Mark Madden stories, Page 21

Refreshing sports notes: As delicate and delicious as a field-goal attempt pinging off the goal post, then dropping in for three points. Matthew Wright is a trick-shot artist. • The Steelers defeated two lousy teams by narrow scores, nearly blowing the game in the second half both times. The Steelers...

Let’s finally bury the romantic notion that U.S. men’s soccer will ever be anything more than it was at this year’s World Cup. It won’t be. The U.S. team did exactly like expected. It scored just two goals in three games to narrowly navigate its way through a weak group...

Pat Maroon is maybe five pounds overweight. He’s a professional hockey player. How fat could he be? But the Tampa Bay winger nonetheless became a martyr for the overweight via an incident that took petty and self-righteous to a whole new level. Jack Edwards does play-by-play for Boston Bruins games...

Sidney Crosby doesn’t split the defense as often as he used to. If you’re looking for things the Pittsburgh Penguins captain doesn’t do at 35, that’s it. Everything else is business as usual. Crosby has maintained his skills and style at the same level he has kept up his conditioning....

The Penguins had won five straight going into Saturday’s home game vs. Toronto. They reminded us that they could still be a good team. Then, in that game, they reminded us that they could be a bad team. They lost handily, 4-1. A mangled line change gifted Toronto’s Mitch Marner...

The United States tied England in World Cup group play 0-0. The usual American outrage immediately began to flow. It mostly revolves around not enough goals and a game concluding in a tie. “Why would I watch a game that ends 0-0?” The easy answer: don’t. Soccer is popular far...

The Pittsburgh Steelers are terrible. As bad as their 3-7 record. But the Steelers myth continues. The horse manure gets laid on thick. This guy is playing well. That guy is playing well. T.J. Watt is a menace. Kenny Pickett is improving. Mike Tomlin is a Hall of Fame coach....

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-7. It’s hard to remember when they were this far out of the playoff race this quickly. Maybe 2003, when the Steelers started 2-6 and finished 6-10. They lost their first four games in 2013 but rallied to go 8-8 and miss a wild card by...

The diversion continues, and effectively so. The Pittsburgh Steelers offense collapsed in the second half vs. the visiting Cincinnati Bengals. “They do the same plays over and over,” Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt said. The offense got just 52 yards and one first down in the second half till a garbage-time...

Cristiano Ronaldo is soccer’s version of Antonio Brown. A lot better, admittedly, and slightly less crazy. But no less narcissistic. On the eve of the World Cup, Ronaldo has done interviews lambasting his club, Manchester United, and those who would dare be critical of him. United have found success without...

Let’s celebrate the recent snowfall with refreshing sports notes. No two are identical! • Sidney Crosby played one of the worst games of his career in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 5-2 home loss to Toronto on Tuesday. He was on the ice for all five Maple Leafs goals. But Crosby regrouped...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in trouble. It’s not too soon to say that. In fact, it may get late early. Whatever can go wrong, is. Their recent seven-game losing streak is the headliner. But the devil is in the Penguins’ details, and the New Jersey Devils are 13-3. They didn’t...

When Kenny Pickett became the Pittsburgh Steelers’ No. 1 quarterback as of the second half of the Week 4 loss to the visiting New York Jets, it felt permanent. Pickett’s the guy, his time is now, this is the beginning, you deal with hiccups, but Pickett stays in. But now,...

The Pirates no sooner got done losing 100 games than their attendant stooge media started to hype impending improvement for 2023. The initial trigger: Acquiring first baseman/DH Ji-Man Choi from Tampa Bay. One blogger said that Choi could mean three additional wins for the Pirates. So, they would lose 97...

The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a bye week. New Orleans is coming off a short week. The Steelers are 2-6. The Saints are approximately just as rotten at 3-6. The host Steelers are nonetheless 1½-point underdogs. There isn’t a lot of faith in the Steelers. But if the Steelers...

In the NFL’s defensive rankings, the Pittsburgh Steelers stand fourth from the bottom in yards and 10th from the bottom in points. Apparently, $108 million doesn’t buy what it used to. It’s the highest-paid defense in football but nowhere near the best. The Steelers rank 21st in time of possession....

Here’s betting the Pittsburgh Penguins navigate a way out of their seven-game losing streak and reach the NHL playoffs for a 17th straight season. Here’s admitting I don’t see another path besides just playing better. Who the Penguins are and what they do is all but set in stone. They...

If, while ruminating during the bye week, you wonder why the Pittsburgh Steelers are 2-6, you shouldn’t. There’s a lengthy list of undeniable reasons: • They spent $108 million on a defense that stinks. • They gave T.J. Watt $80 million guaranteed, then trusted him to stay healthy. • They...

If the Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have a good, hard think about doing what’s needed instead of what they prefer, they could be buried by Thanksgiving. No playoffs for the first time since 2006. The Penguins are too old, not fast enough and not good enough to play a high-octane blitzkrieg...

Receiver Chase Claypool was an underachieving ham-and-egger with a borderline attitude problem. No sentiment should be wasted on Claypool’s departure. Nor should anyone wonder about what might have been. Trading Claypool to Chicago subtracts a weapon from rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett. The receiving corps is an injury away from absolute...

Do you believe the Pittsburgh Steelers stink? Are you convinced yet? Philadelphia subbed out a lot of starters in the fourth quarter. The Eagles’ center, Jason Kelce, wore a Batman mask on the sideline. The Steelers got beat bad and treated like a joke. Rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett isn’t improving....

T.J. Watt practiced this past week. Watt said he was “trending” toward playing at Philadelphia. Percentages of likelihood were mooted. False reports were posted. Optimism soared. But Watt won’t play. Watt probably wasn’t ever going to. It was just chatter, a hope spot designed to temporarily buoy the locker room...

I rarely watch the Pirates. Too depressing. Worse than “Dear Evan Hansen” even. But when playoff baseball starts, I watch. I miss the single-elimination wild-card games. They provided Game 7 excitement on the postseason’s first night. But nobody is ever happy about the format of the MLB playoffs. When three...

Kenny Pickett has thrown seven interceptions in 12-plus quarters of play. Besides picks, just about all of Pickett’s stats rank near the NFL’s bottom. Pickett did more than any Pittsburgh Steeler to lose Sunday’s game at Miami, throwing interceptions to end potential game-winning drives on the team’s last two possessions....

Ben Roethlisberger now, at 40, would have won at Miami this past Sunday. Had Mitch Trubisky played like he did at home against Tampa Bay the prior Sunday, he would have also won at Miami. Kenny Pickett started, lost, and was a big part of losing. That’s OK. He’s a...