It's the mustache vs. the super genius. Steigerwald vs. Madden: two of the premier names in Pittsburgh sports talk squaring off in the city of bridges. It's the tangle in the golden triangle, the melee on the Mon, the tiff at Fort Pitt.Madden in his blog on 105.9 the X, recently criticized John Steigerwald's (ed. note. yes he's my uncle) accusation that Big Ben may have been high on something during the night he was accused of sexual misconduct. Madden, bless his heart, was obviously concerned that Steigerwald may get into legal trouble over the supposed accusation and wrote that "[his] implication is reckless." Madden, who has been known to defend Roethlisberger to the ends of the earth, also criticized Steigerwald's retelling of a supposed incident where Ben blew off a Make-A-Wish kid, asking where the proof was. .
John Steigerwald, perhaps as an answer to Madden, proceeded to post multiple new blogs, detailing just how he came to learn of the Make-A-Wish Roethlisberger incident. Steigerwald, immediately came back swinging (although not actually calling Madden out by name, I think we can all infer on this one.)
"Ok. I’ve been called everything from a hack to a scumbag and I’ve been accused of accusing Ben Roethliesberger of being high on drugs the night he was accused of sexual assault. Anyone with a brain knows that’s not true and it’s not going to get any truer no matter how many times it’s posted here.
I merely pointed out to those who were pointing out that he didn’t appear to be drinking a lot that there are other ways of getting high. Only a moron would call that an accusation. There are actually people out there who think that I could be sued for making that observation."If, "actually people out there who think that I could be sued for making that observation," isn't a shot at Mark Madden, I don't know what is.
To be fair to Madden, Ben hasn't been convicted of anything except having bad judgment, at least not yet. But the constant cheerleading for Ben is getting a little old. Can't we just agree that he's a great quarterback whose kind of a jerk off the field, and makes questionable decisions with women.
Madden has been all quiet on the Western PA blog front since Mondays salvo by Steigerwald, but needless to say one can only assume that Madden will get in his shots either on the air or in print.
Stay Tuned.
