Video: Shea Emry punches Brendon LaBatte in the groin, gets ejected for his trouble

In the span of a week, Montreal Alouettes' middle linebacker Shea Emry went from hero to punchline. Emry was our defensive star last week thanks to his incredible play against the Argonauts, which included a 46-yard interception return for a touchdown. This week in the Alouettes' game against Saskatchewan, he was making headlines for something that happened after the whistle; punching Roughriders' offensive guard Brendon LaBatte in the groin. Here's the video:

That's incredibly blatant by Emry, and it's no surprise that he was ejected immediately afterwards. Of course, shots to the groin aren't exactly unheard of in the CFL: at his retirement, former Argos' offensive lineman Rob Murphy bragged about his willingness to "grab testicles and pinch love handles", and at Adriano Belli's retirement (before his recent return), Murphy talked about how he once "pulled out his testicles and showed that to him" to discourage Belli's reported habit of "punching guys in the nuts", while former Esks' defensive lineman A.J. Gass once said Jeff Pilon "grabbed my balls and was squeezing my balls out of control." Here's video of that play:

What made Emry's actions stand out was that he didn't even try to disguise this as part of a play, though. Instead, this is after a Saskatchewan touchdown; Emry just jogs up to LaBatte, punches him and runs away. It's a pretty over-the-top action, and the officials were quite right to throw him out. He has since apologized, but it's going to be interesting to see if he's disciplined further by the league; a fine would seem incredibly likely, and a suspension could come into play as well. While Emry's loss did hurt the Alouettes, though, they were still able to hang on for victory over Saskatchewan, and he provided a good moment of hilarity for CFL observers. It's not quite "Man Getting Hit By Football" (Simpsons or CFL version), but it's not far off.