City residents flock to the streets to celebrate the news.Earlier this year, I spent a few hundred words bellyaching about the sorry state of Pittsburgh sports radio. Specifically, the fact that village idiot/local ESPN radio "personality" Mark Madden earned a paycheck to spew invective while making everybody who listened to him dumber in the process.
For me, it was more a therapeutic rant than anything -- Madden generates ratings, and ratings, as we know, trump all. Or so the thinking went. Today, ESPN corporate made an exception:
"We've taken Mark off the air pursuant to our contractual rights," said Josh Krulewitz, the network's vice president for public relations. On his radio show Wednesday, Madden said the following about Sen. Kennedy, who days earlier had been diagnosed with brain cancer:For Madden, it couldn't have happened to a nicer jerk.
"I'm very disappointed to hear Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is near death because of a brain tumor. I always hoped Senator Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated."
Madden was last heard on his show Thursday, the day before his comments appeared in the Post-Gazette.
Late last year, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Bob Smizik wrote that Madden was dangerously close to losing his job once the higher-ups in Bristol caught wind of his shtick. (Apparently, nobody at headquarters cares about the backwaters of Western Pennsylvania radio ... until it comes to their attention that some jackass is singlehandedly ruining the wholesome Disney image Bayless, Paige and Smith worked so hard to cultivate.)
Madden agreed to temper his assault on common sense when his job was threatened. That he managed to last another six months is an accomplishment worthy of recognition. So congrats, Madden, for keepin' it real. An entire city (and especially Hines Ward!) thanks you for going away.
Random YouTube Fun: I vote for Tank Abbott to replace Madden who, after watching this video, would do well to get Larry the Cable Guy on the horn.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-27-2008 @ 11:48PM
George B Vieto said...
I am not a fan of Senator Kennedy but the tasteless joke by Mark Madden was way out of bounds. The Kennedy family has it is share of terrible deaths at the hands of assassins bullets and it is not funny to remind people of this senseless tradegy of Ted with his illness.
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5-28-2008 @ 12:20AM
Dr Huxtable said...
Ted Kennedy is a flaming pile of sh*t. I'm no fan of madden, but a rotten sack of garbage like Kennedy deserves a terrible death.
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5-28-2008 @ 12:27AM
carl said...
Next time stick with pubbies...then no one will care and every one will be yelling free speech
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5-28-2008 @ 12:45AM
Elsquare said...
Madden's personal opinion on Kennedy shows no style, grace, dignity or class; but, it seems to me he is entitled to present it on ESPN simply because ESPN ESPN has neither style, grace, dignity nor class. ESPN is, in my view, a national embarrassment. ESPN does have one class act: a fellow named Galloway in the Dallas area. Mr. Galloway, whose is distinguished by his "Fair and Biased" trademark, is a hard-hitte, but I doubt he would have said those words,even if he believed them to be true. Mr. Galloway is a class act.
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5-28-2008 @ 12:53AM
Matt said...
I am shocked to learn that a fine fictional doctor -- one portrayed by no less an actor than Bill Cosby -- thinks Ted Kennedy is a flaming pile of a very un-Cosby like word.
Look, this isn't political. Madden is a jerk. If he called for the assasination of George Bush, he could just as rightfully be fired too.
So shame on you, Heathcliff: here's to hoping for your sake that the god you believe in has more mercy on you than you've shown to Senator Kennedy.
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5-28-2008 @ 2:51AM
mattfro said...
I guess MM should have killed someone while driving drunk. That wouldn't have upset anyone. See Ted Kennedy for example.
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5-28-2008 @ 4:35AM
tdbrought said...
@6
Or Laura Bush.
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5-28-2008 @ 6:02AM
Paul said...
Madden always been a joke, He'll say anything to get press. I remember his rant on how special needs kids have no place in sports. Or doing the ESPN Sports Century countdown, whenever Mike and Mike would say someone was a no-brainer, i.e. Jerry Rice as the best WR and Gretzky as best hockey player, tubby would call in just to get air time by disagreeing.
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5-28-2008 @ 9:00AM
BuddyToledo said...
I'm not a hockey fan, but a lot of people in Pittsburgh don't think that it is a no-brainer that Wayne Gretzky is the best hockey player. And a lot of those people are Mark Madden fans.
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5-28-2008 @ 9:03AM
Hiram said...
I never liked the guy. I'm glad he's gone!
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5-28-2008 @ 9:29AM
Dano said...
Yawn... the arrogant goof got what he deserved (again). He'll be hired and fired a dozen more times. Look, it's just the comings and goings of another loud mouth radio dude. This ain't a big deal.
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5-28-2008 @ 10:05AM
Bill said...
The firing and ESPN are a joke... he said something stupid and the station made him appologize - he maybe should got a suspension but that's it. This society is so soft and PC. I'm sure there was some political pressure put on ESPN.
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5-28-2008 @ 11:02AM
James Burnside said...
Speak for yourself Ryan. I am appalled that Mr. 8.7 was canned for those remarks. Whatever happened to free speech?
Mark Madden was the highest rated sports show host in Pittsburgh because he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. His show was pure entertainment, and there's going to be a void in sports talk radio now.
But he'll find a home soon. So it really doesn't matter.
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5-28-2008 @ 11:14AM
Hank Lipzer said...
WOW...the posts on this page show Madden`s comments weren`t really that out of bounds for his listeners.
I guess many people out there do wish horrible deaths on people....WTF!!! If its all so funny lets joke about your dead ones,let`s laugh at your tragedies.
Tell the one where your niece dies of crib death..oh that`s rich. Or how bout the streak of bone cancer that rips through your family for laughs every once and a while...its all good fun, its all free speech, its all harmless......right???
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5-28-2008 @ 11:50AM
Big Fan...Big Fan said...
I hope they have a moment of silence before tonight Pens game to remember his firing from ESPN. The haters of him are all jealous of his success. Maybe someone should now focus on running the Pirates out of town for the disturbing remarks that they put a "competitive team" on the field for the last 15+ years. Now that is offensive!
Long live Mr. 8.7
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5-28-2008 @ 12:29PM
JT said...
Mark Madden was a large bag of wind with the girth to match it. What a slob, have you ever seen this guy in public? He was prototypical of a sport talk show host who didn't have what it takes to play sports. A little lest standing in line at the KFC and maybe a few more sessions at the local YMCA Mark, and you might have had a shot at playing sports. He lived with his mother all those years, so I can see why he isn't a functional human being. Madden was a loser, always will be I for one am glad to see his fat ass fired from WEAE, too bad the head guy in charge didn't have the balls to fire Madden, it had to come from the boss at ESPN in CT.
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5-28-2008 @ 1:35PM
Michele Harper said...
I wasn't a big fan of Madden either, so I listened to other programs. I didn't like what he represented or how he degraded women, so I chose not to listen.
Saying that, to be fired for making a comment like that was unbelievable. I thought free speech was protected by the U.S. Constitution. Guess not.
And shame on Bob Smizik for causing this stir that led to his firing. It's well-known that Madden caused his pal Jim Wexel to get fired. I think Smizik was on a witch hunt ever since.
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5-28-2008 @ 2:53PM
matt said...
People who bring up a person’s right to free speech you really do not know what you are talking about. Our constitutional right to free speech is only about the government infringing on the speech of the citizens and people in the United States. A privately own company like ESPN has the right to air who they want to when they want to. T hey also have the right to say I do not like what you are talking about on your show which is on our station so we are not letting you on the air. People please take a civic class before you spout out your rights and know them.
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5-28-2008 @ 3:46PM
Bob said...
It is widely believed that the Chappaquiddick incident was the major factor in Kennedy's decision not to run for president in 1972.The case resulted in much satire of Kennedy, including a National Lampoon page showing a floating Volkswagen Beetle with the remark that Kennedy would have been elected president had he been driving a Beetle that night; this satire resulted in legal action by Volkswagen, claiming unauthorized use of its trademark. ....... So ESPN fires Madden and Kennedy goes on to be a multiple term senator. Things that make you go "Hmmmmmmm".
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5-28-2008 @ 9:54PM
bigflyer said...
Ted Kennedy, Swim Coach, Immigration Law Expert, Harvard Cheat is the worst thing to happen to the Senate and our country in his 47 years in that not so august body.
Still the ESPN guy is a moron and deserves to be fired. ESPN has too much airtime to fill and often has stupidity acting as entertainment.
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