Mark Madden Columns category, Page 42

I watched the season premiere of VICE’s “Dark Side of the Ring” pro wrestling series Tuesday. There was a scene from WWE TV where Chris Benoit was weeping hysterically over the death of Eddie Guerrero. I started crying, too. Benoit was the program’s subject. It was difficult to watch. Guerrero...

Thirty-one years later, it still stings. The man himself might not feel it. His fans do. I do. Accolades came thick and fast during Mario Lemieux’s storied career. But to this day, the one that got away still angers. In 1988-89, Lemieux had 85 goals and 199 points. He won...

Lots of TV’s talking heads are calling Tampa Bay the favorite to win the NFC. Tampa Bay’s odds to do so went from 20-1 to 13-2 at Las Vegas’ Westgate sports book. Only defending conference champ San Francisco has a lower number at 9-2. Tampa Bay’s odds of winning the...

If you had any doubt the NFL is God’s chosen league, consider it’s the only one of America’s big-time sports loops to not have its timeline significantly impacted by covid-19. (Yet.) But, as Liverpool FC supporters know, this is not a just and fair God. So, let me present refreshing...

I’m not as worried about no sports as I am about no toilet paper. You can’t even get it on Amazon. You’d think the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. We might need rationing. I got nine rolls. May God have mercy on my soul. Or, if I have to use paper...

Kris Letang took an ill-advised penalty at New Jersey on Tuesday, so the knives are out. Letang’s petulant slash put the Penguins down by two men for 102 seconds. The Penguins were protecting a 2-1 third-period lead. Letang inadvertently fueled the game’s turning point. The Penguins killed the five-on-three and...

It’s not time to panic, mainly because panic never helps. But the Penguins are doing things bad teams do. Consider Sunday’s 6-2 home loss to Carolina: • After losing 5-2 at home to Washington on Saturday, Evgeni Malkin lectured his teammates (and himself) for all that went wrong. Against Carolina,...

The Penguins have been rotating goalies for a month, affecting a competition of sorts between Tristan Jarry and Matt Murray. No date is set for that competition’s conclusion. A decision must be made by the playoffs, likely shortly before. But, right now, Jarry is the clear-cut winner. Jarry’s goals-against average...

The only depressing thing about this edition of refreshing hockey notes is the NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford didn’t trade all our bad players for all their good players. Twitter’s got to be upset. • But Rutherford did get winger Patrick Marleau...

There are many reasons the NFL Players Association should turn down the owners’ CBA proposal. Not least among them: • It adds a 17th game, probably starting in 2022. Football is the most physically damaging of sports. The players don’t need more risk. The NFL doesn’t need to play more...

I’m not necessarily a big Mike Tomlin fan. Given the resources at hand, Tomlin’s Pittsburgh Steelers teams mostly have underachieved over the past decade. I also think whoever replaced Tomlin wouldn’t be as good or do as well. But that’s another debate for another time. What Tomlin did when he...

Myles Garrett is lying. But very few will say that, at least not directly. As a result, Garrett’s lie is, by default, becoming the truth. Entire sports-talk TV segments are built around “what if.” As in, “what if Mason Rudolph did call Myles Garrett the n-word?” As George Costanza said,...

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred gave Houston’s players immunity from punishment in return for cooperation in the sign-stealing investigation. That deal needs to be revisited, then reneged upon. Astros players from that 2017 world championship team need to be suspended for a year. (That includes those now with other teams.) If...

Jason Zucker seems a good fit for the Penguins, and for Sidney Crosby’s line. His speed and skill generate odd-man breaks. He’s adept at attacking off the rush. Zucker isn’t having a banner season (14 goals in 46 games) but he has topped 20 goals four times since 2014-15, peaking...

Penguins defenseman John Marino wore a full face shield to play hockey for his three seasons at Harvard. This season, he turned pro and immediately went to the NHL, hockey’s most dangerous level. Marino took the full face shield off, replacing it with a visor. That brings us to the...

NHL fans are excited by a new generation of superstars. The “M” guys: Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Mitch Marner. Throw in Jack Eichel, Leon Draisaitl and David Pastrnak. These players are all over the statistics: Five are among the NHL’s top 10 in points. They rank second...

Patrick Mahomes put 21 fourth-quarter points on the board to rally Kansas City from a 20-10 deficit and win the Super Bowl. He was a worthy MVP. He also threw two interceptions and fumbled twice. Mahomes’ performance was clutch. But besides the final 15 minutes, it was hardly vintage. That...

“Put your little hand in mine. There ain’t no hill or mountain we can’t climb.”… as long as we have refreshing sports notes! Too early for flapjacks? • Troy Polamalu was absolutely worthy of first-ballot induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is arguably the best safety ever,...

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ biggest obstacle in the Eastern half of the Stanley Cup playoffs figures to be Washington, and vice versa. Same as it ever was. Last year’s first-round hiccup vs. the New York Islanders was disappointing. But this year’s Penguins have found structure and system and would be legit...

The Pirates got a couple of decent prospects from Arizona in exchange for outfielder Starling Marte. At 31, Marte wasn’t going to fetch much more, let alone Diamondbacks catching prospect Daulton Varsho. (Pirates fans hoped but to no avail.) The prospects acquired are both 19: High-ceiling, which translates to long-term,...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are as fast as they were in their Stanley Cup-winning years of 2016 and ’17. GM Jim Rutherford saw to that by trading for Jared McCann and John Marino, signing Brandon Tanev and promoting Teddy Blueger from the minors. That was by design. But the Penguins have...

One voter left former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter off his Hall of Fame ballot. It kept Jeter from being the second unanimous choice in the institution’s history. New York is ablaze with outrage. New York should be grateful. The manufactured outrage gives the city a platform to burnish...