Levingston demands his day in court
THREW HELMET AT FAN Argo appealing his one-game suspension
TORONTO • It just looked so innocent, hanging there, quietly, on a hook beside Bashir Levingston’s locker in the Toronto Argonauts dressing room. But on Labour Day, in Hamilton, the kick returner’s helmet was a fanseeking missile fired at an unruly Tiger- Cats supporter that had spit at Levingston.
It’s been over two weeks since The Great Hamilton Helmet Toss occurred, and Levingston is still answering questions about the incident. The latest of which is: why on earth would he appeal the onegame suspension the CFL slapped him with earlier this week?
“The league, first of all, doesn’t know what happened,” Levingston said before practice yesterday. “ They weren’t there, they didn’t see anything. Nobody was injured, and I’ve already talked it over with the boy — the person involved. And what is the [league] doing to protect us, from getting stuff thrown at us, and getting spit on? Nothing.
“So, they don’t want you to react when something is done to you, but they don’t do anything to stop something from being done to you, and that’s a double standard.”
Levingston has already put his defence down on paper, and handed it to Argos general manager Adam Rita. Rita has three more days to file it with the CFL head office, to ensure Levingston has his day in court.
The 28-year-old openly admits that what he did was inexcusable, and that he deserves to be punished, but he says one game is too many. It is the scene of the crime, more than anything, that has Levingston and the Argos up in arms. Both he and management contend that, knowing Hamilton fans have a long history of hurling insults — and assorted objects — at visiting players as they walk to their dressing room after a game, the CFL should have already had measures in place to guard against the sort of thing that led to the suspension.
Levingston says one solution would be to increase the number of security guards posted near the entrance to the visitors’ locker at Ivor Wynne. Even better, he says, would be a tunnel that could muffle the profanity-laden jeers and ward off any artillery fired by the fans — including saliva.
Toronto head coach Michael Clemons did not defend the special team star’s actions on Labour Day. But he did echo Levingston’s concerns about a league that is quick to point the finger and impose a penalty on a player clearly at fault, yet avoids taking long, self- critical looks in the mirror.
“ This problem is bigger than Bashir,” Clemons said. “He was reacting to something that should not have happened. It is our job, as a league, to protect our players.”
Toronto doesn’t visit Hamilton again until 2006. Clemons hopes that the Ticats, whether in accordance with a new league directive or of their own volition, provide the guests with a covered entrance to their dressing room, and the team has suggested it will cart its own temporary tunnel to Hamilton if necessary.
But like Ivor Wynne Stadium, Toronto’s Rogers Centre does not provide any significant protection where the visiting teams leave the field.
Toronto receiver and Levingston confidant, Tony Miles, says the real issue here isn’t tunnels, but knowing how to keep your cool — even when the fans are losing theirs.
“In Hamilton, you know you’re going to get heckled to the 10th power,” Miles said. “But you just have to keep your head about you at all times. You’ve got to go in knowing that those kind of things can happen, and just go to the locker room when the day is done.
“ You’ve just got to be a professional.”
National Post joconnor@ nationalpost. com