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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Tiger-Cats resort to treachery
Released receiver quickly turns tables on Bombers Doubtful Jeffers-Harris can provide useful info, but move distracts Blue
Terence Jeffers-Harris practises in a Ticats' uniform Friday, the day after he was cut by the Bombers. While the move raises eyebrows, his former teammates say he didn't pay enough attention to really be of any use as a mole for the Tabbies. (DAVE CHIDLEY / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Odell Willis: called Harris 'our sloppy second,' to borrow a phrase from New York Rangers' bad boy Sean Avery. (TREVOR HAGAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
They said it
JUST about everyone with even a remote interest in Canadian football had an opinion Friday on Terence Jeffers-Harris signing a practice roster contract with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, just one day after he was released by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for violating team rules.
Just about everyone but Jeffers-Harris, that is. Ticats spokesman Scott McNaughton said Jeffers-Harris was too busy on Friday to speak to reporters, so it was left to reporters to parse the 23-year-old receiver's comments on Twitter for meaning.
In response to a message of support from former Bombers kick returner Perry Floyd, Jeffers-Harris seemed to acknowledge Friday afternoon that his decisions the past 24 hours haven't been popular in some quarters: "U know wasn't my decision," Jeffers-Harris told Floyd, "but you know all the #hateration begins."
Here's a sampling of what others were saying:
"I will say this: it didn't cross my mind because I don't think we would do it as an organization."
-- Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice describing why he had never considered the possibility Hamilton might sign Jeffers-Harris when the club decided to release him on Thursday, instead of just suspending him.
"I see the Ticats have signed our sloppy second."
-- Bombers defensive end Odell Willis, via Twitter
"He's obviously not going to play this week, so he's there for no other reason than espionage. It's kind of sad that's the case right now... When it's that blatant and that obvious, it makes you roll your eyes a little bit."
-- Bombers defensive tackle Doug Brown
Q -- Did you personally ask Jeffers-Harris about the Bombers' game plan? A -- "No I didn't."
Q -- Did your coaching staff ask Jeffers-Harris about the Bombers game plan? A -- "No, I didn't."
-- Hamilton head coach Marcel Bellefeuille leaving himself some wiggle room about whether his coaches grilled Jeffers-Harris about the Bombers' plans for Sunday
"I really don't think it's anything that's going to lead to an advantage for them."
-- Bombers QB Buck Pierce
"I don't know that TJ really knew what was happening on our offensive side of the ball anyways."
-- Bombers centre Obby Khan
"TJ got a new job. It happened to be Hamilton. Congratulations."
-- Bombers defensive back Jonathan Hefney
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It was Thursday afternoon, just a couple of hours after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced they had released receiver Terence Jeffers-Harris for violating team rules.
Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice was holding his daily news conference and was asked if he was concerned that by quelling one distraction, he may very well have created a bigger one -- and done it just days before his club plays the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Sunday's East Division Final.
Preposterous, LaPolice shot back as though it was the dumbest question he'd ever heard. "I don't think there's any distraction in any way, shape or form on our team."
Yeah, how'd that work out for you?
Because barely eight hours after LaPolice had made that response, Jeffers-Harris was in Hamilton talking to the Tiger-Cats and making news all over Twitter. By Friday morning, Jeffers-Harris was on Hamilton's practice roster and practice field -- and on the websites of every major news organization in this country.
And by Friday afternoon, LaPolice was answering reporters' questions yet again, only this time their numbers had about doubled, his interrogators now also included the national media and the head coach's arms were folded tightly across his chest in an unmistakably defensive posture that seemed to be saying, "Yeah, I probably screwed up, but I'm not going to be admitting it to you jackals."
LaPolice had had several hours at that point to consider his response to the obvious and inevitable questions: Did you anticipate this eventuality? Were there no options short of outright release available? What kind of damage has this done to your team's game plan for Sunday?
Despite the prep time, LaPolice struggled to find the right words and found himself tongue-tied several times. Bombers spokesman Darren Cameron tried to come to his coach's rescue, attempting -- in vain as it turned out -- to cut off the line of questioning and asking reporters to move on to new subjects.
In the end, LaPolice seemed to settle on variations of two themes: He never anticipated Hamilton would do something like this because neither he personally -- or the Bombers organization generally -- would ever do something like this; and none of it matters anyway.
Which might be true. Jeffers-Harris is ineligible to play for Hamilton this season and what knowledge he can impart to them is debatable. In fact, he didn't even travel with the team to Winnipeg Friday night.
But it's also true that this is actually the second time something like this has happened to the Bombers this season -- they also released receiver Scott McHenry in the leadup to the Labour Day game in Regina only to see Saskatchewan promptly sign him.
Whether McHenry was able to give the Riders any insight into the Bombers game plan on that occasion is unclear. But what's not ambiguous is that the Riders promptly crushed the Bombers in Regina on Labour Day -- and then again the following weekend in the Banjo Bowl. So it obviously didn't hurt their chances.
Now, the consensus around the Bombers -- and it sounds credible -- is that Jeffers-Harris poses no threat to the Bombers now that he's in Hamilton for the precisely the same reason he was released by Winnipeg in the first place: He missed meetings, showed up late when he did come and basically had been goofing off the last couple of weeks.
"I guess they think TJ can come over and give them our game plan and what-not. But if they think that's going to happen, they're completely wrong. I don't think TJ even knew the game plan to begin with," cornerback Jovon Johnson mused on Friday.
"If TJ had been paying attention, he'd still be here."
All of which is probably true and definitely hilarious. But the larger issue remains and it's not what little insight Jeffers-Harris might be able to offer the Ticats; rather, the issue is what harm the shenanigans of the past 48 hours have done to the Bombers.
Because regardless of LaPolice's protests, the simple fact is this team is young and inexperienced and the last thing they needed heading into the biggest game of the season was precisely this kind of distraction.
That was exactly the danger when LaPolice was denying it on Thursday. And it was the reality when he was still denying it on Friday.
The only question now is whether it will still be a problem -- a problem of the Bombers own making -- come Sunday.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 19, 2011 C1
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