One Goal!

Hello again. A bad, bad weekend for the two baseball teams around here. The White Sox lost two out of three to the hapless Indians at home, while the Cubs have lost two of the first three (of a four game wrap-around series) to Colorado out at Coors Field with game four tonight. Even worse for the Northsiders, Carlos Zambrano joined Ted Lilly on the DL due to back spasms, Aramis Ramirez had to leave Saturday's game and didn't play on Sunday because of his shoulder, and the Cardinals had two come from behind victories leading to their eventual sweep of the Pirates. Bad, bad weekend all around.

Speaking of BAD weekends, how do you think Patrick Kane's weekend went? Wow. I don't know what other people are saying about this right now, but I'm finding it EXTREMELY hard to believe that a millionaire athlete would beat up a 62 year old cab driver over $1.20 in change. Something else had to lead up to this. I think that it's obvious that Kane and his cousin were drunk. I GUARANTEE that the cab driver recognized the Blackhawks star as Buffalo's "home town hero," and either gave him a hard time or got a little too vehement for an intoxicated 20 year old to handle at 4AM. So Kane probably got mouthy back with the guy (showing off for his cousin), and when they reached their destination, Kane gave him the $15 and asked for "all of his change back" not wanting to tip this "d-bag" that he'd been jawing with the entire ride. The cab driver probably responded by saying that he didn't have any change (when everyone knows that cab drivers always have change), and so Kane and his cuz' reached for their money leading to some kind of altercation. Obviously, we don't know "exactly" what happened, but I guarantee you that the incident wasn't as the cab driver described it: (I didn't have their twenty cents change so they beat the crap out of me, then robbed me and took off). I'm sorry. I just don't think that ANY professional athlete is just going to assault somebody over twenty cents when there wasn't anything going on leading up to that point. It doesn't make any sense. Only time will tell I guess.

I AM glad, however, that the Blackhawks "honeymoon" is finally over. It got to be a bit much for me. I remember saying during their playoff run, that I almost felt bad cheering for a team that I didn't care about at all two years before (I'm not alone on this), but talk about one hell of a drop off. They went from the "can't do wrong Hawks" to the Cincinnati Bengals in the course of ONE Summer. They lost to Detroit in the Conference Finals, screwed up the signings of their batch of free agents, fired their GM Dale Tallon, signed Marian Hossa who is now out due to shoulder surgery (and is having HIS contract examined as well for wrong-doing), and now, had their all-star "face of the franchise" get arrested for assaulting and robbing a cab driver at 4AM (all the while only being 20 years old)!!! Now that's "Red FALLING!" It's getting to the point that when you open up the newspaper, you expect to see something negative when the piece is about the Hawks. Talk about a complete 180 from all of the kiss-ass stories about the Saint John McDonough! You guys wanted to be covered as "equals" in this town, be careful what you wish for.

Whether Kane blatantly committed the crimes that he is accused of committing, or the cab driver deserves equal blame for this incident has very little importance to me. You simply just CAN'T put yourself in those kinds of situations. I'm NOT going to get on him for underage drinking. Yes, it's wrong, but we all did it. I'm not that much of a hypocrite. I also don't care that he was out until 4AM...this is America, we can be out as late as we want. It's stupid when people say that you shouldn't be out that late, yes you should...if you want to, so I'm not going to preach about that either. You just have to be a little more tactful with how you handle things Patrick (Derrick Rose, Jonathan Toews, Tyrus Thomas, Michael Phelps, all young athletes). If the cab driver is bothering you (just my opinion that the cab driver is due some blame in this), immediately tell him to pull over, pay him what he's owed, and get a new cab. It's that simple. Just avoid any possible altercation BEFORE it has a chance to escalate into something as ridiculous as this. No one wants to hear the "I'm only 20 years old" excuse anymore. It sucks, yet you hear Kane, D-Rose, etc. talk about it all of the time. Guess what, you're NOT too young for all of the perks (big contract, endorsements, fame, girls, notoriety), so you're NOT too young for all of the responsibilities that come with them as well. It's that simple. Go out, have fun, enjoy the gifts that were presented to you. You'd be stupid not too, but recognize the fact that you are a part of 1% that were given these gifts which means that 99% of us weren't. A good portion of that 99% will always try and bring you down if YOU let them. Stop letting them.

Hit me up on facebook or in the comments section of this blog. Right now I'm listening to "Jumping the Shark" by The Lawrence Arms. Chicago's finest. Drinks of Choice: Milwaukee's Finest, MHL.

Peace the F.
Webby