The CFL had a chance to send a message regarding dirty hits but instead, they dropped the ball.
Forget about the piddly fine of some $2,500 levied against Hamilton Tiger-Cats tackle Jason Jimenez for his late his on B.C. Lions rush end Brent Johnson in a game last Saturday.
In this case, let's look at it purely from Johnson's point of view.
He has played 161 consecutive games in the Canadian Football League and his resume includes Most Outstanding Defensive player of the year in 2006 and Most Outstanding Canadian in 2005 and 2006. He began this season with 76 career sacks and when he retires he will be a bonafide candidate for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
By the grace of God he is still playing despite the hit from behind by Jimenez. Johnson could have been seriously hurt, possibly to the point of having his career ended, on the play, which Lions centre Angus Reid labeled a "blatantly dirty hit."
Angus was a linemate of Jimenez for four years. They won the Grey Cup together in 2006 – the year Johnson lit it up in the league.
Johnson practiced regularly against Jimenez. Is their not honour among former teammates? Yes, you can play to the whistle, but afterward, well, that’s where the line is crossed.
Jimenez's contention that the noise level was so loud that he, "didn't hear the whistle blow simply," doesn't wash.
Surely Jimenez had to know who he was hitting. If he didn't recognize the name Johnson on back of his jersey or his No. 97, then maybe he was just a little too heated up.
Jimenez had a rage-on going into the game because of some negotiations that fell through in the off-season, leading to him becoming a free agent and signing with Hamilton. Jimenez verbally aired his feelings publicly about his disgust for Lions’ general manager and head coach Wally Buono, and offensive line coach Dan Dorazio.
Jimenez received a 15-yard penalty for objectionable conduct. Why he wasn’t ejected from the game is another matter.
I find it baffling.
He was fined half a game's cheque under the rules of the collective bargaining agreement with the Canadian Football League Players Association.
"I'm a little surprised," Johnson was quoted in the Vancouver Province. "The league had a chance to set a precedent and, my feelings aside, it comes down to what they think."
Jimenez was suspended in 2007 for one game for a questionable hit on Calgary’s Anthony Gargiulo, whose leg damage was so severe he tried to resume his career the following year but simply could do it. Jimenez had the suspension overturned on appeal. Film of the hit did not provide conclusive evidence of the hit, but this time it did.
So what exactly is the difference?
If you can't use the overturned suspension as a basis for past history, why could he be suspended last time with a similar slate? What exactly changed?
The CFL Players Association is caught in the middle on this one, not unlike what happened in the NHLPA with the Todd Bertuzzi hit/mugging of Steve Moore, whose career ended as a result of the play. The NHLPA couldn't play one player off the other, just as the CFLPA can’t now. Such is the slippery slope of being part of an association.
But all this brings to mind an incident that happened back in 2001 involving Winnipeg Blue Bombers' offensive lineman Brandon Dyson. He received a three-game suspension (two pre-season plus one regular-season) and $1,500 fine in May, 2002 for a chop block on Calgary defensive tackle Clinton Wayne in the Stampeders’ victory over the Blue Bombers in the 2001 Grey Cup. He was also ordered to issue a public apology.
John Tory, the CFL's chairman at the time, handed down the sentence in advance of training camp and in his ruling he spoke of Dyson's contrition.
"To me, the last requirement is an important one in that I believe Mr. Dyson genuinely wants to be respected for the skills he has and his dedication to the game of football and not thought of in any other context," Tory said. "I believe he wants to behave accordingly going forward. It will be important for fans, fellow players and officials to see him publicly declare that and then to see him actually do it."
But Dyson, who had been fined twice by the league the previous season and ejected from one game, never played another game for Winnipeg, which cut him loose. Nor did he play for any other CFL team, deemed to be too much of a risk going forward.
Next week, Commissioner Mark Cohon will huddle privately with Jimenez and likely read him the riot act -- which by the way, isn't contained the in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. You could argue that by not saying anything until next week, Cohon is leaving the matter festering like an open wound. This is the time for him to speak.
Maybe he will do it tomorrow as part of his ongoing duties and functions during the CFL's first-ever regular-season game played in the Maritimes.
It's a time for the CFL to celebrate this moment in history, but five years ago prior to a CFL exhibition game played in Halifax, then Commissioner Tom Wright found himself in the verbal firing line from the media for matters pertaining to the league. He addressed it head on, as uncomfortable as he appeared to be in what should have been a time to revel and rejoice in a proud moment for the CFL. It fell under the category of no good deed goes unpunished.
I wouldn't be surprised if colleague Arash Madani, who wrote about the incident for Sportsnet.ca on Wednesday and didn't hide his disdain for the ruling, grills the good Commissioner. Arash will be in Moncton and he is "Madani as hell", so to speak.
Sunday's game in the Maritimes will pass, memories will be made of a possibility but unlikely probability that the CFL will return to the Maritimes on a full-time basis because of an absence of a 25,000-seat stadium. Once again, everything on the field will be analyzed. After all, it is the product on the field that matters most of all, and the honour among the gladiators who play it.
Something needs to be said for Johnson, who can truly say he is lucky his career has not been ruined or ended by a controversial play for which the offender received a light sentence.
Whatever may be revealed publicly as a result of the meeting between Cohon and Jimenez next week will be far too late.
It will simply be old news.
