Hope Maple Leafs' Jake McCabe Is OK, But Why Did He Think Of Fighting Hathaway?

There's an old saying that suggests the following: Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing enough not to put it into a fruit salad.

On Sunday night, Jake McCabe of the Toronto Maple Leafs was equipped with the knowledge that Garnet Hathaway of the Philadelphia Flyers had just run over his goalie. But instead of choosing wisdom and not provoking one of the NHL's toughest players and coercing him into a fight, McCabe ate several punches before falling and striking the back of his helmeted head on the ice.

You certainly hope McCabe is OK and sat out the rest of the game for precautionary reasons. But you really have to question the guy's judgment in that situation. Hockey people insist that sometimes it's necessary to fight, you know, because hockey requires an emotional outlet that other sports don't. Don't agree, but OK.

But this was not one of those situations. It was pure retribution when a penalty was already coming, being administered by a player who had no business doing it against a player who badly overmatched him.

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