Penguins Sign Kid With Cystic Fibrosis (No, This Is A Good Thing)

Every once in awhile you have to break out a story like this one, just to remind everybody that professional athletes and sports organizations are not entirely made up of heartless, greedy scumbags.

Yesterday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Penguins signed eight-year-old Jacob Anderson to a one-day contract worth $1. They held a press conference, gave him a uniform and equipment, his own locker in the dressing room, and let him skate in practice with teammates Matt Cooke and Sidney Crosby and take shots at goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

Well, actually Cooke had to carry him around the ice, but the rest of that stuff was real. Jacob has cystic fibrosis and his cup of coffee was made possible by the local chapter of the Make-A-Wish foundation. It was actually the 10,000th wish granted by the Greater Pennsylvania and Southern West Virginia bureau. Also, I would like to add to this generous gift by giving him his own tag page. It literally is the least I could do.

So that's all. Just a bunch of people doing a really nice thing with no hope of monetary gain. Weird, right? And kudos to Jacob for not going with the popular " wish for more wishes" gambit.

Youngster with cystic fibrosis skates with Penguins [Tribune Reviews, via Puck Daddy, via Sugarmob]