U mad, bro: Penguins fans seething about Mike Sullivan, jawing about Tristan Jarry; Pirates fans fed up with Bob Nutting

We are in the midst of a short week coming off of Memorial Day. But there is no shortage of evil emails, tenacious tweets and pouting Facebook posts.

Pittsburgh fans are livid over another early Penguins ouster from the playoffs, the pathetic Pirates and the ridiculous Robert Morris hockey mess.

All that in this week’s “U mad, bro?”

We start with an email from Josh who is focusing his Penguins fan ire right at head coach Mike Sullivan.

“Sullivan should lose his job. Simply for NOT pulling Jarry after five goals.

I’m SOOOOO sad.”

Um, who wants to tell Josh that the Penguins actually lost Game 6 by a 5-3 final score? Hence, pulling Jarry after the fifth goal wouldn’t have made any difference.

Now, if he had said “fire Sullivan for not pulling Jarry after three goals,” then we could talk.

But, hey, as you can see, our friend Josh is grieving. I think “confusion” is a stage of grief somewhere between “depression” and “anger.”

And based on a lot of what I’m hearing so far, the Penguins are still in the “bargaining” stage and quite far away from “acceptance.”

Ron Hextall on Tristan Jarry: "He's going to come back better in September. ... We're confident Tristan is going to get better."

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) June 2, 2021

Ron Hextall on Crosby/Malkin/Letang: "We see a future with this core. ... I expect to have these guys here next year."

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) June 2, 2021

Ron Hextall: "I felt like we deserved to win the first round of the playoffs."

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) June 2, 2021

Check that. They are still in full-fledged denial.

This Twitter follower thinks Barry Trotz’s post-series poke at the Penguins’ top line is right. Even if some Penguins fans get annoyed having to admit the first line in Boston is better than Sidney Crosby’s line.

Maybe he’s saying it’s better to put your best guys on one line, like the Bruins and Islanders do. Perhaps he’s right.

— TWWITE (@TWWITE4) June 1, 2021

Hmmm. I don’t think he’s quite saying that first part. Look, I get your point about David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

If Trotz was saying that about his own team, wouldn’t he have Josh Bailey or Anthony Beauvillier up with Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle then? I still think it is about “fit” to some degree or another.

I just think the guy was telling the truth. Sidney Crosby is a great player. Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust are very good.

But the line as a whole is not greater than the sum of the parts for Boston’s top group.

With the Pirates mired in last place and on a pace for only 60 wins, Bruce wants those of us in the media to turn up the heat on Pirates owner Bob Nutting.

“Mr. Benz, when will the Pittsburgh sports media call out Nutting for what he has done to the Pirates? This storied franchise has been ruined by a filthy rich owner who obviously cares nothing about fielding a team, fans, the city, and the surrounding area can take pride in. At this point, the fans have little choice but to boycott PNC Park and turn off the TV.”

What a shame!”

When will we start calling out Bob Nutting? Isn’t that all we do?

Seriously? When is the last time someone wrote something good about Nutting or his plan for the Pirates?

Bruce, I think you are looking at things backward. It’s not that the media in Pittsburgh is refusing to call out Nutting. It’s that we are bored after having done it so often and feel like we are beating a dead horse.

Speaking of that dead horse, don’t be surprised when Nutting signs it and puts it in the bullpen.

Why not? Whenever they trade Rich Rodriguez, this team is going to need a closer.

Travis sent me this tweet about Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert and Penguins president David Morehouse trying to resolve the apocalyptic Robert Morris hockey situation.

“Pretty frustrating that the people working hardest to save the RMU hockey programs don’t even work for the school. But maybe some hope?”

Travis, with the offers being made to help Robert Morris’ hockey teams, there should be plenty of reason for hope.

But you can’t have hope without a willingness to try. And the RMU administrators have proven they don’t want to try.

They don’t even want the players to try. That’s why the school won’t endorse any of the fundraising efforts of the players or the community.

The only hope the RMU administration has is that we will eventually stop talking about it.

I’m not ready to accommodate that hope yet.

Let’s end with something different. Brendan tweets about the trials of being a Pittsburgh sports fan lately.

In very unique fashion.

Pain of being a Pittsburgh sports fan.... pic.twitter.com/7eiFSs3oa7

— Brendan (@bglinhart) May 27, 2021

Brendan, that personifies the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Or, in this case, three pictures are worth 3,000 words.

So please allow me to respond in kind.

pic.twitter.com/6eXnnoig6S

— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) June 2, 2021