Bobby Hull has a Blackhawks team record 604 goals. He has a statue outside the United Center. His jersey is worn by hundreds of fans in the building on any given night. Then during some TV timeout, the video on the scoreboard will pan over to Hull's inebriated face, and he will drunkenly smile and/or wave while fans cheer and go nuts.
I am not one of those fans. Maybe it's because I wasn't around to witness any of his 604 goals. Maybe I don't like to live in the past. Or maybe it's because Bobby Hull is an unrepentant wife beating, nazi sympathizing piece of shit and I think he can go fuck himself.
Patrick Kane has scored some of the biggest Blackhawks goals of my life. Even if we didn't always see the puck go in the net. My dad always said that if the Harlem Globetrotters played hockey, he'd be the first guy on the team. He's a joy to watch. I frequently gush over his hockey playing abilities on twitter on facebook.
But now I'm coming to the realization that much like the fans who still idolize Bobby Hull, it looks like I've been cheering for a shitty human being.
Here's the thing, Kane may be guilty, or he may be innocent. At this point we have no idea. The police haven't filed charges yet. But Kane has blown through his benefit of the doubt with beating up a cab driver, a whole series of incidents in Madison, WI, and an unfortunate (if not illegal) incident in Vancouver. It's clear that when he starts boozing, bad things happen.
Kane was supposed to have grown up. Was supposed to have learned from his previous transgressions. "Hell, I was 23 once, and I did some dumb things too." That quote can be attributed to me, or thousands of other fans who were quick to defend Kane's behavior. I even own a regrettable-in-hindsight t-shirt that has fun with one of Kane's incident. But by Kane even being in this situation, guilty or not, proves he hasn't learned a thing. At best, he's a bad drunk and shitty person. At worst, he's a rapist. That really sucks.
I've seen numerous comments in numerous forums that this woman is probably a gold digger. A whore. Or whatever. And I guess any of that is possible. But why shouldn't we give her the benefit of the doubt? What has she done to make us question her intent? Why are we quick to defend Kane? Part of the defense I saw is that he can have any girl he wants in Chicago, why would he rape... but couldn't that be part of a larger issue? If he never hears "no", and has a sense of entitlement that any woman he wants belongs to him, wouldn't that lead to his ability to cross the line? It wouldn't be the first time he's shown some questionable behavior.
I suspect we probably won't ever really know what happened. Because unfortunately very easy to sweep rape and/or abuse under the rug for professional athletes. So even if nothing comes out of this investigation, I'll still have my doubts. I suppose he could be proven completely innocent, but I'm not sure how that happens. What I am 90% sure of is that there'll be some sort of settlement/plea deal and that'll be it, like Drew Doughty and Semyon Varlamov before him. Charges will be mysteriously dropped. A civil settlement will be in place and that will be all.
I'm even over the athletes should be role models thing. I realize most guys aren't. If they are, kudos to them, but a lot of my favorite athletes have been kinda shitty people. Whether they gamble too much, cheat at their sport, or cheat on their spouse, etc. a lot of athletes have qualities you shouldn't admire. And that's fine. It is what it is. Because there's a big difference between being an asshole and being a woman abusing asshole. And its the second one that I just can't deal with.
And that's where being a fan is going to suck. Because he'll stay on the Hawks (his 8 year- $84M extension starts this season). And therefore I'll want him and the team do well. And I'm now going to feel so damn gross. I ridicule and loathe Semyon Varlamov of the Avs for beating the shit out of his girlfriend* and settling that out of court and not missing any playing time. I devalue that entire franchise because of that asshole. And now that asshole is on my favorite team.
The thing I circle back to is that none of us currently have a clue if Kane is innocent or guilty (it's way way way too early to get into that) but my gut instinct tells me with Kane, where there is smoke there is fire. However, I'm sure he and the Blackhawks will find a way to make any case go away without criminal charges. Which also kinda makes me sick to my stomach...the worst part is that I still want to root for the Blackhawks and by default Kane, but will forever feel dirty now. And I think it's safe to say that my Kane USA jersey will probably stay in the closet for a long while.
*allegedly, but c'mon, we know he did it.
**A few people had asked for my thoughts on the rape investigation regarding Patrick Kane. I had a variety of posts on twitter, via text message and on some message boards. It felt like to really make my thoughts clear I needed a bigger character limit than twitter and a keyboard not on my phone, so I took to a blog to compile everything and hopefully edit it in some sort of meaningful fashion.
I am by no means anyone "in the know", nor am I a writer. The views expressed are my own, and I apologize for any errors in grammar on syntax, as that is not my forte.
Here are just a couple of links on the Drew Doughty and Semyon Varlamov case results, you can easily google more if you're curious what I was referencing.
Doughty result: Drew Doughty Rape Charges: LA District Attorney's Office Declines To File Charges (VIDEO)
Varlamov result: Semyon Varlamov's Domestic Violence Case Dropped by Prosecutors | Bleacher Report
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