THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
by Aubrey Bruce, For New Pittsburgh Courier
I swear to all of you folks…my original intent for this column was to profile and document the first 2022 preseason game played on Aug. 13 between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks. The Steelers won, 32-25. I must give kudos to all three “active” quarterbacks of the Black and Gold. Choosing a starting QB for this 2022 season may be more difficult than previously anticipated. The Steeler nation may be in for a pleasant surprise this upcoming season.
However, please bear with me because my conscience has mandated that I switch gears. During my youth, I idolized athletes from Major League Baseball, professional football, and pro basketball. It didn’t matter to me that Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Sandy Koufax, or Don Drysdale was White or Black. I looked up to them because they were great performers. I had their posters on my bedroom wall along with photos of Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson, Bobby Bonds, Bob Gibson, Willie Mays, and a lot more. The NBA likenesses of Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Rick Barry, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson covered the wall directly above my window. As far as the NFL was concerned, “Bullet” Bob Hayes, Mel Renfro, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Greene, Homer Jones and Lance Alworth all had the “dagger swagger” that almost all young men desired. There were many young White men who admired those same players as well: there were no color barriers to greatness. We were young aficionados of the games. But it was almost always the biased and perverted opinions of a few media representatives of the White media that held the “carrot of divisiveness” in their socially calloused hands, manipulating and sculpturing the psyches of many young and impressionable fans.
MARK MADDEN
Now hear this. In over four decades I have very seldom criticized other sportswriters. This column will focus on one of the ones that I have taken to the woodshed on more than one occasion; Mark Madden.
On Jan. 2, 2019, Madden’s story posted on triblive.com read: “Tomlin should be fired. It won’t happen. But the Steelers need to change head coaches. They need to fire Mike Tomlin. It’s taken a lot for me to propose that. Replacing Tomlin guarantees nothing, and it could go bad. The Steelers could waste what’s left of Ben Roethlisberger. But the Steelers have three playoff wins in seven seasons. They just went from 7-2-1 to missing the postseason via epic fail. Tomlin has been wasting Roethlisberger for years.”
This is a perfect example of how a few biased and ignorant members of the media can manipulate a naïve and ignorant fan base. In 2019 Ben Roethlisberger was already finished. There was nothing left to waste.
Madden just doesn’t stop there by directing his trailer park-based rhetorical rants at Mike Tomlin and the NFL; he also spews his nonsensical and ethnically insensitive views about the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In March of 2018 Madden’s column posted online promoted another false statement as far as I’m concerned: “Ralph Kiner is greatest Pirates player.” This article and opinion were seemingly based upon the fact that back in the day, the Pirates were losers and Kiner “carried” the team on his back. In 8 years with the Pirates, Kiner had 19 stolen bases but was caught stealing 17 times giving him a net total of 2 stolen bases, over 8 seasons! In 18 years with the Pirates, Roberto Clemente had 83 stolen bases and was caught 46 times. During his 18 seasons with the Pirates “the great one” hit 240 home runs, while Kiner hit 369. OK, advantage Kiner. It all goes downhill from here for Mark Madden and his hero, Mr. Kiner. Roberto Clemente won two World Series rings, Ralph Kiner won zilch-o, none-o, nada…you diggg. Consider how many runs that Clemente prevented from being scored by running down fly balls and line drives in the outfield and by throwing runners out. What “race-colored glasses” was Mark Madden looking through when he wrote this piece of pure and unadulterated garbage?
One of his latest “gems of excrement” goes by the title of; “Bill Russell’s No. 6 isn’t really retired.” Again, this is an effort to defile and dishonor the proud legacy of another Black sports legend. He goes on about the discrepancies of the NBA retiring the number of the late, great Bill Russell. Madden points out that, “there was a disclaimer: Players already wearing No. 6 can continue. Because the NBA didn’t have the guts to tell LeBron James to switch numbers. That means No. 6 isn’t really retired. That means James can voluntarily stop wearing No. 6 as a tribute to Russell. Or he can keep wearing it as a tribute to Russell. James gets to make it about himself. He’s good at that.”
In May of 2008, during his ESPN 1250 radio broadcast, Madden said: “I’m very disappointed to hear that the late Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is near death because of a brain tumor. I always hoped Senator Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated.”
Senator Kennedy was a longtime champion for minorities. I had no idea that Madden hosted a political show on ESPN! There is no shame to his “color sensitive” game. Is a percentage of his demographic out of touch or is it that, “they don’t see color?”
Since Mark Madden always chooses to make statements regarding what others are good at, does he ever ask the question, “what is Mark Madden good at?” Why does he always make it about himself, and should he be retired, involuntarily?
Madden concludes by disguising this garbage collection of sentences as an article by writing the following: “Michael Jordan is probably livid that Russell’s number was retired by the NBA, not his. It became personal with me.”
Well join the club, Mark, because it has become personal with me. The stench of your rubbish is beginning to smell up my patio next door.
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