U mad, bro? Penguins fans salty, sarcastic, sad

Penguins fans are angry, resigned and sarcastic. What else would you expect in this week’s “U mad, bro?”

A Twitter follower named @EbbyCalLaLoosh chimed in on a discussion I was having about what the Penguins should plan to do with their roster this offseason.

“I’ll go ahead and guess 97% of Penguins Twitter says fire Mike Sullivan and trade everyone but Crosby … and somehow retroactively get (Marc-Andre) Fleury back from Vegas. There’s a take-backsies thing in the CBA right?”

Ebby, you forgot “talking Duper and Billy G. out of retirement.”

Some other folks had a few funny suggestions as well, including “putting Mario back on the power play” and complaining that “this never would’ve happened if Cowher was still here.”

Obviously, I agree with both of those responses.

Terry tweeted back to me after I stated that watching the Penguins in the playoffs was similar to viewing the Steelers defense at the end of the Dick LeBeau era.

Troy can’t freelance like he used to.

— Terry Dunbar (@tmdunbar) April 17, 2019

Terry, not to be a stickler, but I think you misspelled “Malkin.”

Randy sent an email. Technically, he sent about 50. But this is a portion.

Timmy,

What are your thoughts now? (General Manager Jim) Rutherford killed this team.

They do not just look bad, they are bad.

All of those folks that were preaching no panic are delusional morons.

Is that you?

Um, yes it is.

Randy,

Um, yes, you are right. I did pick the Penguins to beat the Islanders. As did many other delusional morons in the city — and outside of Pittsburgh, too.

I don’t think it was delusional to pick a 100-point team with two Stanley Cup titles over the last three years to beat a 103-point team with no Cup titles since 1983.

It was just wrong.

Regarding your criticism of Rutherford — again — it was a 100-point team. That’s hardly “killing it.”

But, you are right in saying the roster is lacking the speed and two-way players he had once assembled to get this club to those championships.

It also is lacking the potential infusion of youth that could’ve been accelerated via the draft picks that were packaged to acquire Derick Brassard — and then to trade away Brassard — less than 12 months later.

Rutherford needs a huge offseason to get this club back in contention again, especially if he is trying to get proper return for top-of-the-deck players such as Kris Letang, Patric Hornqvist or Phil Kessel.

If he keeps all those guys, he better find cheap, young, up-and-coming supplements elsewhere.

Because they ain’t in Wilkes-Barre.

On Tuesday, Ben Roethlisberger spoke for the first time since he had been assailed by ex-teammates and analysts for his alleged lack of leadership. So I wrote about what he had to say to Steelers.com.

Curtis doesn’t seem to think that was necessary.

Why should he say or need to say anything. I’m tired of all this media and social media bs.I think he just wants to get back to winning football games and trying to win another Super Bowl before his career is over.Good for him to not respond to all of this ridiculous criticism.

— Curtis Noel (@cjnoel61) April 17, 2019

Well, Curtis, he did speak. Hence, the column. That’s why I wrote about what he had to say.

Granted, it wasn’t much. And, to your point, that’s clearly a calculated move on Roethlisberger’s part.

But it’s newsworthy that the quarterback finally addressed how he wants the team to move forward with Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown off the roster.

And I maintain my stance in the column. It would behoove Roethlisberger to at least say something in defense of the organization, even if he doesn’t see the need to defend himself.

The logo took a lot of heat, too. That front office has stood by Roethlisberger through much worse since he entered the league. If he wants to show a commitment to the club, he should at least offer some commentary in that regard, if not in direct response to the personal attacks he absorbed.

Johnny is onboard with the mock draft I found that has the Steelers selecting Miles Sanders in the third round.

Would love Sanders to the Steelers.

— Johnny Jackson (@JohnnyJackson66) April 15, 2019

Me too, Johnny. Think about a Steelers backfield of Miles Sanders and James Conner.

I mean, on the field, it’d be pretty good. But on Twitter, it would be even better.

Nothing will make me smile more than watching Steelers-based Penn State and Pitt fans cannibalizing themselves over which back should start.

The Pitt-Penn State rivalry goes away again on the field after this year. We need this to happen so it can manifest online.