Welcome to Joe Starkey’s mailbag, where the Post-Gazette columnist and 93.7 The Fan radio host answers your questions about sports, life, Lasse Pirjetä and everything in between. If you want to ask Joe a question, tweet him @JoeStarkey1 or email him at jstarkey@post-gazette.com. On to the questions …
Brian Morris @BriMorris1: Who are the best cheaters in PGH Pro sports? The Pens for tanking to get to pick Mario? The ’70s Steelers for all the steroid use? The Pirates for cheating their fans out of their hard earned money?
Starkey: Very nice, Mr. Morris. And you could certainly argue the Penguins cheated the game in order to draft Mario Lemieux, but they also saved their franchise, and people should never forget what GM Ed Johnston and coach Lou Angotti sacrificed.
Johnston is rightfully regarded as a hero. Angotti is forgotten — but he made some remarkable admissions to me just a few years ago, telling me he would put the wrong players on the ice in special teams situations or send his fourth liners out against stars in that fateful 1983-84 season. One time, he said, he pulled goalie Roberto Romano in a game the Penguins were winning and wound up with a valuable loss.
“It was tough waking up in the morning,” Angotti told me. “It didn’t make me feel very good. It was far more strenuous trying to figure out (how to lose) than it would be trying to play a normal game. I remember we got a penalty, and I sent out two players I wouldn’t normally put out there. One player yelled to me, ‘Louie, what the hell are you doing?’ It was almost an ongoing thing.
“If the game started off badly, there wasn’t much for me to do. It was the games where we were competitive and looked like we were going to win where I was in position to put us in a position to lose. The only thing you could do is manipulate your bench, use whatever you had on the bench to put yourself in a position to lose.
“I can honestly say the players who came to work every day gave all they had. That was the tough part. I was playing against them. It was me against them, them against me. They were trying to go out and win, and I was using them to lose.”
Think about that! It’s actually one of the most monumental stories in the history of sports. And it’s all on the record. That man — Lou Angotti — should be regarded as a hero.
Editor’s note: The question below was asked and answered before Mike Sullivan’s decision to start Tristan Jarry vs. the Flyers.
I posed a simple question Monday: Who should start against the Flyers, Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry?
Result:
Jarry: 69.2%
Murray: 30.8%
What we learned: Jarry remains the people’s choice, in spite of some January slippage. It’s not an altogether surprising or indefensible vote, either, given Jarry’s remarkable rise this season. He wouldn’t be a bad choice for Penguins’ first-half MVP — and he is a joy to watch. He remains second in the NHL in goals-against average and tied for first in save percentage.
Still, I’m wondering if Murray has subtly won his job back, based on what has transpired this month.
Namely, this:
Murray: 4-0, .929 save percentage.
Jarry: 3-3, .903 save percentage.
Is that enough for Mike Sullivan to shift the majority of starts Murray’s way?
We’ll know a lot more based on who starts in Philly tonight. Sully generally rewards the guy who’s playing better. That is Murray at the moment — and Murray obviously started the season as the No. 1 goalie. One with a nice resume, including two Stanley Cups and a 2018-19 season in which he posted a .919 save percentage (10th in the NHL) in 50 starts.
Murray showed his mettle Saturday, overcoming ridicule from his home fans. And make no mistake, mock cheering is different than booing, and the fact is, thousands of fans mocked Murray right here in hockey Mecca.
Anyway, Murray stoned the Boston Bruins over the final two periods. It says here he earned the next start, but Sullivan can’t really go wrong.
This is what you’d call an excellent dilemma: Two legit starting goalies. It’s just like Murray-Fleury, and it’s a major competitive advantage for the Penguins.
But yes, the choice Tuesday will be symbolic — it could very well indicate (depending on how the starter plays) who will be pegged for the majority of starts coming out of the break.
jimi luketic, @jimi_luketic: If you had to make a hockey lineup out of your show who would play where?
Starkey: Power forward — Ron Cook. Bears a slight resemblance to late-stage Clark Gillies.
High-priced centerman — Bob Pompeani. Does all the interviews, loves the camera, takes pressure off teammates, counts his millions under satin sheets at South Hills mansion.
Agitator — Who do you think?
Matt dicicco, @DiciccoMatt: Seeing that the 49ers basically tanked last year when their QB went down would the Steelers been better off doing that and getting a top 3 pick? It seemed to work out for them.
Starkey: I kind of like Minkah Fitzpatrick, Matt, but I get your point (see Mario Lemieux story above). Problem is, the schedule was so forgiving, I’m not sure they sink all the way to top 3. Maybe Lou Angotti could have helped.
BlackCatsDaddy, @BlackCatsDaddy: When you are watching the Penguins, and Jarry gives up three goals, are you ever thinking that if it were Murray the ‘fans’ would be freaking out and yelling how much he sucks?
Starkey: I honestly don’t get the Matt Murray venom, Daddy. It’s odd. Some call it a byproduct of Fleury adulation — that Murray could never be Fleury in the fans’ eyes. But guess what? They mock-cheered Fleury, too, just two playoff games removed from his legendary Cup-winning save on Lidstrom!
Check out this Ron Cook column from 10 years ago chronicling that sad situation.
J B, @Jon_Brennan: Joe, I see that there’s curling in Millvale and you can drink beer when you curl. This sounds amazing. Have you tried it yet? Genesee and curling sounds like a match made in heaven!
Starkey: Indeed, Dr. Brennan, I cannot think of a better combination in all the world than curling, Genny Cream and Millvale. Are you serious about this, by the way? There’s curling in Millvale?
I feel like that’s not possible. I also feel like the best practice for curling is sweeping the kitchen floor. And yet it’s kind of compelling when I see it on TV. If this is real, I intend to try it. Millvale-bound!
DC Pitt Fan, @hailtopitt2005: Is there a reason the Pirates haven’t signed any MLB level talent yet? I wasn’t expecting Anthony Rendon, but they usually at least get a notable reclamation project by now. Is there anything in the history of the new GM that shows extra patience or some kind of methodology?
Starkey: First, I must point to one of the greatest headlines ever written, about a week ago right here at the Post-Gazette: “What’s left to accomplish in the Pirates’ offseason?”
What’s LEFT to accomplish?
Did I miss something that WAS accomplished?
As Jason Mackey wrote in the piece, “The biggest offseason additions to the major league club have been outfielder Guillermo Heredia, who slashed .225/.306/.363 with the Rays in 2019, and catcher Luke Maile, who hit .151 last season.”
It seems pretty clear the Pirates have no expectation to contend this season, so they might as well try to sink to the very bottom.
Maybe they could hire Lou Angotti as a consultant.
Heather McMillen, @McMcMillen: Hogwarts School of Wizardy has four houses, each house has core qualities that its students share. If the Penguins, Steelers, Pirates, and Pitt were Hogwart’s houses, what would their core qualities be and which Pittsburgh media members would get sorted into each house?
Starkey: This might be the most incredible mailbag question ever posed. And I have no idea how to answer it, because I’m not a Harry Potter guy. (I’m more of a Harry Morgan guy, believing M*A*S*H is the greatest TV show of all-time; Morgan played Colonel Sherman T. Potter). So I’ll leave it to my faithful readers, Bill and Scratch ….
Bill Buchman, @Bill_Buchman: Steelers = Gryffindor, Penguins = Ravenclaw, Pitt = Hufflepuff, Pirates = Muggle
ScratchMoore, @ScratchMoore: Gryffindor — Penguins. Champions. Virtuous. Heroes. Plus, they have claim to the Greatest Ever: Harry Potter/ Mario Lemieux.
I’m not sure what any of that means, honestly, and we never addressed the media aspect of it, though it would seem John Steigerwald would fit in somewhere.
Anyway, the five greatest sitcoms of all-time …
5. “The Middle” (sheer brilliance in reflecting dysfunctional family life)
4. “Mary Tyler Moore” (just started watching it again with my wife, after a 40-year hiatus)
3. “Bewitched”
2. “Welcome Back, Kotter” (always loved the moral at end of each episode)
1. “M*A*S*H”
Thank you, kiddies. Also, send me questions (tweet @JoeStarkey1 or email at jstarkey@post-gazette.com). Sign up for our daily all-sports newsletter, PG Sports Feed, for free.
First Published: January 21, 2020, 1:53 p.m.
