Facie’s Ramblings

I tend to drive downtown (Pittsburgh) during the week only a few times a year, typically to meet a friend or two for lunch and most years to attend a Steelers pep rally. I generally have no reasons to be downtown during the week, and the pricey parking options, traffic, and triangular grid (kind of an oxymoron) peppered with one-way streets give me even more excuses to avoid the area. Two days ago, I headed downtown to pick up tickets I had won from a radio station. That winning phone call came only a couple days after I had won a free pizza from Papa John's for picking heads for the Super Bowl coin toss (something good did happen as a result of the Super Bowl). So I was in a pretty good mood as I headed into the city, a mood made even better as I arrived in about 20 minutes thanks to my waiting until after 10 a.m. I called up a friend who works downtown to get his advice on parking. Typically I park in the First Avenue Garage, which is located near the jail and at the beginnin...

Well, it appears that Mark Madden, ratings bonanza that he is on ESPN radio, was finally removed from the air. Apparently permanently, according to the P-G. I have listened to Madden for years, mostly during the Steeler season but most recently during the Pens playoff run. At times, I have found myself mildly offended at the way he insults people. Yet I still listened. Why? Because I wanted to hear the latest Steeler or Penguin story; Mark is a huge Pens fan, so you could count on him for the latest scoop and just good info in general. And Mark did not pander to the Steelers (except for Big Ben) the way most of Pittsburgh does, which I found somewhat refreshing, although some of his comments were pretty much attacks, and that I am no fan of. In fairness to Madden, some of his callers said some rather dumb things. Once you listen to the show, you should know what you are getting yourself into. In fact, the station would play some sort of warning about how Mark insults callers. And there...