Argo QB, Chad Kelly sited in harassment/wrongful dismissal charges

[Blue In BC]

The most severe punishment was recently handed out to Shawn Lemon, a season-long suspension.

Short memories. Lawler was suspended for 6 games last year. I supported that action although how he played for the entire 2022 season in Edmonton is beyond me. The Bombers end up holding the bag in 2023. I had a problem with that delay.

[blue_gold_84]

For the suspension but are we certain about the SMS aspect?

Not sure about the latter. I simply meant the league has set the precedent for what punishment is for such heinous behaviour.

[theaardvark]

Short memories. Lawler was suspended for 6 games last year. I supported that action although how he played for the entire 2022 season in Edmonton is beyond me. The Bombers end up holding the bag in 2023. I had a problem with that delay.

*We* suspended Lawler while his passport/visa issues were straightened out.  It wasn't a punishment, but rather an administrative move to salvage SMS$ while he was legally unable to work.  It was not a league suspension, like Kelly or Lemon, but rather being put on the "suspended" list by the team.

Civil court is much easier to win than criminal court, the burden of proof is different.  No "betond all reasonable doubt".  So the civil matter is a bigger crap shoot not settling.

The league, however, can bring any judgement it wants, at any time, due to the nature of the contracts.  If their investigation showed credible proof of misconduct, they can enforce the terms of the contract that no doubt include ideas like "conduct unbecoming" or "conduct contrary to league principles".  We do not know the specifics of Kelly's deal, or whether Pinball can cancel it, but I do not doubt that in the coming weeks, we will see some sort of ending of the deal.  Argos might have to eat the signing bonus, but they can cut Kelly without cause at any moment, and can sue him from the signing bonus back for cause. 

I don't think many would have an issue with Ambroise giving the Argos partial forgiveness of the $SMS hit for the signing bonus, leaving, say, $100k hit on the cap as a penalty, but forgiving the rest.

   

[Pigskin]

No forgiveness for me. Argos management knew that there was a problem before the 2023 season ended. They decided to sweep it under the rug, until this young lady filed a lawsuit. And, even then they didn't take responsibility for there part in this matter.   

[theaardvark]

No forgiveness for me. Argos management knew that there was a problem before the 2023 season ended. They decided to sweep it under the rug, until this young lady filed a lawsuit. And, even then they didn't take responsibility for there part in this matter.   

The Argos are culpable, yes.  Pinball did take action when it reached him, and notified the league office.  Pinball needs to clean house of the chain of command that failed to report.

Hamstringing the organization will do the league even more harm, though. I'm not suggesting they get a free pass, but losing 5% of $SMS because a player broke policy?  Again, if the league found that Pinball knew and condoned covering it up, Draft Picks should be involved in the penalty.  But since the investigation by the league singled out Kelly, and Kelly alone, I am assuming the Argos have some claims to have worked towards handling the situation.

[Blue In BC]

*We* suspended Lawler while his passport/visa issues were straightened out.  It wasn't a punishment, but rather an administrative move to salvage SMS$ while he was legally unable to work.  It was not a league suspension, like Kelly or Lemon, but rather being put on the "suspended" list by the team.

Civil court is much easier to win than criminal court, the burden of proof is different.  No "betond all reasonable doubt".  So the civil matter is a bigger crap shoot not settling.

The league, however, can bring any judgement it wants, at any time, due to the nature of the contracts.  If their investigation showed credible proof of misconduct, they can enforce the terms of the contract that no doubt include ideas like "conduct unbecoming" or "conduct contrary to league principles".  We do not know the specifics of Kelly's deal, or whether Pinball can cancel it, but I do not doubt that in the coming weeks, we will see some sort of ending of the deal.  Argos might have to eat the signing bonus, but they can cut Kelly without cause at any moment, and can sue him from the signing bonus back for cause. 

I don't think many would have an issue with Ambroise giving the Argos partial forgiveness of the $SMS hit for the signing bonus, leaving, say, $100k hit on the cap as a penalty, but forgiving the rest.

   

Doesn't change the fact the team paid a large advance money. He lost a 1/3 of the season, so it was still a penalty absorbed by the Bombers. It may have saved some game day SMS but not the advance money.

The point being is that this should have happened in 2022 not 2023.

[Pigskin]

December 8, 2021, Toronto Argonauts Exec John Murphy Suspended INDEFINITELY After Altercation with Fans
April 27, 2024, Shawn Lemon suspended INDEFINITELY.

They can do it if they want to.

Didn't Edwards also get 6 games in that altercation.

[blue_gold_84]

Didn't Edwards also get 6 games in that altercation.

Initially, yes. But it was reduced to three games after the fact.

[blue_gold_84]

Kelly and his agent remain undecided on appealing the suspension: https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/dave-naylor-chad-kelly-agent-undecided-on-appealing-cfl-s-nine-game-suspension-1.2116612

[Pigskin]

Chatted with our Bomber border today. He said there is no room in the CFL or any sport where Kelly's actions are expectable. He said most professional team across North America employee females and they deserve respect. 

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Doesn't change the fact the team paid a large advance money. He lost a 1/3 of the season, so it was still a penalty absorbed by the Bombers. It may have saved some game day SMS but not the advance money.

The point being is that this should have happened in 2022 not 2023.

Lawler received a one game suspension from the Bombers for his impaired driving charge, the other games he missed can be attributed to waiting for the immigration fiasco to resolve.

[TecnoGenius]

The most severe punishment was recently handed out to Shawn Lemon, a season-long suspension.

Well, a) he had already retired so suspending him for X meant nothing, and b) this happened literally a couple of weeks before this Kelly suspension.  They Kelly 9 games still stands as the longest suspension of an active (star) in CFL history, by leaps and bounds.  We all thought 3 for Simoni crippling other players was big before.

My point about the temporal relation is that it's just in the last few weeks Ambrosie has decided to really push the punishment overton window to the extreme.  It's clear they want everyone to know the clampdown is real and hard.

[TecnoGenius]

I don't think many would have an issue with Ambroise giving the Argos partial forgiveness of the $SMS hit for the signing bonus, leaving, say, $100k hit on the cap as a penalty, but forgiving the rest.

I would take issue with SMS forgiveness!  Did OTT get forgiven any signing bonus they gave Masoli last year?  Did we get (partially) forgiven any bonus we gave Kenny last year?  Did anyone give us our $70k SMS back for Durant being a total DB deliberately shafting us with full foreknowledge and intent?

TOR can eat it.

[TecnoGenius]

Chatted with our Bomber border today. He said there is no room in the CFL or any sport where Kelly's actions are expectable. He said most professional team across North America employee females and they deserve respect.

100% of course.  Every single person in every single organization deserves to be treated fairly and civilly.  If you don't like a person for legit reasons (they are a DB to you), then just don't interact with them.

But (most) every team is going to have a "Chad Kelly" guy lurking somewhere.  You need to minimize the possibility of this scenario if you don't want to blow up your season.  And you can't always tell who that Kelly guy is going to be in advance...

(Well, in the Manziel and Kelly cases they made it easy to guess.)

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I'm fine with the suspension counting or not counting against the SMS. I can think of good reasons to do either.

Whatever is decided, however, should be codified as a rule and consistently applied for all off-field suspensions. The league should communicate publically what that is and why. It's not something that should be dealt with at the club level in private.