Hunt, Holmes Fight at Camp

A feisty mini-camp practice overflowed into the locker room yesterday at Three Rivers Stadium. Richard Huntley, who threw a ball at Earl Holmes to precipitate a fight on the field, was explaining to reporters that he was being pushed after plays "a couple days in practice," and had tired of it. He then told reporters "It's done and over with." That's when Holmes split the reporters at Huntley's locker to shake a finger in Huntley's face. Huntley talked back and Holmes lunged at him (or vice versa), and the two went at it. Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala, seated next to Huntley, immediately jumped between them and took a few blows. The locker room then erupted, with a mass of players attempting to break up the fight. Holmes then picked up and began waving a stool and Jason Gildon picked up a folded wooden chair, which was ripped from his hands. Gildon then picked up a stool and began waving it, trying to get to Huntley, who ran across the room and picked up a stool of his own. Tempers finally cooled, and Bill Cowher walked in. He took Holmes into the shower to talk to him. Cowher later talked to Huntley. The veterans who commented on the incident shrugged it off, citing the increased competitive nature of the team. Some vets, like Roger Duffy, actually pooh-poohed the fight, claiming "nothing good" can come of it.

I'm actually pleased with this aggressiveness, passion, and fury. This is what makes a football team tough and fearsome. This is what this team has SORELY been lacking the past couple years. The passive, unemotional Dawson and Kirkland will probably be displeased, but had we displayed this kind of intensity last season, we surely would not have lost to Cleveland and Cinci.

I did, of course, have to laugh my tail off about "Gildon picked up a folded wooden chair, which was ripped from his hands." Some things never change. Gildon's feeble on the gridiron, and just as feeble during a melee.