Imrem: Patrick Kane case too compelling to ignore

As filthy as it makes me feel, I can't turn away from every latest bit of Patrick Kane news.

The sexual-assault case is so much bigger than hockey, Stanley Cups and franchise brands.

The case is bigger than whether Hawks management bungled a news conference when training camp opened last week in South Bend.

It's bigger than the Hawks being distracted from their one goal of defending their NHL championship.

It's about a man and a woman, neither of whom is likely to emerge unscathed in some way regardless of how this case turns out.

Kane hasn't been charged with a crime, but every time developments fade away for a while, something stunning stirs them up again.

What occurred Wednesday made hockey slashing, boarding and roughing look like child's play, which in many ways all sports are anyway.

Thomas Eoannou, an attorney for Kane's accuser, held a news conference in Buffalo, near Hamburg, New York, where the crime allegedly occurred.

Eoannou said the police evidence bag that had contained the accuser's rape kit was torn open, emptied and deposited in the doorway of the accuser's mother's home.

"We're hoping to find out how this happened," Eoannou said. "and who had incentive to tamper with evidence."

Toward that end, Eoannou called for an independent agency - the FBI or state police - to investigate what happened and how and why.

While Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita said Eoannou's claim would be investigated, the head of the county agency responsible for maintaining evidence in such cases said everything given to the agency by the Hamburg Police Department is accounted for.

"This includes the evidence in the rape kit and the packaging itself," said Erie County Commissioner of Central Police Services John Glascott.

Eoannou also said that there has been "the worst example of victim bashing I have seen" in this case.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could go all the way back to when the worst misconduct you would read about on the sports pages had to do with deflated footballs?

Or maybe about the Bears being on the way to another sorry season or about anything else in sports to worry about that doesn't matter?

Sports nonsense is so much fun to follow, like last weekend's acrimony between the Cubs and Cardinals over batters being hit by pitches.

The Kane case is no fun but too compelling to not follow.

We're talking here about a sexual assault that either happened or didn't happen, and now about whether authorities are handling evidence professionally.

The whole thing is unfolding like an episode of "Law and Order."

I do seem to remember a few where prosecutors and defense attorneys argued about which side was harmed more by tainted evidence.

I also seem to remember a few involving sexual assault and the defense strategy being to bash the victim.

Those shows were said to be ripped from the pages of newspapers, including some that leaked into sports sections.

But never did it occur to me that a case involving the Blackhawks - Chicago's model sports franchise - would qualify as fodder if "Law and Order" still were in production.

When something like sexual assault hits close to home, you want to change channels or put your hands over your eyes.

But you can't. At least I can't. Not when it's real life rather than a TV show.

I want it to be over, but in the meantime readily await the latest news bulletin on the crawl at the bottom of ESPN.

I want to know someone's next move, like whether the Hawks will continue making Patrick Kane available to the media, what questions he'll be asked and how he'll address them.

It's like, as filthy as it makes me feel, I want to be disgusted even more than I already am by a disgusting story that's too big to ignore.

mimrem@dailyherald.com