Lions Want Jimenez Suspended for Johnson Hit - Mike Beamish

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Lion ... story.html

Johnson, who has played 161 consecutive games for the Lions and never missed a start, was kept out of drills Tuesday at practice because of an apparent knee injury suffered in the first quarter of Saturday’s 35-31 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In that game, Johnson avoided serious injury, even he was submarined by Tiger-Cats’ right tackle Jason Jimenez from the back side well after the whistle had blown the play dead. Although Johnson finished the game, he paid a visit to athletic trainer Bill Reichelt afterward and was deemed not ready to participate when practice resumed Tuesday.

“How serious?” Johnson was asked. “Let’s put it this way: I’m not out here playing football. My streak [161 games] isn’t the important thing. I can’t really tell you what’s going to happen. Within 48 hours, we should know.”

Johnson has called Jimenez’s late him on him “shameless” and player rep Sherko Haji-Rasouli confirmed Tuesday that he has been in touch with executive director Stu Laird and the CFL Players’ Association to express the outrage felt by Lions players for the brazen nature of the clip.

“ I don’t know precedent is, and I don’t know what their thinking is,” Haji-Rasouli said. “ Kevin McDonald [CFL director of football operations] does a great job, and they’re looking into this case. I just feel like, if Brent Johnson is not able to play this next game [Saturday in Calgary], Jason Jimenez should not be allowed to play this week either.”

“We need to make sure that kind of action ends on the field,” Haji-Rasouli said. “And the way to make sure that happens is to make sure that guys who do them, whether intentionally or unintentionally, are punished for them.

“If you rob a bank, you rob a bank. It doesn’t matter whether you’re so drunk, you can’t remember. You’ve committed the act, and you need to be punished for it.”

“He got Adriano Belli,” Brown said Tuesday. “The situation with Brent reminded me of that. I thought what Jimenez did [Saturday] night was a gutless, heartless move. He’s 300 pounds [actually 320] and BJ is 260. Hit him in the face if you want to. But why would you go low?

“Jason Jimenez is a gutless coward. It’s bad. I don’t think Brent can even play. Whatever he [Jimenez] gets, he deserves, because that was terrible."

“I don’t feel what I did was illegal, with the exception of the timing of the whistle," Jimenez said. "But, at the same time, my opinion doesn’t matter. The CFL has a mandate to investigate any and all infractions on the field, whether it was dealt with by officials or whether they catch it on film.”

“It's interesting to me that when I'm wearing the orange and white, it's tacitly encouraged, but when I'm wearing black and gold, suddenly it's an issue," Jimenez argues.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://communities.canada.com/theprovin ... frame.aspx

Lowell Ullrich has some great still pix of the hit ...

If a guy wants to roll up a leg, snapping bones along the way, Jimenez demonstrates excellent technique. Johnson has taken steps after the play is dead. He is not paying attention to Jimenez, who goes very hard to his right, diving low and rolling into Johnson's leg. almost pinning Johnson's foot with his knee.

Jimenez has so many attributes as a football player. His size is made to order. 6'7" 320 lbs. He is agile, skilled and intelligent. I guess when a person has so many positive attributes we tend to think they don't have a dark side.

With Jimenez, one more thing he seems to have is a killer instinct. Everyone follows their nature. Jimenez, by the evidence that is building, seems to go beyond the normal bounds of football culture. I have to say, he seems to play like an outlaw, not only looking to hit after the whistle, after the other players are letting up, but seemingly with intent to injure.

It even looks like the timing was such that Johnson's left leg would be planted, the most vulnerable position, by far. On TV, what seemed to save Johnson, to some extent, was that his leg popped out of the trap, and he flipped into the air. Otherwise, one does not even want to speculate on how bad the damage would be. He did not practice today as a consequence of the hit.

[Toppy Vann]

I still like Jimenez but condemn this hit which looks brutal in the final frame. I didn't think from TV he got him that good - this last frame changes that idea.

[Sir Purrcival]

Totally went low on that hit. The last time he said that his knee buckled after a car accident earlier in the day. Now he has history of these kinds of hits and I don't think he can claim car accident again. I'm glad the players are talking to their association. A hit like that deserves more than 1 game.

[Wakesbetterthanyou]

It may deserve more than one game but all he's getting is a half game cheque fine. When will leagues start to protect their players? He would have gotten at least 2 games in the NFL for that.

[B.C.FAN]

It may deserve more than one game but all he's getting is a half game cheque fine. When will leagues start to protect their players? He would have gotten at least 2 games in the NFL for that.

The CFL's contract with the players' association prohibits stiffer penalties. Here's the league's release:

Jimenez fined maximum amount by CFL
September 22
CFL.ca Staff

TORONTO -- The Canadian Football League announced today that Hamilton Tiger-Cat Jason Jimenez has been fined the highest amount allowed under the League's collective bargaining agreement with the players following a late hit on British Columbia Lion Brent Johnson during the September 18th game between their teams.

In addition, CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon has summoned Jimenez to a face-to-face meeting with him next week to discuss his on-field conduct.

[WestCoastJoe]

The CFL's contract with the players' association prohibits stiffer penalties. Here's the league's release:

Jimenez fined maximum amount by CFL
September 22
CFL.ca Staff

TORONTO -- The Canadian Football League announced today that Hamilton Tiger-Cat Jason Jimenez has been fined the highest amount allowed under the League's collective bargaining agreement with the players following a late hit on British Columbia Lion Brent Johnson during the September 18th game between their teams.

In addition, CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon has summoned Jimenez to a face-to-face meeting with him next week to discuss his on-field conduct.

It could be a start on getting more protection in place for the health of the players, and the reduction of dirty hits.

I am still quite surprised by the bahaviour of Jimenez. And I am a bit surprised more noise was not made throughout his time in the league. We have now heard about a similar hit on Jonathan Brown and a hit on Adriano Belli, as well as the career-ending hit on Gargiulo.

Jimenez may well be the one, unintentionally and inadvertently, who starts to bring about a lessening of dirty or dangerous hits by any player in the future. The internet, and individual camera work, obviously help also. Who says the internet is all bad?

[Rammer]

The CFL's contract with the players' association prohibits stiffer penalties. Here's the league's release:

Jimenez fined maximum amount by CFL
September 22
CFL.ca Staff

TORONTO -- The Canadian Football League announced today that Hamilton Tiger-Cat Jason Jimenez has been fined the highest amount allowed under the League's collective bargaining agreement with the players following a late hit on British Columbia Lion Brent Johnson during the September 18th game between their teams.

In addition, CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon has summoned Jimenez to a face-to-face meeting with him next week to discuss his on-field conduct.

It could be a start on getting more protection in place for the health of the players, and the reduction of dirty hits.

I am still quite surprised by the bahaviour of Jimenez. And I am a bit surprised more noise was not made throughout his time in the league. We have now heard about a similar hit on Jonathan Brown and a hit on Adriano Belli, as well as the career-ending hit on Gargiulo.

Jimenez may well be the one, unintentionally and inadvertently, who starts to bring about a lessening of dirty or dangerous hits by any player in the future. The internet, and individual camera work, obviously help also. Who says the internet is all bad?

There was a Bomber OL who got bounced from the league for his dirty play a few years back....started with an M as IR.

[TheLionKing]

So what is the CFL maximum ?

[Ravi]

There was a Bomber OL who got bounced from the league for his dirty play a few years back....started with an M as IR.

Brandon Dyson was that Winnipeg player that you are referring to.

[Shi Zi Mi]

In addition, CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon has summoned Jimenez to a face-to-face meeting with him next week to discuss his on-field conduct.

IMHO, Cohon is summoning the wrong guy to his office.......who he needs to summon is Stu Laird, the head of the CFLPA........they need to sit down and hash out an amendment to the current CBA........an amendment that gives the league more "hammer" when it comes to dealing with Jimenez and others of his ilk.

I'd be interested in knowing the CFLPA's position in this.......as both Jimenez and Johnson are members......who's best interests are they the most concerned about?.......the player getting a paltry fine or the player who's career might be over.

[ziggy]

Hard to believe the CFLPA is essentially supporting a member that is potentially ending another members career? They must be scared that the teams would use a harsher rule to get rid of undesireables or something? I can't for the life of me understand how anyone in football can condone this type of behaviour, not once , but twice and especially if you represent the players.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVER ... menez.aspx

Mike Beamish reports:

(where it reads Jackson, substitute Johnson)

Gargiulo was never the same player after Jimenez rolled into him in that Nov. 3, 2007 game at BC Place. Jimenez was later handed a one-game suspension -- the maximum penalty allowed in the CBA -- but it was later overturned on appeal. At an arbitration hearing, to establish Jimenez's guilt or innocence, Lions head coach Wally Buono was the only member of the team sent to testify. Because videotape evidence was sketchy and inconclusive, it was left for eyewitnesses to give accounts of what they saw.

No video tape of the Gargiulo hit.

“When they had an opportunity to expose him at the arbitration process, they did what?" Buono asks. "They didn’t. There is no truth to that [a willingness to seek vengeance on Jimenez, when the Lions meet the Tiger-Cats again on Nov. 6], I guarantee you."

Players cannot go against the code. Don't rat out your teammates. And few/if any would have seen the Gargiulo hit.

After Jimenez drilled Jackson from the back side, well after the play had been whistled dead, Buono said the Tiger-Cat flipped the bird to the Lions' bench.
"It was a classless act, but what do you expect from him?" Buono said.

Jimenez is out of control.

"From the league's perspective, they have to see this as who? A player," Buono says. "The player they have to deal with is player X. They can't personalize it. And none of his past history is admissible. I have no argument with the league, in my mind. The league has done what it can to make sure player safety is taken into account. Attention has been brought to it. There are going to be financial repercussions. And not many people are called before the commissioner."

As part of his punishment, Jimenez is being called to the principal's office for a face-to-face lecture on bad behaviour by CFL commissioner Marc Cohon.

Unusual to be called before the Commissioner.

"Put everybody on a lie detector -- except maybe the kickers and the quarterbacks -- and, believe me, they have done stuff that is close to out of control," Buono said. "Professional sports is violence for a reason. Football is a violent sport. It's been cleaned up tremendously. The CFL has done a tremendous job to make the game safer to play. Believe me, the game is 100 times safer than when I played [1972-83]. But when you play a violent game, there are going to be unfortunate things that occur."

Not just dirty hits have been reduced. But I recall a college coach who used to run the linemen head to head in practice like 2 rutting animals to see who was tougher. 5 yards apart, run and smash helmet to helmet.

"Brent's dealing with a little bit of swelling [to his knee], but he'll be fine," Buono said.

Good news. And very, very lucky. Johnson avoided a career ending result, from a guy who has the skills of an assassin, and the ready excuses of a skilled politician.

He had a car accident which weakened his knee and made him lose his balance (vs Gargiulo). He was adjusting his pants (flipping the bird to the Lions' bench).