Monday Musings: I had a dream, I had an awesome dream

I had a very strange dream over the weekend.

In it, P.K. Subban, Taylor Hall and Steven Stamkos are dining together at an upscale restaurant. Everything seems perfectly normal except that Subban is wearing a cowboy hat and strumming a banjo. Hall is smoking a cigar and working on his pronunciation of the phrase "fuhget aboud it." Nearby, general managers Ray Shero and David Poile are laughing, sporting "Shark Week" T-shirts. Stamkos is studying the menu intensely for what seems an eternity, unable to make a decision on an entrée. "Hmmm," he begins, "so much to choose from. I feel adventurous."

Three waiters who look suspiciously like Brendan Shanahan, Tim Murray and Ken Holland are all talking at once, trying to convince Stamkos to try their suggestions. Stamkos is politely listening but then shakes his head and utters: "Just give me the usual." A tuxedo-wearing Steve Yzerman steps forward, with a towel draped over his arm and replies "very good, sir."

At the next table, New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady is eating clam chowder with NBA free agent Kevin Durant. Afterward, Brady shows Durant just how much easier it is to palm a slightly under-inflated basketball as they play one-on-one in the restaurant kitchen. Brady goes in for a lay-up, but out of nowhere comes Pinball Clemons in a Raptors' jersey, swatting the ball away with great ferocity. In the doorway, Ottawa Redblacks' head coach Rick Campbell and Montreal Alouettes' receiver Duron Carter are politely discussing who should enter first. "After you," insists Campbell. "Oh, no, no, no, I won't hear of it," answers Carter. "After you."

The dream ends with, by far, the weirdest thing of all: Novak Djokovic being eliminated in the third round at Wimbledon. I know, right? It's the last time I'll eat a poutine burrito right before lights out.

But no, actually, it won't be the last time.

THE LITTLE THINGS

Speaking of waking up, nice work Iceland. We'll miss your Cinderella story as well as your Radio Ga Ga like victory celebrations. We now eagerly await the major motion picture. I expect there'll be a full complement of Hemsworths in it.

Phil Kessel has decided to bring the Stanley Cup to Toronto on the day he gets it this summer. Well played, Phil. Like bringing a hot date to a party where you know your ex is going to be.

At the Three Amigos Summit, I'm sure Justin Trudeau, Barack Obama and Enrique Pena Nieto found some time to talk sports...

This week's suggested login password: SirDudleyDigges. Add a QP16 in there if you're advised it's "weak." Great password, great name for a horse.

Perhaps the bigger story of this year's Queen's Plate was how badly Esposito faded in the stretch. Someone should have interviewed that horse immediately after the race and told it Canada was disappointed. That would've been gold.

Nice to see that NHL general managers are no longer their own worst enemies when it comes to tossing big contracts around. *searches for sarcasm key on laptop* Get the feeling that if you sent most any of them out for a medium pepperoni pizza, they'd come back with an extra large deluxe with triple cheese. Oh, and in a used car that they bought on the way back.

Broadcasters Jamie Campbell, Don Cherry and Gregg Zaun, below, in Canada Day garb on Sportsnet. Because not even one of them is sitting on a moose, I have to grade it #Fail.

We've got the Genie Army. It's time for a way cool name for the legions of Brooke Henderson fans. Something bigger, though. The Brooke Military Industrial Complex.

BUT SERIOUSLY

The CFL has some decisions to make after Thursday night's game between Ottawa and Montreal and it can send messages on a number of things if it so chooses. When Alouettes receiver Duron Carter stormed over towards the Redblacks' bench after scoring a touchdown, it touched off a melee and spurred a blizzard of opinions as to who was in the wrong and what the punishments should be.

Carter got the brunt of the scorn from the outset, seeing as it was he who got the ball rolling with his actions. The CFL could hand him a suspension for starting the thing, and many are calling for precisely that. However, I don't believe that Carter's actions are deserving of a suspension. A fine, yes, but not a suspension (he's already been fined by the Alouettes for "conduct detrimental to the club").

What Carter did was, at least, show poor judgement in deciding to answer what he termed some Ottawa trash-talking before he made the play. He may have an argument that there were mitigating circumstances as he was belted in the head by Ottawa defensive back Jermaine Robinson (fine coming there, you can bet).

Even if that's not so, Carter's action's could be termed stupid or idiotic if you like. But not violent, in my opinion. Even his bumping of Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell really wasn't that much, looking to most as though Campbell embellished it with a flop. I've seen worse breaches of etiquette in the buffet line at a softball banquet.

Carter was already turfed from the game at a critical moment, punishing him and his team already. And that's as it should be. As well, Campbell was on the field of play at the time (even if that doesn't matter all that much as coaches have constantly been allowed to be out there despite what the letter of league law says) so that gives Carter a bit of a reprieve as he was ushered into the bench area by angry Ottawa players after that. Campbell didn't do anything menacing and can easily argue that all he was doing was heading out to tell an opposing player to "keep away from this bench."

Carter is the author of the situation and deserves to be fined accordingly. Robinson, Campbell and Ottawa defensive back Jerrell Gavins (who was ejected after throwing a punch at the back of Carter's head) might all come up a little lighter in the wallet too.

The CFL will very likely send more than one message in the aftermath of this event.