and go, but Wu-Tang is forever. Here’s some refreshing sports notes that ain’t nothing to, uh … mess wit’. • I got a close-up look at Russell Wilson, wife Ciara and their entourage in the catacombs of PPG Paints Arena after Saturday’s Pittsburgh Penguins game....
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: After seeing Penguins consider relocation, feeling deeply for Coyotes fans
With the Arizona Coyotes likely headed to Salt Lake City, it’s easy to dismiss hockey in Phoenix as a failed experiment. The Coyotes currently play in a college rink that seats just 4,600. Ownership can’t get a new arena built. The Coyotes rarely have drawn big in Phoenix, not even...
Mark Madden: The Penguins control their own destiny, but are they playing playoff hockey?
Whatever good happens to the Pittsburgh Penguins at season’s end, nobody but Sidney Crosby truly will deserve. Very rarely can a win be an utter travesty, but Thursday’s debacle of a 6-5 overtime victory over Detroit at PPG Paints Arena fits that description. That said, the Penguins winning in three-on-three...
Mark Madden: Booing David Bednar shows fair-weather Pirates fans don’t know how to support a good team
David Bednar should not be relieved of his duties as Pittsburgh Pirates closer after blowing three saves in the season’s early going. Bednar led the National League in saves with 39 last season and had an ERA of 2.00. That’s a big sample. This year, so far, is a small...
Mark Madden: Sidney Crosby’s energy, effort have fueled overachieving Penguins
Sidney Crosby has had better seasons. More productive. Higher numbers. He’s previously won the best of the NHL’s awards. This year, he’s being discussed for mere Miss Congeniality-level hardware. He has three Stanley Cup rings. The Pittsburgh Penguins won’t come close this year. But if Crosby drags the decidedly meh...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: A lazy, but not boring, list of Steelers’ top offseason stories
Much about sports coverage these days revolves around rankings or lists. It’s lazy, predictable and boring. I haven’t done enough to prove I can be all those things. Or have I? Anyway, here are the top 10 Pittsburgh Steelers stories of the offseason. 1. The Steelers are not a lot...
Mark Madden: Pirates could try to be a real baseball team, but they don’t have to
The Pirates have the most interesting psychology, if that’s how to put it, of any Pittsburgh sports franchise. Perhaps of any team on the continent. The Pirates are the little engine that could but won’t. They’re a perpetual underdog with a great ballpark and hot dogs piled with pierogis and...
Mark Madden: Something seems sketchy with Shohei Ohtani, but does MLB want to know?
As MLB and the NBA face calamitous gambling scandals, one wonders how ESPN covers them without casting a bad light on ESPNBet, the company’s online sportsbook. Networks and leagues are sponsored so heavily by bookies. It’s everywhere. (My radio program, too.) Gambling and sports are directly and massively intertwined now,...
Mark Madden: Penguins’ collapse in Colorado was unacceptable; their failures should dictate the future
Coach Mike Sullivan after the Penguins blew a 4-0 lead at Colorado on Sunday, losing 5-4 in overtime: “I thought we competed hard. That’s one of the most explosive offenses in the league that we played against. We knew they were going to push back. We competed hard all night.”...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Big contracts for Penguins’ aging stars have handcuffed Kyle Dubas
The Pittsburgh Penguins are in deep decline. That’s OK, for now. Keep that first-round pick. Get more balls in the draft lottery. Maybe the Penguins get lucky. It’s happened before. Despite my faith in president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas, he can’t do as he says. Dubas can’t reassemble a...
Mark Madden: Duquesne surpasses Pitt, steals the show for college basketball in Pittsburgh
The City Game between the Pitt and Duquesne men’s basketball teams is a tradition that dates to 1932. The Panthers and Dukes have played each other 87 times but not since 2018. The rivalry ceased because Pitt refuses to play Duquesne. Pitt feels Duquesne is a lesser foe, that playing...
Mark Madden: Pitt should have made the NCAA Tournament, but what would that have really meant?
Pitt basketball fans enjoyed wallowing in despair Tuesday night when Virginia got beat by 25 points in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament. Virginia scored just 14 points in the first half of a 67-42 loss to Colorado State. This was evidence that Pitt should have gotten into March...
Mark Madden: Steelers have had a perfect offseason, choosing progress over saving face
This much should be made clear about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ reconstructed quarterback room: There’s a pecking order. Russell Wilson is the starter. He’s not on a short leash or any leash. Justin Fields didn’t come to Pittsburgh to compete with Wilson. He’s clearly the backup and in a position to...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Kenny Pickett failed and got what he deserved
Kenny Pickett failed. That’s his story. He got lied to by Mike Tomlin, but that’s not an exclusive club. Pickett was well-served by a previous Tomlin fib, one that fleeced Mitch Trubisky. In 2022, Tomlin told Trubisky he’d be the starting quarterback at least through Week 9, the Pittsburgh Steelers’...
Mark Madden: Without changes at the top, Penguins will stagnate
The Penguins are in a very important transitional period. Let’s see if there’s any actual transition. The Penguins have four large contracts: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson. They don’t want to move Crosby, Malkin or Letang. That’s the franchise’s commitment. The Penguins can’t ditch Karlsson. His...
Mark Madden: Steelers aren’t settling but are still a long way from Super Bowl contender
With the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s not just who they’re getting. It’s what they’re doing. They’re no longer settling. They signed quarterback Russell Wilson, which effectively pulls the plug on Kenny Pickett. (Pickett might not know that yet. You might not, either.) They signed Patrick Queen, 24, a linebacker in his...
Mark Madden: Mediocre veterans, Mike Sullivan’s system among Penguins’ plethora of problems
The Penguins have just one goal in their last 190:07 of hockey. But refreshing Penguins notes score big all the time. SHOOT THE PUCK! • It’s OK to lose now. Don’t get too mad when the Penguins do. If the Penguins finish in the NHL’s bottom 10, that keeps their...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: These ‘original four’ have no room to gloat about Penguins’ demise
Some around the NHL are taking delight in the Penguins’ decline. Here are some things that bring me joy: • The New York Rangers have won one Stanley Cup since World War II. • The Boston Bruins have won one Stanley Cup since Richard Nixon was president. • The Toronto...
Mark Madden: Signing Russell Wilson at least would improve Steelers’ chances
If Russell Wilson arrives for his meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers and is asked by coach Mike Tomlin to compete with Kenny Pickett for the No. 1 quarterback job, Wilson should laugh in Tomlin’s face and walk out. Yet, by all accounts, that’s the scenario Wilson will be presented with....
