‘I just lost my cool,’ Als’ Emry says
Faces penalty for hitting Roughrider in groin
Although Shea Emry continues to acknowledge that his behaviour on Saturday against Saskatchewan was inappropriate, he doesn’t believe anger-management courses will be required over the winter.
“Decisions have to be made in the line of fire,” the Alouettes’ middlelinebacker stated on Tuesday, following meetings and films at Olympic Stadium. “There are times and points in every game where you need to be more mentally tough than I was. I realize that.
“I just lost my cool and did something idiotic.”
Emry, fined twice already this season by the Canadian Football League, was disqualified in the second quarter after he struck Roughriders guard Brendon LaBatte in the groin. That came seconds after Emry deliberately knocked into kicker Sandro DeAngelis. Emry was assessed a rough-play penalty.
He’ll almost certainly be fined this week by the CFL and he faces a potential suspension. Als head coach Marc Trestman admitted the possibility exists of playing Sunday’s game against Edmonton without Emry. But Trestman is attempting to distance himself from the incident until the league decides what sanctions are necessary.
“Everybody understands his actions were inappropriate. It’s documented,” Trestman said. “I’ll leave it to the league to decide how it’ll be handled. (Then) we’ll decide whether the discipline was enough and then we’ll act accordingly.
“I believe he understands the dimensions of his actions.”
A clearly repentant Emry took to Twitter on Sunday to offer numerous apologies. And he was reluctant on Tuesday to accuse the Riders of any heinous acts that might have provoked him.
“In any game, lots of stuff ’s going on — especially this one,” he said. “If I acted like that every game, what kind of person would I be? I did something I’m not proud of. I’m sure they’re doing stuff that they’re not very proud of. I’m not going to call anyone out.
“Nothing comes out of pointing fingers. I did what I did. I’ve got to move on and learn from it.”
After the game, Als rush-end John Bowman accused Saskatchewan centre Dominic Picard of attempting to break Emry’s leg. Bowman, not for the first time in his career, accused Picard of being the dirtiest player in the league.
On Tuesday, Picard, a native of Ste-Foy, claimed that Bowman had called him a “frog.”
“He can say whatever he wants, but at the end of the day, he has to say the whole story,” Picard told the Regina Leader-Post. “Calling me a frog is beyond the line. That’s (way) beyond the line of getting disquali- fied. That’s the worst thing I could be called. It’s almost racial.”
In a text message Tuesday night to The Gazette, Bowman simply stated Picard’s accusation had no merit.
Emry said he’s prepared to deal with, and accept, the consequences when the league decides to act.
“I’ll be the same player and, hopefully, act more classy,” said the 26-year-old, who has spent his entire five-year career with Montreal. “It was a classless move. Out of character. I’m so disappointed in myself.
“I’ll take the fire inside and try to harness it in a different direction.”
Meanwhile, and somewhat predictably, Emry’s teammates continue coming to his defence.
Kicker Sean Whyte, a fellow British Columbia native who shares a Montreal residence with Emry, agreed the player’s reaction was surprising and out of character.
“At home, he’s a very calm guy, very thoughtful. He thinks about other people,” Whyte said. “That’s a violent position he’s in. You get heated sometimes in contact sports and things happen. He got stuck in the moment.
“It’s unfortunate. He feels bad. He’s beating himself up over it. What he did, yeah, it looks awful and it’s a bad image for the team. But it happens. It’s unfortunate that it’s being portrayed as something way bigger than it is. It’s uncharacteristic of Shea. I hope the league takes it easy on him.”
While not deliberately calling Picard out — or any other Riders player, for that matter — Whyte intimated his roommate most certainly was provoked.
“You don’t know what other guys are doing to him on the field. Lots of things are going on that people don’t see,” Whyte said. “You’ve got people in this league doing some really crazy things.”