Taylor Hall fights, and the Oilers are doomed to fail

Last night, Taylor Hall proved how tough he was by fighting Derek Dorsett, a primitive thug with 11 career goals in 160 games and, while he stands as a 5'11" welterweight, he had 40 NHL fights to Hall's zero, never mind the dozens of scraps Dorsett had in junior.

Hall's fight showed grit, moxie, determination, character, and every single other useless attribute that should be discounted.

Mario Lemieux speaks the truth

Preface: Don't worry, I'm not trying to go all Damien Cox or Adam Proteau here. Finding a reasonable column in print media on fighting is about as tough as finding Dire Straits on FM radio in Canada, but I'll give it a shot in online form.

Frequently, when a fight breaks out in another sport, I feel a tinge of pride that a baseball player, basketball player or elephant polo player doesn't fight like a hockey player. But that doesn't mean every clean hit needs to result in fisticuffs or that every accidental running-of-the-goalie needs to result in a scrum around the net. There's a little too much testosterone in the game, and last week we saw the epitome of it.

Mike Richards sounds off on PK Subban

I'm no expert on unwritten rules, but I'm pretty sure Mike Richards is breaking one right about here.

“He’s a guy that’s come in the league and hasn’t earned respect,” Richards told Team 990 after the game.

“It’s just frustrating to see a young guy like that come in here and so much as think that he’s better than a lot of people. You have to earn respect in this league. It takes a lot. You can’t just come in here as a rookie and play like that. It’s not the way to get respect from other players around the league.

Sidney Crosby fights, Jarome Iginla doesn't

Kaboom, Niskanen. I don't particularly like fighting, and when you're losing the game, it's certainly a bad idea to have your star player off the ice for 5+ minutes.

Citizen footage of yesterday's Toronto FC/Houston Dynamo "brawl"

Somehow, the football purists would say that this ruins the game more than disastrous officiating at the World Cup, but we're probably good because none of them watch MLS anyway.

The Full 90 has a brief recap of the implications for Toronto's Julian de Guzman, who was in the middle of all the calamity.

That was in the 60th minute, where Nana Attakora and de Guzman got into it with Joseph Ngwenya of Houston, with the latter two getting instant red cards.

More detailed highlights of the "brawl" can be found at MLSNET.com's Matchcenter.

At the end of the game, Amadou Sanyang got into it with a couple of Houston players, earning himself his second yellow. Suspensions are sure to come.

By the way, the game ended in a 1-1 draw, with Brian Ching and Dan Gargan exchanging goals off of headers. Gargan's was FC's first at home since Chad Barrett scored against New England on May 22nd.

So, to recap, a couple of fights and Toronto FC's first goal at home in over a month. I thought the Maple Leafs had the summer off.

Morning Briefing - Friday, June 3rd

CFL camps open, Morneau continues to roll

-Training camps are open for rookies around the CFL. One of them in Toronto will become the new starting quarterback. In a world where former Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks run amok searching for software engineering jobs, you'd think one of them would be able to spend a few months throwing to wide open defensive backs in the CFL East Division. It's not like it's a job that will carry over into November.

-Justin Morneau singled last night in Seattle, increasing his hit streak to a modest six games, briefly taking over the top spot in the American League batting race before he went 0-fer in his last three at bats. The Twins won 4-1, giving them three out of four games in the series. The Twins move on to play Oakland to actually face Dallas Braden tonight. Remember him? He pitched a perfect game about a month ago.

-After a pair of blown 9th inning leads, the Jays kick off a three-game set against the Yankees tonight. Brett Cecil (5-2) goes up against former Jay A.J. Burnett (6-2). Until Cecil spells 'laodician' correctly, I'll have my butt firmly planted in my seat cheering on Toronto's Laura Olivia Newcombe.

-Meanwhile, your required reading today comes from Jack Bogoch, who investigated a Regina hockey school of fighting with an open mind. [Deadspin.com] Given that somebody has died doing this and it's not leaving the game anytime soon, shouldn't schools like this be more commonplace?

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Quick. What are your favourite drinking games to play when watching the spelling bee? It's easier to watch than Jeopardy, because the solutions are right there on the screen. All you have to do is watch and hope the 11-year old kid doesn't screw up. Like parents taking their kids on Toddlers and Tiaras.