Sidney Crosby came back to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, in a big way. Sidney scored 2 goals and had 2 assists in his first game back from two concussions sustained last season while routing the Islanders 5-0. While I am no fan of the Penguins, having Crosby back playing hockey is a good thing for the NHL as a whole. The guy is just electric, he is a star. If the NHL is going to attempt to absorb some NBA fans that are giving up on basketball during the lockout then this guy needs to be on the ice. Check out all four of his points here, including his first two goals in over a year:

I don’t care where your allegiances lie, what Crosby did tonight was fantastic. I dont think I could perform my day job that well coming back from a year and a half break. Lets just hope the kid stays healthy and he doesn’t become the next Eric Lindros, Paul Kariya or Pat LaFontaine.

The Penguins Brent Johnson took on the Islanders’ Rick DiPietro in a goalie fight last night and it was a special moment as always. It was especially special since the fight consisted of just one punch. Yes, one punch. Well, a one punch TKO.  Not so tough now goalieboy, huh?

I love the half hearted attempt at stopping the fight from starting by the ref. That was WWE quality showmanship there on his part. Penguins not only won the fight, they won the game 3-0.

From Reddit

As we glide into warmer weather and brighter days, we’re still stuck with a deluge of crappy stories.  I’m wondering when we’ll get a break from the sexual assaults, projectile vomiting, and the Baltimore Orioles.  Prepare for your weekend away from the mess with some headlines:

• Both the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins lost their playoff openers.

Granted, it’s really early, and I’m pretty sure Game 7 for both of their series isn’t scheduled until the beginning of June, but I can’t think of a worse follow-up to the NHL’s success at the Vancouver games than to lose its two marquee players in the first round of the playoffs.  That would be devastating.  I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about sports, but if you asked me to name 100 current NHLers right now, I probably couldn’t do it.  The NHL needs a Caps-Pens matchup more than a USA medal finish in just about every way.

• A New Jersey man was charged with assault and harassment after allegedly making himself vomit on an off-duty police captain and his daughter.

New Jersey?  Phillies fan?  Drunk?  Too, too easy.  Very quickly, let me just check something:

 

Yep, big fat pig.  Have fun in jail, jerk.  And where was Green Man when you need him?  Speaking of which: dressing up as Green Man is TIRED.  Green Man first came on the scene in September 2007.  Since that time, I can say without a doubt, I’ve seen at least one attention-seeking pencil neck dressed as Green Man at each outdoor concert and sporting event I’ve attended.  Whatever happened to going to a game, having a few beers, betting on the condiment race and scoping out other dudes’ girlfriends?

• Jay-Z is suing David Ortiz after Ortiz named his Dominican nightclub after the rapper’s chain of 40/40 clubs. 

Rough month for Papi: benched by Tito Francona, he’s struck out in half of his at bats, and now he’s being sued.  I wonder if part of the settlement will include an agreement indicating who’s overpriced sinkhole gets to go out of business first.  Celebrity-themed restaurants and bars are almost always terrible tourist traps.  I will write more about this phenomenon one day.  Dan Majerle, you’re on notice.

• After appearing drunk and making disparaging remarks about Tim Tebow and Bill Parcells on camera, Jerry Jones apologized, calling his choice of words, “a sarcastic term of endearment.”

First of all: if you go to a bar and see a celebrity and you’re stalking doesn’t convince them to a) leave, or b) call the cops, please don’t record them.  It’s weird, it’s creepy and you’re ruining it for the rest of us.  I’ve hung out in places where celebrities have let loose and let me tell you: it’s awesome.  But as soon as you pull out a camera, you ruin it for everyone else.  Now Jerry Jones will never go to a public place and drink ever again.  See what you did, nerds?  Jerry, I’ll get drunk with you and you can call me a “piece of s—“ anytime you want. 

• As more sordid details emerge from Ben Roethlisberger’s big night out, owner Art Rooney II is preparing to discipline Big Ben after the draft.

We’ve discussed “Young Dummies with Money Syndrome” before, so I won’t get into it again, but I will say if there is a dumber guy in football than Ben Roethlisberger, I’d sure as hell like to meet him.  When you’ve got Terry Bradshaw giving you life advice, you must be really, really slow.  And how will the Steelers be punishing him?  By trading away their best receiver for nothing?  Never mind, they already did that.

• Boston’s Mike Cameron might miss time with kidney stones.

Whenever I think of kidney stones, I think of Kramer. 

JERRY: Hey!

KRAMER: Hey.

JERRY: What’s with you?

KRAMER: I got a stone.

JERRY: What stone?

KRAMER: A kidney stone.

JERRY: What is that, anyway?

KRAMER: It’s a, it’s a stony mineral concretion, formed abnormally in the kidney. And this jagged shard of calcium pushes its way through the ureter into the bladder. It’s forced out through the urine!

JERRY: Oh, that’s gotta hurt.

Indeed.  Have a great weekend.  Let’s hope for a weekend where everybody stays out of jail and keeps their pants on.

Some wisenheimer NHL fan had a nice idea to mashup the new Stanley Cup Playoffs ads with Evander Kane’s knockout of hated goon Matt Cooke from the other night.  Watch it, its worth your time, even if you didn’t see the punch, which you should because its about time that Cooke got what was coming to him.  If you don’t watch hockey and/or you don’t know who either Matt Cooke or Evander Kane are, well, one is a huge bag of douche and the other is now my hero.  Bravo Kane, bravo.

Photo taken from Deadspin and by Fred Johnson, seriously nice photo dude.