Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying that Kaner maybe needs to clean up his act or is possibly a total asshat when drunk (I don't think you can necessarily say yay or nay on that point just from, like, Deadspin) a lot of the stuff that people are all OMG!!!! about with him are like - when I went to university in the UK, that would've been a pretty normal thing to see. Not necessarily every night, but on weekends after finals or before breaks or basically whenever there was a good excuse to party it up a bit more than normal? Oh yeah. Drunk and being a moron? Normal. Drinking too much and being even more of a moron and looking like you fell asleep on the floor of a restroom? Normal. Etc.
(The UK, of course, does have some concerns about the overall drinking habits of university students, and binge drinking is recognized as an issue, but drinking as a general rule, even drinking until you're stupid, is Not Worth Getting Excited About. If you tried to sell a photo of someone who is, really, a pretty minor celebrity like Kaner to a tabloid in the UK just because they were university age and drunk with a bunch of other university age kids on or near a university campus, they'd probably just laugh at you.)
Do I wish he'd learn that because he's a hockey player he *can't* behave like a normal guy because all of this crap is what happens? Yeah, but mostly because it's got to be stressful for him.
(And of course if he does actually have some kind of legit problem, he should get help. But I'm baffled as to how people can conclude that he needs AA or whatever based pretty much exclusively on the Cinco de Kaner incident.)
Exactly. When you've got, idk, some twitter pics and a deadspin article, that is certainly not the whole picture. And, even here in the states, the drunk and acting stupid thing is DEFINITELY not uncommon. One would hope you'd be over it by the time you'd graduated from college, but we all know that's not the case. And since Kaner never even went to college and has been away from home and playing hockey since he was 14 or 15, it's a lot harder to find a spot where you say "okay, and now I need to grow up because people expect different things of me now."
And, yeah, it's hard to say that he "has a problem" when we certainly do not have a complete picture.
I actually commented to someone when the Cinco de Kaner thing happened that I kind of wonder if in some ways it would have been better for Kaner if he'd gone the Toews route with actually playing for a college team for a year or two - because then there would've been a pretty clearly defined period where doing that kind of stuff is not exciting at all and he maybe would've gotten it out of his system or had a better environment in which to figure out his limits and how and when to party without it turning into a complete media disaster.
(I mean, I've seen drunk-college-Tazer photos for sure, and he was definitely drinking during the Stanley Cup parade - including weird random 'pour it in my mouth, Kaner' moment - and I sincerely doubt that he never ever gets drunk now. He just knows how to pick the how and when and who with and how much better so we don't get seventeen billion camera phone photos.)
I actually went to college with a kid who kind of reminds me of Kaner - very charismatic, talented in his area, not horrible looking, liked to party, pretty much a bro - and over the four years from freshman to graduation, you could totally see him figuring it out and toning it down. He's still a bro-type dude, and he still parties (we're not really friends, but we're facebook friends, if you know what I mean?) but he's just figured out how to be responsible about it, and how to be drunk and have fun without turning into a total moron or getting into dumb fights or whatever. I think being in an environment where that was something people kind of expected kids to be figuring out (as part of the whole growing up thing) definitely made a difference for him - I can easily see how he would probably have struggled with it if he'd skipped college and done the sort of equivalent of being a professional hockey player in his area.
I think it probably would have better for him, yeah, in that sense - a year of college instead of the OHL. You just grow up and figure it out that way.
Why is it that no one else seems to be able to realize this? Well, other than Jonny, anyway.
Maybe Jonny was, like, a Stealth Wild Partier in North Dakota and so he secretly understands Kaner's desire to be a drunken moron. ;)
(... Yeah, I have a really hard time picturing Tazer ever reaching Kane levels of drunken antics. I think it's the fact that he looks serious and focused in photos even from when he was, like, FOUR. Getting dumb and drunk at a college party, sure. Going to the extent of wearing a tacky neon t-shirt with his own photo on it and passing out in silly places? Not so much.)
And the anecdotes Tazer's parents share of him being, like, five and being out on the ice practicing for hours when all his friends were inside having hot cocoa.
I'm sure he had stupid drunken moments (surely that's what the picture of him sitting on TJ Oshie's lap is from), but he definitely does not seem like the type to be as crazy as Kaner. He's just not that sort of guy.
Yeah, I totally agree. Though the mental image of him as a Stealth Wild Partier is kind of amusing.
(Right now I'm picturing him keeping it a secret from Kaner too, and then Kaner suddenly finds out when he goes to visit Tazer unexpectedly or he's hanging out in Tazer's apartment because he's waiting for him to get home because he expected him to be there and let himself in when he wasn't, and Tazer comes staggering in still mostly-drunk and like half-naked because it appears that at some point in the night he was dressed in bad frat-boy-esque drag and he's having trouble wrangling the feathers and the boa and the heels are killing him and how the hell does anyone manage to get anywhere in a tight sequined miniskirt, it's RESTRICTING.) (I have no idea why Tazer in this mental image was in drag, but there you go.) (ETA: Probably best not to ask where he got the hot pink bra that's still gamely clinging on to one shoulder, either.)
Kaner's just like '...' because where does he even START?
(And then Tazer actually FALLS OVER and can't get back up because he gets tangled in the boa and Kaner kind of sits there staring for another minute because he's too stunned to laugh even though he really wants to. Then he gets up and goes to help him because it's one of those bro things - he needs to at least make sure if Tazer passes out it's on the floor in the bathroom where the toilet is handy, you know?)
I feel like I should save that and see if it works as a fic inspiration. (No promises, my writerly abilities seem to be on vacation. I keep trying to get them to come home.)
ETA: Dude, imagine him trying to find a skirt in the first place that'd fit his booty and thighs. I bet it's almost as bad as Crosby trying to buy trousers.
100% agreed with you on this. I went to a ridiculously NOT party-inclined American college, and there was still plenty of drinking and related stupidity. We didn't even have frats, but we did have one house who turned their library into "The Beer Room" and covered the walls in cans, and two of my friends got trapped in their room one weekend because a beer pong table was set up outside their door. Unless every single rumor Deadspin reported on is true (which is extremely unlikely), Kaner wasn't even being unusually asshole-y. I think if he had a legit problem, Tazer wouldn't be texting him his support, and Sharpy wouldn't be saying he's a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. Kaner did stupid shit, yes, but not anything abnormally stupid.
Exactly. My school banned frats before they even allowed in girls, and there was STILL lots of drinking and stupidity, etc. It happens no matter where you go - that's just the way kids are.
And, yeah, Tazer and Sharpy wouldn't be talking in that fashion if there was a real problem - they'd be over there helping him get to be okay.
Another voice of reason to be found in this article about two different players that got talked about for their drinking (Richards & Carter, formerly Flyers and now Kings):
Not surprisingly, character issues were raised during Thursday night’s conference call with Kings’ President and General Manager Dean Lombardi. And Lombardi, in his highly entertaining manner, candidly addressed the issue, delivering what he called a long speech on “human nature.”
“I think a lot of this stuff really got blown out of proportion,” Lombardi said. “As I told one guy, if somebody had taken pictures of me in college … I’d like to know if they had cameras around when you guys went out on Friday and Saturday night? How many of those pictures would have shown some things that probably were… this is something you do as a 21-year-old.”
(Cut to scenes of journalists shifting uncomfortably in their chairs, thankful Twitter didn’t exist 20 years ago.)
“How many of us are in position to throw stones?” Lombardi said. “We were just never were celebrity enough where people wanted to take pictures of us. I do think that given our culture with TMZ and things, this stuff can get a little exaggerated.
“But that said, I do think athletes and professionals all go through a phase like we did in college. You’ve got to grow up and learn from it. They’re no different than anybody else at a young age.
“Just because they’re great athletes doesn’t mean, all of a sudden, they’re not human beings. I think we have to recognize that particularly in today’s day and age when we give them so much so early. That there’s a growth process here that doesn’t start as soon as you give a kid $50 million. It actually hurts that process.
“You’re just hoping these are good people that were brought up the right way and just like all of us, when we were at that stage of our lives, we weren’t exactly all choirboys. So I think some of it is exaggerated.”
(The UK, of course, does have some concerns about the overall drinking habits of university students, and binge drinking is recognized as an issue, but drinking as a general rule, even drinking until you're stupid, is Not Worth Getting Excited About. If you tried to sell a photo of someone who is, really, a pretty minor celebrity like Kaner to a tabloid in the UK just because they were university age and drunk with a bunch of other university age kids on or near a university campus, they'd probably just laugh at you.)
Do I wish he'd learn that because he's a hockey player he *can't* behave like a normal guy because all of this crap is what happens? Yeah, but mostly because it's got to be stressful for him.
(And of course if he does actually have some kind of legit problem, he should get help. But I'm baffled as to how people can conclude that he needs AA or whatever based pretty much exclusively on the Cinco de Kaner incident.)
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And, yeah, it's hard to say that he "has a problem" when we certainly do not have a complete picture.
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(I mean, I've seen drunk-college-Tazer photos for sure, and he was definitely drinking during the Stanley Cup parade - including weird random 'pour it in my mouth, Kaner' moment - and I sincerely doubt that he never ever gets drunk now. He just knows how to pick the how and when and who with and how much better so we don't get seventeen billion camera phone photos.)
I actually went to college with a kid who kind of reminds me of Kaner - very charismatic, talented in his area, not horrible looking, liked to party, pretty much a bro - and over the four years from freshman to graduation, you could totally see him figuring it out and toning it down. He's still a bro-type dude, and he still parties (we're not really friends, but we're facebook friends, if you know what I mean?) but he's just figured out how to be responsible about it, and how to be drunk and have fun without turning into a total moron or getting into dumb fights or whatever. I think being in an environment where that was something people kind of expected kids to be figuring out (as part of the whole growing up thing) definitely made a difference for him - I can easily see how he would probably have struggled with it if he'd skipped college and done the sort of equivalent of being a professional hockey player in his area.
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Why is it that no one else seems to be able to realize this? Well, other than Jonny, anyway.
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(... Yeah, I have a really hard time picturing Tazer ever reaching Kane levels of drunken antics. I think it's the fact that he looks serious and focused in photos even from when he was, like, FOUR. Getting dumb and drunk at a college party, sure. Going to the extent of wearing a tacky neon t-shirt with his own photo on it and passing out in silly places? Not so much.)
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I'm sure he had stupid drunken moments (surely that's what the picture of him sitting on TJ Oshie's lap is from), but he definitely does not seem like the type to be as crazy as Kaner. He's just not that sort of guy.
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(Right now I'm picturing him keeping it a secret from Kaner too, and then Kaner suddenly finds out when he goes to visit Tazer unexpectedly or he's hanging out in Tazer's apartment because he's waiting for him to get home because he expected him to be there and let himself in when he wasn't, and Tazer comes staggering in still mostly-drunk and like half-naked because it appears that at some point in the night he was dressed in bad frat-boy-esque drag and he's having trouble wrangling the feathers and the boa and the heels are killing him and how the hell does anyone manage to get anywhere in a tight sequined miniskirt, it's RESTRICTING.) (I have no idea why Tazer in this mental image was in drag, but there you go.) (ETA: Probably best not to ask where he got the hot pink bra that's still gamely clinging on to one shoulder, either.)
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(And then Tazer actually FALLS OVER and can't get back up because he gets tangled in the boa and Kaner kind of sits there staring for another minute because he's too stunned to laugh even though he really wants to. Then he gets up and goes to help him because it's one of those bro things - he needs to at least make sure if Tazer passes out it's on the floor in the bathroom where the toilet is handy, you know?)
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I feel like I should save that and see if it works as a fic inspiration. (No promises, my writerly abilities seem to be on vacation. I keep trying to get them to come home.)
ETA: Dude, imagine him trying to find a skirt in the first place that'd fit his booty and thighs. I bet it's almost as bad as Crosby trying to buy trousers.
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And, yeah, Tazer and Sharpy wouldn't be talking in that fashion if there was a real problem - they'd be over there helping him get to be okay.
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Not surprisingly, character issues were raised during Thursday night’s conference call with Kings’ President and General Manager Dean Lombardi. And Lombardi, in his highly entertaining manner, candidly addressed the issue, delivering what he called a long speech on “human nature.”
“I think a lot of this stuff really got blown out of proportion,” Lombardi said. “As I told one guy, if somebody had taken pictures of me in college … I’d like to know if they had cameras around when you guys went out on Friday and Saturday night? How many of those pictures would have shown some things that probably were… this is something you do as a 21-year-old.”
(Cut to scenes of journalists shifting uncomfortably in their chairs, thankful Twitter didn’t exist 20 years ago.)
“How many of us are in position to throw stones?” Lombardi said. “We were just never were celebrity enough where people wanted to take pictures of us. I do think that given our culture with TMZ and things, this stuff can get a little exaggerated.
“But that said, I do think athletes and professionals all go through a phase like we did in college. You’ve got to grow up and learn from it. They’re no different than anybody else at a young age.
“Just because they’re great athletes doesn’t mean, all of a sudden, they’re not human beings. I think we have to recognize that particularly in today’s day and age when we give them so much so early. That there’s a growth process here that doesn’t start as soon as you give a kid $50 million. It actually hurts that process.
“You’re just hoping these are good people that were brought up the right way and just like all of us, when we were at that stage of our lives, we weren’t exactly all choirboys. So I think some of it is exaggerated.”
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