The Summer of Kane Rolls Right Along

The last two years, summer has been an eventful season for the Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane, which is an odd thing to say about a hockey player. Last year, Kane made headlines when he was arrested for allegedly punching a cab driver over a fare dispute in his hometown of Buffalo, New York. Kane and his cousin pleaded not guilty and were cleared of the more serious charges. But that was only a beginning for a player who does as many attention grabbing things off the ice as he does on it.

If Kane was partying hard last summer before winning the Cup -- I'm going to make an assumption that the cab incident didn't happen after a quiet night out at the theater -- then this summer surely has been the 'Summer of Kane' in the Windy City and Buffalo. It all started back in June when Kane scored the Cup-winning goal for the Hawks.

Two months later, there are two lasting memories of that night. The first is the utter silence and confusion that followed Kane's goal. No one was really sure it was in or what had happened since the shot had come from such a tough angle. The second is Kane's post-game interview. With his arms around his bros, Kane was asked by a reporter if he would behave during the victory parade. "Not a chance," Kane replied before skating away, "not a chance!"

And with that the Summer of Kane officially began for the second year.

The way it's gone so far, the Cup probably should have come with a warning label about its effects on Kane. Something like 'Warning: will induce large quantities of partying, dude.' And there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not here to play party police and shake my finger at a college-aged kid doing what college-aged kids do. Heck, it's fun to watch and gives me something to write about during the months on the hockey calendar that are slower than a speedskating Chris Chelios (for some reason I can vividly picture Chelios reading this and yelling "I resent that!" while planning his eventual unretirement).

For Kane, the party with the Cup started almost immediately after the goal on June 9 and hasn't yet showed any signs of dying down. Two days later, the Hawks held their victory celebration in downtown Chicago and the local NBC affiliate was there to photograph and narrate the inebriation of Kane and the team. And if you've learned nothing else from this paragraph, at least take note that there may be nothing more awkward in sports television than a local news anchor trying to narrate an athlete getting drunk during a parade. That's mostly due to the anchor having to clean it up a bit because there are probably kids and Disapproving People Who Look Down on this Sort of Thing watching. The climax of the video is undoubtedly Kane addressing the massive crowd, blatantly drunk and giving a shout-out to cab drivers everywhere.

Kane's party tour didn't stop after the parade, though. With two posts on Deadspin yesterday, one fittingly titled "Patrick Kane is More Alcohol Than Man at this Point," is just proof that the Summer of Kane has rolled on and will continue to do so until -- I'm assuming again here -- training camp starts. Or heck, maybe it'll turn into the endless summer and keep rolling through the months until next June. But the galleries on the Hey-Look-at-this-Drunk-Athlete-Spin blog create this notion that Kane is, in fact, inebriated at any given point in the summer. Honestly, it's hard to doubt that assumption given little evidence to the contrary. There are only a dozen or so photos but one is from a Jimmy Buffet concert, another on a party bus and other shots from more than a few bars in the local area. The good news is one shot from a children's hospital, which I am again assuming (hoping, too) that Kane was sober for.

As summer draws to a close, with only a few weeks until school is back in session across the United States, the Blackhawks and GM Stan Bowman are probably just crossing their fingers that Kane makes it to training camp sober and in one piece. There's no way to draw any conclusions on Kane's off-season workout regimen but the pictures and stories all create a certain impression. Then again, we all know that Jeremy Roenick did and still does like to have a good time and his career was a great one. Kane won't be the first or last player to enjoy himself after a Cup victory and he shouldn't be the last. Just be advised that from now on if you're in the Chicago or Buffalo areas between the months of June and September you might run into him and his friends. Have a drink with them, you might have a good time. Or end up on the internet.