Noel Prefontaine told Perry Lefko that he is very unimpressed with the way the Argos shipped him to Edmonton.
He played with his heart for the organization for 10 years and now Noel Prefontaine feels heartbroken.
Traded to the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday and replaced by Mike Vanderjagt, the player he replaced 10 years before, Prefontaine is hurt because the Argos, which he feels cultivates an image of family, treated his situation like a business.
"It is heartbreaking," he said.
He is upset the organization never told him in advance he was on the trade block - sources tell Sportsnet.ca there had been ongoing talks in the league for the last three weeks - so that he could discuss possibly taking a pay cut and remain with the team as a punter, the position in which he excelled in his time with Toronto.
There has been speculation the Argos had serious concerns about Prefontaine's field-goal production, something which he's struggled with since joining the Argos because he had last done it in high school. He worked hard to become a dual-purpose kicker, but faltered consistently last year, largely due to lingering concussion problems he had when he landed heavily on his head following a blocked punt in the first game. He also battled a leg injury as well but he said he had had one of the best off-season training programs of his career and was in great physical shape.
Prefontaine acknowledged his field-goal struggles, but also noted his punting often played a pivotal role in the outcome of games for the Argos, who struggled offensively and needed to win games on field position. Prefontaine also became effective on special teams because of his ability to make tackles.
He is upset that a missed assignment led to the blocked punt and caused him to deal with physical issues that required substantial time to overcome and may still need more, and he claims the organization didn't fully appreciate his situation.
"These are the things that bother me," he said. "You try to do the right things, be productive, be a good locker-room guy and show them that football means everything and obviously it's not to their liking or maybe it wasn't enough."
Prefontaine is also bothered that he'll have to leave his wife, who is pregnant with the couple's first child and is scheduled to give birth in October.
"That's it, that's a big part of it," he told me on Saturday. "The hurt and the anger, of course, will subside. In time, we all have to deal with some kind of adversity. You see friendships and relationships are ruined (because of things like this). I could be totally at fault here. Maybe I talk too much. Maybe it got out that I was critical of certain things."
When asked if he was looking at this too personally and not strictly as a business move, Prefontaine said that would be fine except the Argos try to promote the concept of family.
"It's typical (of the organization)," he said. "You stick around and see enough stuff happen. You see a guy get cut a day before he's to get a bonus. Why in the world can't you do it sooner?
"Call it a business and stop it with this family stuff. Call it what it is, don't sugarcoat it. Chemistry is not built from the top on down, chemistry is built from the players (in the locker room)."
He said the organization doesn't take care of its retired players, but it was pointed out to him that Adrion Smith received a paid ambassador's role with the team upon his retirement and that quarterback Damon Allen, who officially announced his retirement this week, will be hired in a special advisory capacity.
"(Damon) hasn't been an Argo as long as I have," Prefontaine said. "I'm not saying you pick one player over another. If they'd handled it properly…"
He is upset with general manager Adam Rita, who called him on Friday, saying he needed to meet with him urgently. It was at that point Prefontaine figured he'd been traded. Sitting with Rita and rookie head coach Rick Stubler, the team's long-time former defensive co-ordinator with whom he had a good relationship, Prefontaine felt proper etiquette had been broached.
"Maybe I thought we were closer. Maybe that's my fault," he said of his relationship with Stubler, with whom he shared a passion for golf. "We talked about all kinds of things. There was a relationship. If you want to be my friend and you can't talk to me. Don't tell me this b.s. about family and that's how you treat people."
He is looking forward to going to Edmonton.
"I'm going to a class organization and hope to make the best of it," he said.
He joked that the trade has happened when he is nearing the Argo record for all-time punting yards and that maybe the organization will bring him back at some time - just as they did last year with Derrell (Mookie) Mitchell, who had been traded by the Argos a few years before when he was nearing the franchise's all-time mark for receiving yards.
"I almost feel like Mookie," he laughed. "Maybe they'll sign me in six years and I'll play two games and they'll cut me…I've been very proud to be a part of this organization and to play with players like Mike O'Shea, (Kevin) Eiben and (Chad) Folk and I wish them the very best."
