Mark Madden Columns

Most (including me) had the Pittsburgh Penguins pegged as a non-playoff team angling for a top-five draft pick. But the Penguins have the fifth-most points in the Eastern Conference and two straight sellouts at PPG Paints Arena. That changes priorities. If the Penguins’ contention continues into 2026, the hockey media...

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a bad team. The host Los Angeles Chargers were badly banged up for Sunday’s prime-time clash, but the Steelers were flat, Aaron Rodgers performed at a New York Jets level of bumbling, big-money bozos T.J. Watt and DK Metcalf were invisible and the Steelers committed hara-kiri by...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are 9-4-2, top of the NHL. Sidney Crosby is the league’s leading goal-scorer at 11. The (unexpected) situation fairly begs for refreshing Penguins notes! • Crosby is also just two points off the NHL’s points lead. Even for him, he’s sizzling. If Crosby drags this rag-tag Penguins...

The Pittsburgh Steelers work in mysterious ways. This season, allegedly “all in” with a roster full of senior citizens, they did nothing at Tuesday’s trade deadline. AFC competitors like Baltimore, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and the Los Angeles Chargers all got better. The Steelers didn’t. If you want to lump in the...

In the wake of Los Angeles’ second straight World Series win, we’re being told the Dodgers “bought” victory. Well, of course they did. Their payroll was $350 million this season, $266 million in 2024. But Toronto tried its best to do the same. The Blue Jays paid their players $255...

When it got reported that the Steelers were already leaning toward bringing back Aaron Rodgers next season, I initially felt it was far too early to decide that. But then I considered that, except for the foolproof act of inheriting Ben Roethlisberger, coach Mike Tomlin has done nothing but mangle...

Gavin who? In just one month and 12 games, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ priorities have dramatically shifted. The goal is to build on their torrid 8-2-2 start and make the postseason for the first time since 2022, perhaps even win a playoff series for the first time since 2018. If you’re...

Ben Kindel has played nine games, Harrison Brunicke seven. Each of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ teenage rookies can play nine NHL games and be returned to his Major Junior team without burning a year of his contract. It’s decision-making time, especially with Kindel right at that deadline. Brunicke, 19, has struggled...

The Steelers’ defensive weaknesses are easily defined. That “historic” defense can’t do anything. The NFL’s highest-paid defense can’t tackle or cover. Can’t stop the run or pass. All of its big names are past their primes and fading. The Steelers don’t know how to fix that defense. Don’t know what...

Winning when it’s not expected and when you’re supposed to be rebuilding comes with an unusual set of challenges. You’ve got to keep trying to win, but development can’t be put on the backburner. That’s the circumstance the Penguins find themselves in after a whirlwind 6-2 start that sees them...

Eddie Johnston gets inducted into the Pittsburgh Penguins’ in-house Hall of Fame on Saturday night. Johnston is renowned for much during his tenure with the team, but his masterpiece was general managing the Penguins to finishing last overall in 1984, then drafting center Mario Lemieux. The tank job was fabulous,...

It’s early in the development of rookie forwards Ben Kindel and Ville Koivunen. Kindel is with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Koivunen with their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club. But here’s a cautionary tale: The Penguins picked Russian winger Aleksey Morozov in the first round of the 1995 NHL Draft (24th overall). Morozov played...

Let’s take a look at the reality of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. Not the myth. The myth holds that the defense is elite. It’s not. It’s predictable. As Cincinnati wideout Ja’Marr Chase said after he, the Bengals offense and 40-year-old quarterback Joe Flacco dropped 33 points on the Steelers on...

Something refreshing happened within the context of MLB’s current zeitgeist Monday night: A starting pitcher threw eight innings. No, it’s not a complete game. And the length of Blake Snell’s stay on the mound for Los Angeles was made more palatable because he only threw 103 pitches, less than usual...

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin fairly berated Cleveland GM Andrew Berry for trading quarterback Joe Flacco to AFC North rival Cincinnati: “It doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your (Week 1 starter) to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area....

Last season, Penn State football was 13-3 and made the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. This year, Penn State was ranked No. 2 in the country to start the season. But franchise quarterback Drew Allar fell apart and is now out for the season. Penn State is 3-3 after...

Cam Skattebo had a huge game for the New York Giants on Thursday: The rookie running back carried 19 times for 98 yards and three touchdowns. He’s a human bowling ball. The cry emanated immediately from Yinzer Nation and a fair hunk of the attendant stooge media: “THE STEELERS SHOULD...

The Pittsburgh Steelers were founded in 1933. Right now, they’re using an approach fit for 1933. Coach Mike Tomlin has become enamored with deploying, for all intents and purposes, seven offensive linemen. What’s next, the single wing? Spencer Anderson serves as an extra tackle. He played 19 snaps in the...

Some strange things happened Tuesday night when the Pittsburgh Penguins opened their season at Madison Square Garden with a 3-0 win against the New York Rangers. For example, Erik Karlsson played a responsible, mistake-free game. (Except for one gratuitous turnover.) That’s been a rarity during his Penguins tenure, now entering...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are going to be OK. Just not this year. They’re not a playoff team, even though the Eastern Conference looks terrible. But they have a potential star defenseman in Harrison Brunicke. He’s 19. They have a potential star goalie in 21-year-old Sergei Murashov. (He’s with the Penguins’ affiliate...

It appears that Harrison Brunicke will start the season with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He should. Brunicke is just 19, but he’s been the Penguins’ best defenseman in the preseason and scored a nifty goal in their final exhibition game, a 5-4 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday at...

Theresa Kail-Smith is a member of City Council. She wants City Council to have a discussion with Bob Nutting re: what has to be done to make the Pirates a winning team? Kail-Smith isn’t a baseball person. But she couldn’t have a worse plan than Pirates GM Ben Cherington. This...

High school football used to be a big deal in Western Pennsylvania. Not just in selected communities, but everywhere. Now it’s come down to negotiated surrender. Baldwin and Fox Chapel high schools have teams so bad that they’ve contacted opponents about playing shorter games: eight-minute quarters instead of 12 minutes,...

Marc-Andre Fleury’s curtain call Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena was hokey, carny and rooted in a money grab via selling out an exhibition game at inflated prices. But it was incredibly memorable and worthwhile. Tear-jerking, heart-warming, the whole schmear. Absolutely flawless. I loved it. That says something about the...

Are the Pittsburgh Penguins truly rebuilding? Or are they splitting the difference between rebuilding and reaping nostalgia created by the core three of Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin indulging the unbreakable bond of eternal brotherhood? (It’s a truly compelling story. It’s also one reason the Penguins are in...