Mark Madden on 'superficial' Steelers, 'cowardly' Pitt, 'creep' Vince McMahon
This week’s “Madden Monday” podcast comes at you a day later than normal because of the Memorial Day weekend.
But that just gives us more content to unearth.
We start with Mark’s column over the weekend. It examines the Steelers’ locker room culture. Mark believes it has become too superficial.
Two reasons why? He points at JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner. Mark wonders about their level of sincerity toward winning vs. self-promotion. And he started to express some concerns about Minkah Fitzpatrick, as well.
Case in point: Mark thinks it’s silly that Fitzpatrick got so bent out of shape over CBS’ Pete Prisco leaving him off of his NFL Top 100 players list.
“For sure. He was a problem in Miami. Why wouldn’t he be a problem here?” Madden asks. “That Prisco thing? He was over-the-top, prissy mad about it. Who cares what Pete Prisco thinks?”
Then we play a little game of over-under with some Steelers stats for Smith-Schuster, Conner and Ben Roethlisberger.
Not to give too much away, but Mark is going under. A lot.
On the hockey front, Mark and I spend some time on the plans to reboot the NHL. I’m of the opinion that the league is super-serving some of the “Original Six” teams that had bad years. For instance, I see no need to squish the New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens into the playoffs as part of a 24-team field.
Mark seems to see that as more of a coincidence than anything. We discuss.
I also bring up Pitt basketball’s decision to schedule Morgan State instead of Duquesne.
“Jeff Capel is a stinking coward. Heather Lyke is a stinking coward,” Madden says. “It’s one thing to not play Duquesne because you think they are beneath you. But Duquesne isn’t beneath Pitt, currently. And Morgan State is beneath Duquesne. They are yellow cowards and they are liars, too. Pitt Athletics has zero integrity whatsoever.”
Then we get into the “Dark Side of the Ring” documentary about Owen Hart. Mark rips Vince McMahon for how he handled that situation, calling McMahon a “creep.”
Twice.
All that plus conversation about MLB’s return, Gov. Tom Wolf and the TV show “Ozark.”
LISTEN: Mark Madden, Tim Benz break down Steelers, NHL, Pitt, WWE
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