Imrem: Difficult to sort out feelings on Kane

Events over the weekend make this a good time to try to sort out in print my emotions concerning Patrick Kane.

Apparently others already completed the process for themselves.

One email Saturday announced, “Blackhawks to Honor Kane for Record-Breaking Point Streak” before Sunday night's game.

Another announced, “Fans Elect Division Captains for 2016 Honda All-Star Game,” with Kane being one of four.

The twin bulletins signaled that all was forgotten and perhaps even forgiven.

Kane spent much of his off-season under investigation after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in his home outside of Buffalo, New York.

The district attorney didn't press charges, freeing Kane's body and mind and spirit and soul to go about the business of being one of the world's greatest hockey players.

Kane has done just that by stretching a point streak to 26 games — a record for the Hawks and U.S.-born players — on the way toward leading the NHL in scoring.

Still lingering, however, was the court outside the courthouse, the less formal one referred to often concerning celebrities: public opinion.

Would Kane's image be irreparably damaged? Would people view him differently than they did before? Would they suspect down deep that he skated on the allegations?

Well, those weekend emails answered in Kane's favor.

Hockey fans voted Kane an all-star captain and Hawks fans applauded when he was presented an engraved gold puck during a brief ceremony.

I wish it were that easy for me. I still haven't figured out what to think of Kane and the sexual-assault matter.

It didn't help Kane that this wasn't his first legal entanglement. The others, less serious, pretty much surfaced and evaporated over time as Kane behaved himself for a few years.

Inside column-writing: If the Hawks' run to the Stanley Cup last spring had gone one more game, I was poised to write a rave review of how Kane had matured as a person and improved his off-ice conduct.

I had been waiting to go on record with that but waited while Kane still was on my personal list of athletes on probation for earlier indiscretions.

So what now after the summer of uncertainty?

Do I consider the Buffalo prosecutor's decision not to prosecute to mean that Kane is innocent?

I'll level with you. This might surprise you, but I'm human. Consequently, I still wonder what happened that night in that room in that house.

Meanwhile, I also wonder whether politics influenced the district attorney, whether the finest legal representation money can buy saved Kane, and whether he simply beat the system.

At the same time, I recognize that the woman might have lied all along in a scheme to extort big bucks from a big-time athlete.

It has been known to happen, you know?

I really wish I knew for sure that Patrick Kane was unjustly accused or even that he was justly accused. For his sake I hope for the former but fear the latter, but it would be nice to know one way or the other.

I still can marvel at Kane's hockey skills but can't watch him without thinking of that night in Buffalo.

Sorry, just being honest.

Athletes in a lot of ways are actors playing roles that you appreciate despite whatever issues arise in real life.

Fairly or not, in my mind Patrick Kane is back on probation if only for putting himself in a compromising position.

The court of public opinion's verdict over the weekend didn't change much for me.

mimrem@dailyherald.com