Bob O'Billovich smiles at a press conference in Hamilton, Ont., Wednesday, Dec.5, 2007, after being introduced as the new general manager of Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sheryl NadlerSheryl Nadler/The Canadian Press
The news sounded ominous - that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats had suspended Canadian punter Justin Palardy on Thursday, and that the 22-year-old was returning to his university team at Saint Mary's in Halifax.
What had he done?
Broken curfew? Perhaps yelled at a member of the coaching staff? Oskee wee wee'd when he should have Oskee wa wa'd?
Bob O'Billovich, the Tiger-Cats general manager, said Palardy's sins weren't so sinister.
"No, just dropped punts," O'Billovich said rather wryly, referring to a fumbled snap that Palardy mishandled at a key moment in last Saturday's 37-24 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
It was the latest - and final, as it turns out - on-field miscue for Palardy, the record-setting kicker from Atlantic University Sport who was the Ticats' 2010 fifth-round draft pick (36th overall).
Palardy's on-the-job training as the Ticats punter has not been going as planned, with three blocked punts on his résumé through the first five games of the CFL regular season.
Hamilton has lost four of those outings and O'Billovich said his coaches felt a change was necessary to give the Ticats a better chance of success in a critical East Division matchup Saturday against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Steeltown.
Hamilton is in fourth and last place and desperately needs a favourable outcome against the Blue Bombers (2-3) to keep playoff hopes from fading away completely before the season reaches the halfway point.
The suspension of Palardy is just CFL-speak - a formality that allows the Ticats to be able to retain the player's rights should Palardy decide he would like another chance in the CFL.
"This often happens in our league, different guys have been in the same situation with similar circumstances," O'Billovich said. "The kid's going to go back to school, he wants to go back to school and finish up his degree. For us, with the kid showing up and wanting to go home, we suspended him. At least that way we're able to maintain his rights."
O'Billovich said decision to part ways was a mutual one.
Palardy, a native of Truro, N.S., was heading home on Thursday and was unavailable for comment.
Palardy, who holds AUS records for career points (320), field goals (65) and converts (116) and still has a year remaining on his university eligibility, was averaging a half-decent 42.1 yards a punt with Hamilton.
"We're not saying his career's finished in Hamilton," O'Billovich said. "You know, looking back in history, there's been a lot of guys to go through these kinds of experiences and then find themselves and become good players.
"When I was in Toronto, I remember we released Mike Vanderjagt twice. And I think Bob Cameron was cut eight times. So it's just a matter of how a player deals with this situation."
Palardy's replacement will be Eric Wilbur, a 25-year-old who has kicked around at the training camps of several NFL teams but was currently out of the game when he got the call from Hamilton on Wednesday.
Wilbur, who averaged 42.9 yards a punt in his four-year career at the University of Florida, will handle Hamilton's punting duties in the game against Winnipeg.
Wilbur said he hasn't competed competitively since he was at last year's New York Jets training camp.
He said he has been biding his time helping to operate Poppa D's Nuts, a growing concern he and two associates launched in Florida selling a brand of butter-toffee peanuts.
Now coming to a league where many of the players play for peanuts, Wilbur should feel right at home.