Grilling Ain't No Hobby: The Florida Panthers Will Be Missing A Player For Weeks After He Was Injured In A Barbecue Accident
Eliot J. Schechter. Getty Images.Listen, man. I get it. As someone who loves to cook outdoors, I know how fun it can be to play with fire. That little caveman portion of your brain gets unlocked when you're watching those flames dance around the grill. The heat hits your face and you just want more of it. You give the tongs a few clicks, and let it rip. Before you know it, you're working with a grill that's 900 degrees. Just ask Frank the Tank.
You're not thinking about playing hockey professionally for the Florida Panthers. You're not thinking about a Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Edmonton Oilers this upcoming weekend. All you're thinking about is cooking some meat over an open flame like God intended. I'm sure the Panthers aren't thrilled about it, but they have to be able to understand.
Now we don't know exactly what happened to Eetu Luostarinen here. The details are super vague. We don't know if there was a grease fire that took off and crisped up his face. We don't know if he was trying to sear some steaks, and ended up searing his hands after actually grabbing some piping hot grill grates. But the fact that this injury has been designated "week to week" sure makes it sound like he got himself pretty good. This isn't just a quick burn blister on your finger or anything like that.
The grease fire seems like it would be the most likely scenario here. People aren't nearly diligent enough about properly cleaning out their grills. You get all that fat dripping down to the bottom of the grill, you get lazy about cleaning it out, you start a new fire a few weeks later and all of a sudden you just created a firebomb ready turn your grill into a blazing inferno from hell. And once that fire gets going, people start to panic. You need to just cut the heat and close the lid, but people don't think correctly when there's a giant fire burning in front of them. That definitely seems like a quick way to end up on the IR.
All I know is that in order to consider yourself a proper Grill Master, you need to know a thing or two about fire management. So we'll just keep one of these shirts on hold until Eetu Luostarinen has earned it. But for the rest of you out there who consider yourself a Grill Master, go buy one right now.