I’ve just got random flotsam and jetsam passing around my skull today, so I’m just going to spit it all out in random fashion.

-Though I worry this might kick off a whole thing here, I really wasn’t comfortable with the Patrick Kane’s grandfather’s passing after last night’s game. I guess it’s news or something you have to mention. But to me, that’s Kane’s private matter to deal with. If he wants to share with the press and public, that’s fine. But it just felt like there was a slightly gleeful… exploitation of that angle? Maybe that’s a bit strong.

Kane’s not the first, or even this season. There was Thomas Tartar scoring in the very same building a day after his father died. And I wasn’t really comfortable with that either. That’s his matter, his grief, his process, and we’re not entitled to know about it. Again, if Tartar was willingly sharing that’s ok. But when I hear on the radio about whether Kane will attend the funeral or not or miss games, that’s too personal for me. I feel like the Hawks could have easily said, “Patrick has a family emergency” or something.

I feel like events like this are shaped and used to make players seem more heroic or determined or something that they can play through grief. But you know, a lot of us use work to get through a hard time or after a loss of someone close. It’s a distraction, gives us something else to focus on for a short time instead of the pain. I don’t feel like athletes are any more remarkable in that way than anyone else. I know I have done this. And those who don’t play, or don’t work, they’re no less worthy of praise for taking the time they need.

It just isn’t any of our business. The information is fine, but the glorification of it, the exploitation for an easy narrative, it just makes me itchy. That’s Kaner’s personal business, not ours.