The Argos released Mike O'Shea, but the future hall of famer still wants to play.
Anyone who has ever had the opportunity to talk to Mike O'Shea will readily acknowledge his world is neither black nor white. It is about every colour and shade in between.
Nothing is so cut or so clear in his world that it can be summed succinctly or in one of those quick sound bytes. He is a complex individual who likes to fly planes, lists his favourite vacation spot as Southeast Asia and studied sciences in university.
He is one different dude, an intelligent one at that, and no matter what people say or do - and that includes the rabid Hamilton Tiger-Cats fans who have never forgotten or forgiven him for leaving the team as a free agent to sign with the hated Toronto Argonauts in 1996 - his football career is sacred to him.
And he's not ready to give it up - not now, anyway.
O'Shea joined Chad Folk and Chris Hardy in a function on Friday in which the Argos celebrated their careers with a fond farewell. Folk, a centre who has spent his entire 12-year Canadian Football League career with the Argos, and Hardy, a role player who toiled six of his 12-year CFL career with Toronto, are retiring.
O'Shea is only leaving the Argos, whose uniform he has worn for 12 of his 16-year career. The Argos have made a business decision not to pick up the option year of his contract. In that respect, they have cut him.
There have been whispers for some time the Argos wanted O'Shea to retire. Their recent trade with Winnipeg for Zeke Moreno signified the Argos are moving in a different direction after eight consecutive seasons with O'Shea manning the middle of their linebacking crew.
"Zeke Moreno is a hell of a middle linebacker," O'Shea acknowledged. "I think my son is probably going to be in line to get a jersey of his probably by week three (of the regular season). It's quite easy for me to say Toronto's going to have the best linebacking corps in the league with (Kevin) Eiben and Moreno and Willie Pile. I don't have any doubts."
O'Shea couldn't rationalize how the Argos could have such a formal occasion considering they are releasing him. He said he only showed up to support two of his former teammates - whom he felt could still play - and to publicly thank the Argos.
"I don't need to do it publicly," he said. "Some people maybe need to hear it publicly. One by one I'll get to them all eventually and thank them so much for everything they've given me."
You can't blame the Argos for wanting to give O'Shea a proper sendoff. He is the second-leading tackler in CFL history and the all-time leader among Canadian-born players. He will be a sure-fire inductee into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame following the requisite three-year waiting period following his retirement.
When that exactly will happen is not known. In his mind and his heart, O'Shea believes he can still play.
"I knew he would make that decision,' said Mike Morreale, a former teammate in Toronto and a longtime friend whose career came to a sudden end when he was forced to retire. "He will choose to retire when he's ready and obviously now isn't that time. Decisions like that from a guy like Mike are always well thought out. He doesn't make too many quick, uniformed decisions and that's served him well over his career."
O'Shea became emotional as one person after another talked of his career, many of them in the past tense. Some had prepared speeches fully expecting O'Shea's retirement.
"I'm officially releasing you from the Toronto Argonauts, so you can be released on your own shield," general manager Adam Rita said, who prefaced his comment by saying O'Shea will stop playing but he will never retire.
O'Shea, in what could possibly be construed as a spit in the face of those who feel he is done, responded: "I left my shield at home. I really don't know the meaning of the word (retire). This is not a retirement. This is me saying farewell to the Argos."
Argo chief executive officer Pinball Clemons, a former teammate and also a coach of O’Shea’s, held up an empty bottle to symbolically make a point about the end of his career in Toronto. But he also gave him a full bottle to demonstrate O’Shea still has something left to contribute.
"The only true gift for you is a football because you were made to play the game," he said. "You were the consummate professional. You talk about the soul of the game... I wish I played it like him."
Clemons's career came to a curious end in 2000 when thrust into coaching, something he had never pondered. O'Shea has the mental makeup and understanding of the game to become a head coach at some point. Few have studied the game with more tenacity, diligence and discipline than O'Shea, whose work ethic is legendary. He has played the game with his mind as much as his body, keeping himself in the best physical shape, something which he will continue to do on the assumption - and the hope - he will receive the chance to suit up once again.
"I know I can play again, despite what the pundits say," O'Shea insisted. "There is a group of people I rely on to assess my health, my play on the field, my commitment to train. I trust them because they will tell me the truth and we've all come to the conclusion I can physically do it again and I know that by my emotions I am not done mentally. Whether I've played my last game in the CFL or not remains to be seen. I'm not saying that it's going to happen somewhere else or not. I don't know. I'm not in control of that. But you would hate to pigeon hole yourself. It's not a smart business decision. When you've played as long as I have, there are certain points when it becomes a business and this is one of them and it's not a smart business decision to say I'm done."
"I don't know if anything I'm saying makes sense, but it makes sense to me."
Knowing O'Shea as I have since we first met in 1996, it makes perfect sense.