A CUP OF KINDNESS

PHIL TAYLOR

March 19, 2012

The most difficult conversation of Patrick Burke's life did not come on the day his younger brother, Brendan, revealed he was gay. That was a relatively easy talk, at least for Patrick, now a scout for the Flyers. It was just after Christmas in 2007, and he was 24, five years older than Brendan. They were bringing in Patrick's luggage from the car after a scouting trip when Brendan told him, and for Patrick it didn't change a thing. Why would it? They were brothers. Just to make sure it wasn't one of Brendan's jokes, Patrick made him swear on the Stanley Cup that he was serious, the way the brothers often did, because hockey runs in the Burkes' blood. Brendan, then the student manager of the Miami (Ohio) men's hockey team, swore accordingly. "I love you," Patrick told his brother. Then he told him to grab a suitcase.