Put a steak in the Kane rumours

I first heard the rumour about three weeks ago. The story goes: Evander Kane was at Hy's Steakhouse with a group of people and tried to leave without paying the bill. When challenged by the waitress, he said something to the effect that he shouldn't have to pay because his presence there was a benefit to the restaurant.

I never mentioned this story before on social media because I had my doubts that it was true, and there was really no point in spreading a negative rumour anyhow. But then this happened:

Which led to this being written.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that the flashy-dressing young Kane did what the story says he did, but there are many other possibilities as well. Maybe there was a misunderstanding among the group about who was going to pay, and maybe Kane has a deadpan sense of humour and made a joke about not paying, even though he fully intended to. Maybe a waitress was just pissed about the tip she got, or maybe nothing happened at all and somebody with a bone to pick concocted the rumour out of thin air. Maybe he stopped at Co-op for a fill, and by word of mouth that turned into "stiffed a waitress on a bill."

You can't really blame Winnipeggers for believing that there's fire when they smell smoke. The rumours about the Jets coming back were obviously true, as were the rumours about IKEA coming and Tim being gay. (Inside joke. Please disregard if you don't know Tim.) However, whether it's true or not, we need to drop this whole thing ... as soon as I'm done writing this post.

If he didn't do it, then obviously it is wrong to imply that he might have. If he did do it, I am pretty sure he learned a lesson here and will not do it again.

Word gets around quickly in a small city like Winnipeg, and you just can't get away with that shit. Besides, he should get a second chance. He has a ton of potential, not just as a player but as an ambassador of the sport, and he's still very young. It is counter-productive in every way to anchor him to this story. It would also be unfortunate if the lesson that he took away from all this was that Winnipeggers are nasty and unforgiving.

That is all.

Yes, I am aware that this post may seem somewhat hypocritical.

By the way, if you haven't checked out my Oduya comic strip yet, click here.