STFU, Bruce. There were plenty of “journalists” (and bloggers, alike) that were writing the “Patrick Kane is an idiot” story. And frankly, he still seems to be an idiot, it’s not as if this story is completely clear.

Bottom line is that as a professional athlete, it’s pretty dumb to even put yourself in a situation like he did (admittedly, that statement is based on the assumption that there’s some truth to both sides of the story, as is usually the case).

Kane might not be guilty of assault and theft, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t guilty of having made a really poor, stupid decision.

Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 08/12/09 at 12:03 PM ET

Kane is still stupid, even if he wasn’t drunk while beating up a cabbie. Franzen showed the world how stupid he can be at times. Dan Cleary agrees.

Posted by mrfluffy from Long Beach on 08/12/09 at 12:09 PM ET

That is hilarious, protectionism at its best. I think it was mainstream media (at least that’s where I first saw it) who first published that the cabbie had a less than stellar history, e.g. DUI, no licence, etc., as if that had anything to do with him taking a punch. The NHL and Lawyers (and now the ‘mainstream media’??) seem to be working real hard to keep the shine on the Golden Boy.

Posted by RCM on 08/12/09 at 12:15 PM ET

The point of Dowbiggin’s story seems to be that bloggers are jerks for unfairly jumping all over Kane. Then he adds this little gem…

...it emerged that the cabby – who has two DUIs and might have been driving without a license – locked Kane and his cousin in the back seat of the cab…

Talk about unfair. The cabbie’s DUIs were 10 years ago and his lawyer says he’s been in AA and sober ever since. The lack of a valid license is relevant to this story…but only as an interesting sidebar. Neither that or his DUIs have any bearing on him getting beaten up. And not even locking these two cheapskates in the cab justifies what happened to him.

Maybe Dowbiggin needs to take a look in the mirror before he casts aspersions on the blogosphere.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 08/12/09 at 02:56 PM ET

I think all Bruce was trying to say is that it is unfair in the sense that bloggers more often than not post with a bias or an opinion moreso.  Don’t think there is much argument there, and I am not say it is wrong.  Now, at the same time he is insinuating that the mainstream media only post the facts and let the reader decide how they feel about the story - I think this is also mainly true.

Whichever source you choose to get your story from, you have to read both with a grain of salt - i.e. take it for what it is worth.  Mainstream media usually have a below satisfactory level of information and detail and bloggers generally write from the(ir) heart.  Neither of which is going to help me decide what I think of the situation in question.

I think mainstream media and unaccredited bloggers go hand in hand.  Read the article, then check the web to see what everyone else is thinking (and what details were omitted)!  Guarantee someone will post something where you go “well, I never thought of that”!  And for me that makes each and every blog I read worth the time.  Now a blog is never going to be the ‘source’ for me, sorry guys, but it will always play in to the ‘it’s nice to see what others think’ card

So yea, he needs to chill and maybe find a good blog to read

Posted by WingMan from Qc on 08/12/09 at 03:12 PM ET

I must’ve glossed right over the part where he mentions that the 20 year old Kane was out hitting the bars at 5AM and had more than likely been drinking underage….

Quick to judgment in the situation as a whole ??  Perhaps.  But let’s not portray Kane as squeaky clean just yet either…...

Hopefully he’ll learn from this experience, reminds me of Jordan Staal’s problems last year…

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 08/12/09 at 07:45 PM ET

I’d rather have bloggers speak their mind and let me decide if they are right or wrong.

Sure beats writers like Garrioch with his sources.

Posted by Grant on 08/12/09 at 07:52 PM ET

Dowbiggin’s desire to lump those who use the terms “ass-beating” with those of us who try to act as professionally as our biases allow us says it all.

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 08/12/09 at 09:40 PM ET