U mad, bro? Fans rant about Bryan Rust, grouse about Gov. Wolf, get ticked off about Mike Tomlin vs. Mike Sullivan

This week’s “U mad, bro?” gets into some pretty choppy waters. Mike Sullivan versus Mike Tomlin. Bryan Rust versus trade talk. Governor Tom Wolf versus high school sports.

And me versus copyright infringement.

Read carefully. This could get dicey.

Let’s start with James. He really enjoyed my recent column about the back-and-forth surrounding Governor Tom Wolf and the PIAA over the attempt to allow high school sports in Pennsylvania during the pandemic.

“Grow up, and act like an educated journalist, not a whiner who can’t have his sports.”

Thanks for the advice, James. Let me ponder that for a second …

Nope. Not for me. I’ve worked with some of those “grown-up, educated journalists.” Have you met any of them?! THEY ARE MISERABLE!

No thanks. I like my way better. It’s more fun.

Now let’s get to me being a “whiner who can’t have his sports.”

I don’t play high school sports, James. I’m pretty sure I’ve aged out.

I don’t coach. I don’t have school-aged children. I don’t even cover high school sports very often. I’ve got no stake in this fight.

Frankly, if you read the column, I didn’t even endorse the playing of all contact sports. I don’t know if it is practical, or even possible, for all school districts to do so safely and without liability concerns.

I’m just saying that Wolf’s snotty, evasive manner of dismissing even the notion of having a conversation about the topic was worthy of rebuke.

That grown-up enough for you, Jimbo?

After the Penguins were eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens in the qualifying round, I wrote a critical column about Mike Sullivan.

This person on Twitter didn’t like it.

I'll wait patiently for your article about the accompishments of Mike Tomlin the past decade compared to Mike Sullivan.

— g8udak8 (@g8udak8) August 14, 2020

Well, you don’t have to wait for it. I already wrote a very similar column about Tomlin back on New Year’s Eve after the Steelers’ 2019 season evaporated in similar failure.

And if you want a history lesson, I have one of those, too. Although it may not exactly paint the picture you want. But those are facts.

By the way, like Tomlin, you do know Sullivan had most of his success right away with someone else’s team, right? Funny thing, though. I never hear the phrase, “Well, Sully just won with Mike Johnston’s players!”

Or Dan Bylsma’s.

But I do always hear, “Tomlin only won with Bill Cowher’s players!”

Hmm. Weird.

For the record, there’s no law that says criticism of Sullivan equals praise of Tomlin. One is not related to the other.

Not at all.

You can try to create a sin-of-omission scenario here if you like. But it’s inaccurate. And inconsequential.

Phil wants some clarification about a topic Mark Madden raised in our most recent “Madden Monday” podcast regarding potential Penguins trades.

“Why would the Pens want to trade Bryan Rust? Everything I read says the Pens want to get younger, faster, and that they really need more secondary scoring. Other than the fact the Pens could use more primary scoring, too, why trade a guy who is still young, fast, and can provide secondary scoring? Doesn’t make sense unless Jim Rutherford is drinking from the same fountain that Neil Huntington drank from.”

These are coronavirus times. No one should be drinking from anyone else’s fountain. Especially that one.

Go back and listen to the podcast again, Phil. Mark wasn’t endorsing a trade of Rust. Nor was he even predicting it.

In fact, as Mark pointed out — for the exact same reasons you highlight — at least Rust could draw some return from interested teams. What Mark was getting at was that if the Penguins are truly trying to haul assets for a future rebuild, Rust probably has a deeper market than anyone else they could offer from that sub core of good players after Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin.

But I think Mark and I are on the same page with you. Because of what Rust adds and their lack of ability to replace him in-house, they’ll probably keep him.

And that’s, by no means, a bad thing. He’s a really good player.

So rest easy on Rusty.

In a recent column, I mentioned some of the great Steelers draft classes from 1971 and 1974.

Chad went the other direction with this email.

“What draft class do you consider to be the worst in Pittsburgh Steelers history, or at least the past 20 years? I’d go with the 2016 edition. Not only do the Steelers have no players left on their roster from that class just four years later, but none of those that were selected even rose above the mediocre level.”

First of all, let me praise Chad for embracing the premise of this weekly column. If you can’t find any Steelers topic to be mad about in the 2020 season yet, let’s find something from years gone by.

Chad, I couldn’t do this without people like you! God bless your black and gold heart.

Led by Artie Burns and Sean Davis as reaches, I’ll give you 2016. Javon Hargrave as a third-rounder was a good find, though … while he was here.

Was Rashard Mendenhall’s stellar 2010 good enough for you — before the Super Bowl fumble — to carry the reputation for the 2008 class?

Round, Pick, Player, Position, College

1, 23, Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Illinois

2, 53, Limas Sweed, WR, Texas

3, 88, Bruce Davis, LB, UCLA

4, 130, Tony Hills, OT, Texas

5, 156, Dennis Dixon, QB, Oregon

6, 188, Mike Humpal, LB, Iowa

6, 194, Ryan Mundy, DB, West Virginia

If so, I’ll go back a little further than your 20-year limit. How about 1985? Harry Newsome — a punter — was team rookie of the year that season.

But I’m sorry, I gotta go with 1983. It’s not so much the misfortune of Gabe Rivera’s car wreck or the lack of production from the other 13 picks.

But any year you PASS on Dan Marino when he is playing in your own backyard? That’s as bad as it gets.

Finally, let’s get to someone’s anger that really matters.

Mine.

Get a load of this!

Edwards and Sally separated in 2016. In July 2017, as part of their divorce proceedings, his attorney sought to depose former Congressman Tim Murphy, with whom Edwards had been having a romantic relationship.https://t.co/x0O6VNZDoB

— TribLIVE.com (@TribLIVE) August 19, 2020

Their podcast is called “You Mad, Bro?” Seriously?! What the …

I’m not sure what’s making me more angry. Those people stealing the name of this column. Or my own outlet for running their story.

Et tu, Paula!?

Oh, and using the conventional spelling? Very clever. I see what you did there. Way to skirt any copyright infringement liability. Very stealthy.

(Note to self. Call lawyer. Copyright “U mad, bro?!”)

Sorry. Where was I? Oh, right. This high crime against internet integrity.

Eh, I’ll let it slide. It looks like these two crazy kids have been through a lot together. And if I can steal “Airing of Grievances” from Seinfeld (until NBC finds out), I suppose they can borrow “U mad, bro?”

We never opened that cease and desist letter last fall, did we?

No? OK. Good. Then, technically we can still plead ignorance.

Now, somebody get me Paula Reed Ward on the line. I’m not done stomping my feet yet!