Mark Madden stories, Page 39

If big-time sports aren’t careful, the pandemic may inadvertently steer them into giving the people what they want. Hockey’s expanded playoff worked. Baseball’s expanded playoff is working. Baseball is slated to use the same format in 2021. Don’t be shocked if hockey sticks with a 24-team tournament. The postseason is...

The postponement of the Steelers game at Tennessee is much ado about nothing. The NFL wasn’t as ready as it should have been. Nor was MLB when covid hit the Miami Marlins. The pandemic provides an unprecedented situation. Until an outbreak happens, you don’t know how you’ll react. When it...

At Monday’s media session, coach Mike Tomlin said the Steelers were told to proceed as if Sunday’s game at Tennessee will be played despite the Titans’ covid outbreak. It may yet take place. But it will be played Monday or Tuesday, not Sunday. Further postponement via juggling bye weeks seems...

The Steelers and their fans have to be satisfied with 3-0. They can’t be better. No team has ever been 4-0 after three games. But it’s tough to feel like the Steelers have accomplished much. The Steelers’ three foes to date have a combined mark of 0-9. The New York...

When Jim Rutherford makes a trade, the analysis comes thick and fast. Occasionally, some of it is even worthwhile. Rutherford has made 51 trades since becoming Penguins general manager in June 2014. How many of those deals made legit impact? His first certainly did, namely the acquisition of gritty Patric...

If you’re looking for deep meaning to the trade that sent winger Patric Hornqvist to Florida and took the best part of two days to complete, let me know if you find it. It’s being overanalyzed like crazy because of thirst for clicks. But in the ‘70s or ‘80s, it...

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ offseason got frisky quick with the acquisition of winger Kasperi Kapanen from Toronto, the re-signing of forward Jared McCann (who would have been a restricted free agent) and the reported (but as yet unconfirmed) trade of Patric Hornqvist to Florida. Goaltender Matt Murray is on the trade...

This year’s exhibition games got canceled for most NFL teams. But not the Steelers. They had two. Coach Mike Tomlin should send the NFL schedule-maker a thank-you note. The New York Giants and Denver provided the Steelers subpar foes with inexperienced quarterbacks, perfect practice fodder for Weeks 1 and 2....

Jared McCann didn’t score in his last 25 games this season. His last goal was Jan. 14, and the meter still is running. McCann was scratched for the third game of the Penguins’ four-game loss to Montreal in the Stanley Cup playoffs’ prelim round. Six million bucks doesn’t buy what...

You can’t attend the Pittsburgh Steelers’ home opener Sunday, but you can approximate the same boozy electricity by reading these ice-cold refreshing Steelers notes. The jig is up, the news is out… • With David DeCastro and Stefen Wisniewski gimpy, rookie Kevin Dotson likely gets the start at right guard...

The Pittsburgh Steelers defense in 1976 is regarded by some as the NFL’s greatest ever and is among the top five by acclamation. The current Steelers defense has a chance to approach those lofty heights. It won’t allow just 28 points over its last nine games or post five shutouts...

James Conner is a great story. Pitt guy. Cancer survivor. We’ve heard the narrative umpteen times, and it is indeed inspirational. Conner even wrote a book. But the Steelers must move on from Conner as their No. 1 running back. Conner left Monday’s game at the New York Giants in...

If a high school football game is played in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound? Of course it does: It’s the noise of parents complaining. You’re never going to shut them up. But WPIAL football parents have a legit gripe, one that transcends, “My Johnny...

In Pittsburgh, sports fans and the attendant media aren’t brilliant at much. But overrating and overestimating have proven to be specialties. The Penguins had a “great” pre-playoffs camp, whatever that means. They were “flying out there,” especially Evgeni Malkin. That provided pretext for a long playoff run. Actual evidence like...

With the Steelers season set to begin Monday, egregiously optimistic predictions ricochet around the football media. Ben Roethlisberger is back. The defense will be even better. A deep and vertical receiving corps will maximize the red zone. Baltimore and Lamar Jackson will backslide. Cleveland and Cincinnati will stink again. This...

For the Pittsburgh Steelers, the final cuts usually offer few surprises. They could have picked the roster before training camp. You could have picked the roster before training camp. But this year, the Steelers made some wise moves at their depth chart’s fringes. The No. 3 quarterback rarely comes into...

It’s not imminent. There are lots of moving parts. Chances seem less than 50-50. But goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury could return to the Penguins. It’s possible. You may recall Allan Walsh, Fleury’s agent, recently tweeting an altered photo that showed Fleury stabbed in the back by a sword stamped “DeBoer.” As...

There’s a lot to like about the New York Islanders. The Islanders have Philadelphia on the brink of elimination, leading the Flyers three games to two in their second-round series. Both Flyers victories came in overtime, and after the Islanders had rallied from deficits of three and two goals, respectively....

Former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum says Ben Roethlisberger might be the fourth-best quarterback in the AFC North. “I would rather see the ball in the hands of Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield or even Joe Burrow,” Tannenbaum said on ESPN. While he was the New York Jets GM, Tannenbaum drafted...

The NBA’s players should have left the bubble and canceled the rest of the league’s playoffs. By doing that, the players would cost the league, its franchise owners and its television partners millions in revenue. The men affected have real power and could influence legit change. Or they could lock...

The Penguins’ reacquisition of winger Kasperi Kapanen is easy to evaluate. Just not right now. If GM Jim Rutherford is correct about the Penguins’ window to win still being open, and the Penguins make next season’s playoffs and win a round or two, it’s a good trade. Even if Kapanen...

As this unique version of the Stanley Cup playoffs enters the second round, it’s sobering to realize when it is concluded, we might not see the NHL for a long time. That means we won’t see the Penguins play again for an extended period. Will Sidney Crosby lose a year...

The NHL didn’t allow any media into its two bubbles except those working for its member franchises and for NHL.com. The Professional Hockey Writers Association protested. I get that. But I also understand what the NHL did. The league wanted to keep the bubble tight and under its control. There...

Taylor Twellman made 30 appearances for the U.S. men’s national soccer team and now analyzes that sport for ESPN. But he might understand baseball better than soccer. “(Baseball) is exhausting and so self-righteous, it drives young fans away,” he said. That’s right on the money, and it’s what Twellman tweeted...

The last two Stanley Cup winners trail in their first-round playoff series. The team that won the Cup in the two seasons before is long since eliminated. Given the four-month break because of covid, then starting the postseason cold after a brief training camp, there seems an element of randomness...