OMG- He Touched the Trophy!

When the Penguins won the Eastern Conference last year, Sidney Crosby skated over to the Prince of Wales trophy, leaned in close, and smiled for a picture- but he never touched the trophy.
In fact, no one on the team did. Apparently, you don't touch the Prince of Wales trophy, or it's counterpart in the Western Conference, the Campbell Trophy. It all goes back to the superstition that touching the trophy is bad luck and will doom you to never hold the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup.
This year, however, Sid the Kid skated over to the trophy and GASP- touched the trophy. But he didn't just touch it, he actually picked it up with both hands, raised it above his head, and then skated around the rink with it.
Oh the humanity... the audacity! Sid, you've doomed us to defeat! What have you done!
Ok, take a deep breath, climb down off the railing on the Mt Washington overlook, and relax. It's going to be ok.
I don't see what the big deal is. Pens coach coach Dan Bylsma said it best- "Teams that play in the finals will decide who wins the Cup, not who touched the trophy or not."
It doesn't matter how many trophies you touch, how long your grow your beard, or how you tape up before the game- it's all about who plays better.
And this goes for the fans, too. Don't tell me I need to stay out of the room since the Pens scored when I got up to pee. The outcome of the game does not come down to one guy in Pittsburgh who drank too much beer and left the room to relieve himself. Nor does not washing your favorite shirt all season make a difference- it just makes you stinky.
I've been in the presence of the Stanley Cup. I was cautioned not to touch the trophy since it was bad luck to do so before the Pens actually won it. I approached it with the reverence and respect the trophy deserves, reached toward the hallowed Cup... I could hear the trophy calling me, beckoning me to touch it, the engraved names of those who won the right to hoist it above their heads reaching out to me from the past saying "it's ok, touch me- I'm just a piece of metal that represents the hopes and dreams of the Penguin Nation." I leaned closer, my fingertips slowly, achingly reaching as I came within a gnats distance between me and the Cup's surface. Should I? Could I?
In the end, I didn't touch the Cup- everyone knows it's bad luck...