Mark Madden stories, Page 14

As the Pittsburgh Penguins prepare to open the NHL season with a matchup between the league’s longtime face and the league’s presumed new face, it’s hard to say how the Penguins will do. Erik Karlsson’s arrival should see them make the playoffs. The Penguins could finish as high as second...

The Pittsburgh Penguins appear to be ready for the season. At 36, Sidney Crosby has become the crazy old man who fights in an exhibition game. (See Trottier, Bryan.) The Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 7-4, on Friday in their final preseason contest. There will be lots of games like...

Perhaps the weakest argument against Mike Tomlin’s removal as Pittsburgh Steelers coach is the often preached, “He’d have another job within five minutes!” This is best said at a frenetic pace and via rapidly rising octaves. The squeakier, the better. It’s probably true. So what? Tomlin’s employability beyond Pittsburgh doesn’t...

The Mike Tomlin era is long since over. We’re in the middle of the Mike Tomlin error. Tomlin’s reputation is propped up by his overrated streak of no losing seasons. Friendly media, mostly national, use that to obscure Tomlin having no playoff wins in six years and just three in...

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ problems are many, and they are great. Most of you blame offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Mike Tomlin’s reputation has one ally remaining, namely widespread willful ignorance. Tomlin is a fraud. How many more flat starts do you need to witness? How many more years without a playoff...

NBA star Damian Lillard wanted to be traded from Portland to Miami. He instead got dealt to Milwaukee. Lillard handled it fine. But the outrage on his behalf was palpable. To quote ex-NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III, “That’s dirty work by Portland.” How, exactly, is that “dirty work?” Lillard is...

The Chicago Blackhawks visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 10, NHL’s opening night. Rookie mega-phenom Connor Bedard vs. Sidney Crosby, the face of the league for almost two decades. It’s a game primed for monster hype, as much as could be mustered without somebody dating Taylor Swift. It’s nationally televised...

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play will be discussed ad nauseam all season. It will either produce up to its talent level and be in the NHL’s top five, or it will underachieve and cause the team to do the same. These Penguins will be that dependent on the power play....

In today’s culture, we skip right to the ending before the story plays out. To that end, let’s draw a few hasty conclusions in the wake of the Steelers’ narrow 23-18 victory at Las Vegas: • No game will be easy for the Steelers. That goes for Sunday’s trip to...

Kenny Pickett’s arm is all over the place. He too often looks rattled. The swag and moxie of the preseason are gone. Pickett must be fixed. There’s no time like the present. The Las Vegas Raiders are allowing an 81.6% completion rate to opposing passers after two games. Seventy-one throws,...

Erik Karlsson isn’t 100% unique. Not quite a unicorn. Pittsburgh hockey fans have seen one like him before. It’s just been a while. (Hint: He wore No. 77.) Since joining the Penguins via trade with San Jose, Karlsson has been conversationally lumped in with Kris Letang. Both are called offensive...

The Pittsburgh Steelers have no accountability. We saw that Monday night in a big way. Gunner Olszewski committed one of the dumbest plays ever. He fielded a kickoff at the 9-yard line near the sideline midway through the first quarter, inexplicably toe-tapping to momentarily stay in bounds. Like he was...

Offensive coordinator Matt Canada is Pittsburgh’s Great Satan as per “Fire Canada” chants at Acrisure Stadium Monday after a botched third-and-1 play. Quarterback Kenny Pickett ran right out of the shotgun and went down lamely, losing 3 yards. Maybe that was the play call: “Shotgun, run right, go down lamely....

The Pittsburgh Steelers need to beat Cleveland on Monday night. Otherwise, the season figures to take on a familiar timeline: • Preseason: “This team could go to the Super Bowl!” • After a couple losses: “We can still win the division.” • After a couple more losses: “We can still...

It doesn’t look good for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night at Acrisure Stadium against Cleveland. The Browns have Nick Chubb, the NFL’s best running back. The Steelers don’t have Cameron Heyward, their best defensive lineman. The Browns have perhaps the best trio of cornerbacks in football (led by Denzel...

Fire Matt Canada. That’s the most widely held solution to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ problems. It’s not an unreasonable opinion. Canada never should have been promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator. But Canada was already in the building and works cheap. (Like all Steelers assistants, at least in comparison to...

Cam Heyward has tried to shoehorn “Big Ken” as a nickname for Kenny Pickett. Like Big Ben. Not yet. More like Bubby Pickett. Pickett is a first-round pick, a quarterback of some promise. But after Sunday’s home disaster vs. San Francisco, let’s shelve the superlatives for “Big Ken” till he...

In my prior missive, I predicted the Pittsburgh Steelers to go 9-8 and miss the playoffs. Now, by way of formulaic preseason drivel, here are the rest of my NFL prognostications: AFC East winner: Buffalo. AFC West winner: Kansas City. AFC North winner: Cincinnati. AFC South winner: Jacksonville. AFC wild...

This is a pretty good Pittsburgh Steelers team. Improved from last year. It has a first-round draft pick at quarterback who looks ready to break through. It has a myriad of offensive weapons: no proven superstar, but a receiver capable of big plays and a first-round running back who also...

As the Pittsburgh Penguins piece together their new broadcast teams, they’re likely debating whether to cling to nostalgia or move forward. A trend toward the latter has already started with the dismissal of Bob Errey from TV color commentary. For years, the Penguins’ three main analysts have been from their...

College football is stupid. We got reminded of that this past weekend when powerhouses played pushovers to produce scores like 81-7, 73-0, 73-7, 66-14 and 56-3. Even Pitt got to pummel some sacrificial lamb. (Anybody know where Wofford is located? Without using Google.) These mismatches are the progeny of college...

The Champions Hockey League is a season-long tournament involving elite teams in Europe. The CHL is instituting some interesting rule changes: • Minor penalties serve the full two minutes, even if a power-play goal is scored. • If a goal is scored during a delayed penalty, the penalty still is...

The notion that the Kendrick Green trade was some revolutionary display of general managing by the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Omar Khan is a bit silly, just like so much about the team’s hype-clogged preseason. Khan traded a marginal asset for another marginal asset: Green to Houston for a sixth-round pick. The...

When I worked for ESPN Radio, I did a TV hit for the Worldwide Leader before the Steelers-New England AFC championship game in 2002 (2001 season). A Boston-area radio host preceded me and gave several noisy reasons why the Patriots would win. I responded by saying, basically, “Yeah, he’s probably...

Hype is fun, even when it’s ridiculous. Especially when it’s ridiculous. On Saturday, a local radio host said Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett has many of the same attributes as Michael Jordan and Sidney Crosby. Does he really believe that? Hope not. But it’s amusing regardless. The Steelers have had...