After a week off, the “Madden Monday” podcast is back.

Mark Madden and Tim Benz take a long look at attempts to reboot the NHL and MLB seasons. Why are both leagues constantly getting in their own way?

From a hockey perspective, the issue seems to be how long things are taking to get off the ground.

From a MLB perspective, the matter appears to be whether baseball will be played at all.

One topic that has been generated from all of this discussion is if all pro sports seasons should be shorter. I think they should be. We’ll see if Mark agrees.

The sprint idea of a 48-game baseball season is particularly intriguing. We’ll delve into that.

On the Steelers front, Mark has praise for Maurkice Pouncey and Cameron Heyward. But he has some harsh words for Alejandro Villanueva.

A lot of Mark’s angst regarding Villanueva has to do with his stance on the Drew Brees matter. “If you are going to blame the media, then go out on your own limb and agree with Drew Brees. Because you know he does,” Madden said.

Back to hockey, we analyze two aspects of the NHL playoff format moving forward: reseeding and the length of the playoff series after the first round. Mark seems to think the league has one plan right, and one wrong.

Other topics we discuss:

• “Brockmire” portrayed America as a dystopian version of itself for the final season in 2020. Was it even more accurate than it tried to be?

• The nuances of cover bands may be put to the test in 2020.

• And one business in particular will face a challenging reboot now that the greater Pittsburgh region is in the “green phase.”

LISTEN: Mark Madden and Tim Benz talk about efforts to reboot NHL and MLB seasons

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