shadow man's game

When an individual gives you a lot of information on various things over a prolonged period of time, which they tell you not because you want to know about it, which often times you don't want to know about it, but because you need to know about it for the good of yourself and the individuals in your life who you care about

Earl: Max keeps telling me about a lot of different stuff they hear about, not only from the news from various sources of information. Some of the stuff they are telling me is interesting, while some of it is not that intriguing. Almost all of it though seems to shed some light about what is actually going on out there.

Nicolette: He is playing the shadow man's game. He is not telling you that information because you want to know about it; he is telling you that information because he thinks you need to know about it. You should listen to what he is saying.
Earl: I'll keep that in mind.