Mark Madden Columns category, Page 24
Mark Madden: Fantasy camp brings back memories of Mario Lemieux’s 5-goal greatness
The Mario Lemieux Fantasy Hockey Camp wrapped up Wednesday. Once again, Lemieux’s team won the four-team competition. That’s happened every year since the camp debuted in 2012. But that’s because Lemieux plays for all the teams at least once. The founder of the feast works overtime. The camp is an...
Mark Madden: Badly broken Penguins don’t deserve to make playoffs
The Pittsburgh Penguins are mired in a four-game losing streak. On the season, they have had losing streaks of seven, six and four (twice). The ongoing skid is a good bet to be extended when the Penguins play at Colorado on Wednesday and Dallas on Thursday. That’s 21 losses tied...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Free-agent signings nice, but Steelers still face uphill battle
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a solid free-agency period so far. By the team’s established standard, cornerback Patrick Peterson is an unusually big-name signing. He’s an upgrade over Cameron Sutton for 2023, anyway, and less expensive. The rest of the arrivals and departures are via the Steelers blueprint. Whether you’re...
Mark Madden: Hockey leagues should have banned fighting long ago
Hockey is a great game. The best, to my mind. But it’s got a way of maneuvering itself into some frustrating cul-de-sacs. The concept of fighting in retaliation for a clean bodycheck, for example. There’s never been less hitting in the NHL. It’s not far removed from men’s league no-check....
Mark Madden: No sugarcoating this Penguins mess
A Syracuse radio host got fired for being too negative about Syracuse University’s sports teams. His station’s boss said, “I’m an SU fan. I bleed orange.” It read like a story from The Onion or The Babylon Bee. Like satire. Analysis quashed by fanboy drivel. Then again, real news has...
Mark Madden: Drew O’Connor, Alex Nylander deserve to stay in lineup and other noteworthy Penguins items
An unimpressive 7-1-1 run is better than sparkling despite a loss. Enjoy this decidedly impressive run of refreshing Penguins notes. Go ahead, bite the Big Apple. • Wingers Drew O’Connor and Alex Nylander have been solid, should stay in the lineup and should have been in the lineup all season....
Mark Madden Hot Take: Toronto’s Kyle Dubas would be ideal GM for Penguins
If the Pittsburgh Penguins make the playoffs, they lose in the first round. It’s hard to imagine GM Ron Hextall keeping his job if that’s the case, especially given Hextall’s pronounced role in creating the team’s current state. It’s not all Hextall’s fault: The decision to age out with the...
North Hills School District, Mark Madden announce scholarship named for Peggy Ann Madden
Listeners of Mark Madden’s popular afternoon drive sports talk show on 105.9 The X likely know how much of an influence his late mother, Peggy Ann Madden, has had on his successful professional life. In addition to inspiring her son, Peggy Ann Madden also positively influenced hundreds and hundreds of...
Mark Madden: Breaking the bank for Lamar Jackson doesn’t make sense
It’s comical that every ex-player in the football media is throwing a fit because quarterback Lamar Jackson isn’t getting what he wants, namely fully guaranteed mega-bucks. NFL teams have plenty of legit reasons to not want Jackson at the price he’s looking for. • Jackson is just 26 but plays...
Mark Madden: Tristan Jarry sinking, Jason Zucker soaring during Penguins’ playoff push
Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime win over Columbus at PPG Paints Arena was a tale of two Penguins. It’s a story that will continue being told. Goaltender Tristan Jarry put the Penguins in position to lose. Winger Jason Zucker made sure they didn’t. Zucker’s story is more fun. Jarry’s narrative needs to...
Mark Madden: Steelers need to focus on need rather than flash with 1st-round pick
Talk surrounding what the Pittsburgh Steelers do in the upcoming NFL Draft is mostly about stories. It should be about what helps the Steelers most. Former Pitt receiver Jordan Addison wants to play with the Steelers to reconnect with quarterback Kenny Pickett. Addison ditched Pitt to get NIL loot at...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Basketball’s best ever? Give me Wilt Chamberlain
This past Thursday was the 61st anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in an NBA game. That game had a lot of quirks, not least Chamberlain hitting the century mark. It was a neutral-site game played in Hershey. That was the state of the NBA then: A game played...
Mark Madden: Despite little impact at trade deadline, expect Penguins to reach the playoffs
The NHL trade deadline has come and gone. But refreshing Penguins notes last forever. Just like the salary cap problems created by GM Ron Hextall. • The Penguins locker room can’t be happy with what Hextall has done (and mostly hasn’t) at the trade deadline. But this group won’t shrink....
Mark Madden: Jakob Chychrun would help Penguins reach the playoffs, but does that move make sense?
As Friday’s NHL trade deadline looms, the most concrete option for the Pittsburgh Penguins seems to be the potential acquisition of defenseman Jakob Chychrun from Arizona. The price, we’re told, is two first-round draft picks. Other teams reportedly kicked the tires on Chychrun, including Boston, Edmonton and Los Angeles. But...
Mark Madden: If Bob Nutting wanted to ‘find a way’ to sign Bryan Reynolds, it would be done
Spring training for the Pirates has only just started, and the horse manure is piling up as fast as the pitch clock will allow. The attendant stooge media and subservient blogging fanboys will have you believe this will be a good season. Depends on your definition of “good,” one supposes....
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Taylor Lewan is not Steelers’ answer at left tackle
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...
Mark Madden: Time for the Penguins to deal with reality, not long-shot fantasy
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...
Mark Madden: Penguins’ mangled defense needs a shakeup, but can management pull it off?
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...
Mark Madden: Don’t blame the core 3 or their cap hits for Penguins’ struggles
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....
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Blaming the offensive coordinator a relatively new pastime
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,...
Mark Madden: Keeping 1st-round pick smart for Penguins, who aren’t close enough to contend
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...
Mark Madden: Back to being a distraction, JuJu Smith-Schuster shows who he really is — an immature punk
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...
Mark Madden: ‘Just play’ strategy not working for cowardly Penguins
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...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Patrick Mahomes won’t pass Tom Brady as NFL’s GOAT
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...
Mark Madden: Super Bowl is about more than a football game
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,...
