Remember when the Penguins sucked earlier this season? Everyone hopped on the "Fire Michel Therrien" bandwagon, and the positive results of the coaching switch became apparent right away. However, there was something else that happened right around the same time that might have had a more profound effect on the team's star player, Sidney Crosby.

I told you all about the Pens and Pins bowling tournament that was set up by the Penguins' Wives Club or something. Some kids from the Make-A-Wish Foundation were able to roll a few games with the Pens, and the event seemed to be one positive in an otherwise underwhelming season.

Sid couldn't make the event due to an illness, and his partner, Bryce Cunningham, wanted to give something to his absent hero. He gave FSN commentator Dan Potash a hat to give Sid, with Bryce's name stitched into the side. I had heard rumors about the hat after seeing Sid wear it repeatedly following the February event, but couldn't get confirmation on the source of the hat.

The Penguins website made a fantastic mention of Bryce today, his hat, and the the team's turnaround since Sid's been wearing the hat at all times.

Don [Cunningham, Bryce's father] said the decision was made to get Crosby a new hat. When Crosby couldn't attend the event, Don said he approached Dan Potash, a reporter for FSN Pittsburgh, and asked if he would give the hat to Crosby the next night in Toronto.

"Usually I just have a hat a year kind of thing and stick with it," Crosby told NHL.com. "I had been wearing one a lot until two months before the season ended, then he gave me this one and said the other one was a little too dirty, so I switched it up. We started to win some games and it worked out pretty good."

Nice. Now the world knows a little more info about how one kid helped turn the Penguins' nearly-dreadful season around. Also, today is Bryce's 11th birthday, so PSAMP sends out the most awesome birthday wishes to someone who has influenced one of my favorite teams in a dominating way.

And Bryce had the burn of the century at the Pens and Pins fundraiser. WithSid out, Bryce was paired with Fleury, who is absolutely terrible at the game. Said Bryce:

"I already beat him, I don’t know if he’s that good at bowling,” Bryce Cunningham, 10, said. “It’s pretty fun because you just all get together and bowl."

Wicked.

Go Pens!

It's always good to have friends.

My buddy Mike went to the draft. [Steady Burn]

The Chiefs got Mister Irrelevant. [Arrowhead Addict]

Some great draft images. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

The Pirates won...again. And their numbers are intense. [WHYGAVS?]

Greg LOLaus. [LOL Jocks]

Giant Cheetos are a farce. [Black and Gold Tchotchkes]

Down 3-0 in the game, Talbot knew what was up.

Big-time momentum-swinging fight. He may not have won it, but he showed that the Pens weren't going to just roll over. How pompous were the Philly fans after the lead and that fight?

Talbot and the Pens quieted them.

Bring on anyone. Go Pens!

My buddy Jim came out to our NYC Pens fans meetup last night, and shot some scenes for Game 5's Yinz Luv Da Guins despite a poor performancefrom said Guins. You can catch me real quick with the blinking Yuengling pin on my chest, as well as mentioning that a power play was imminent during the "Adam" bit.

Big ups to everyone in the group that got featured...Adam, Sid, Peter...some other people whose names I can't remember. Fun times.

The game sucked and the group was pretty low-key with nothing to really cheer for, but Jim held it down and we had as good of a time as we could've given the outcome.

Guess we'll just close out the series in Philly, then.

My buddy Benson checks in again with a new Burghability parody video.

This time, Mikey and Big Bob of 96.1 Kiss FM's Morning Freak Show join forces with Benstonium to pick appropriate playoff beards for the Penguins. I gotta say, the "George Michael" is smooth.

And hopefully, the dude with the Pirates' '92 playoff beard will have something to cheer about come October.

Thanks to Chris at First Cuts via Pasta Padre for passing this along.

Steelers S Troy Polamalu is your new coverboy for the Madden 2010 video game. Hopefully, the Madden Curse is not nearly as bad since there's more than one player on the front. Pittsburgh actually can claim both Madden representatives, with current Cardinal and former Pitt Panther Larry Fitzgerald sharing space with Troy.

So maybe Troy won't suffer any ill effects from the curse, but the 'Burgh itself might want to be on the lookout.

Ben is relieved.

I rarely use pictures of other cool critters aside from mini horses, but this one was too good to pass up. A mini donkey is close enough, and the sheep (I think?) getting tossed is awesome. Animals are crazy.

Cotter's bring back MPIE. Check back to see my answers. [OFTOT]

Pens lost. [The Pensblog]

Zack Greinke has the admirable story, not Josh Hamilton. [Sharapova's Thigh]

Michael Crabtree has a secret weapon for the 2009 draft. [Total Pro Sports]

Philly message boards suck. [Hockey, Football and Stiletto Shoes]

Oh yeah, Brandi Chastain's sports bra is bankrupt or something. [With Leather]

Game 5 is in a few hours, and we have the chance to eliminate the Flyers. I'll be getting my cheer on at our Pens bar in Manhattan again. The above picture and below video are from the Game 4 win. The video was right after the game ended, sealing the 3-1 win.

Also, here's a few pics from Game 4, which my parents went to. They were almost right behind Fleury for the first and third periods. And they survived Wachovia, unlike several Pens fans (language semi-NSFW)

Oh, and that's me in the top picture, and leading the cheer in the video. My left arm looks huge in that pic. The Pens are pumping me up. Cheers to Cara for the pic and vid.

Go Pens!

So here's a scenario I never thought I'd type. Jerome Bettis gets captured by a big toe, and Batman tries to save him while The Riddler, Aladdin and Buzz Lightyear go to a rave.

Let that soak in.

I pretty much just gave you the entire plot rundown of this video, but it's funny enough that you should get a chuckle out of it should you decide to watch. We've seen the disturbing trend of fans using Steelers dolls to create unneeded mental images before, but this one isn't so, um, graphic? I mean, I'll take bobblehead Bettis in distress over Kordell Stewart doing the dirty with Luigi any day of the week.

Can we sign Batman to play O Line? I mean, he just provided more protection for bobblehead Bettis in a one minute video than Big Ben has gotten in the past three years. CLICHE JOKE FOR THE WIN!

Man, some mini horses just need saved. Who would do this to such a cool creature? Little guy looks like he wants to go berserk and just start kicking everything.

What have we learned from the first week of the NHL playoffs? [Total Pro Sports]

Sasha Vujacic is Jason Schwatzman. [Lake Show Life]

An interview with budding tennis star Victoria Azarenka. [Rizzo Sports]

Mel Kiper scouting women. Very nice! [Youtube]

More Kiper. The tale of the tape between Kiper and McShay. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]

Charles Barkley listing all of his college nicknames. [NESW Sports]