Courtesy Toronto Star:

In his eight-season CFL career Adriano Belli, the Argos nose tackle, has been ejected for fighting, for plain-old “rough play,” and for punching an opponent in the groin. Last week he was ejected in the third quarter of the Argos’ home-opening loss for raising an arm in anger at a Hamilton Ticats offensive lineman and, in Belli’s words, “jamming him in the face.”

He was fined an undisclosed amount by his team, because he is, in the words of Rich Stubler, the Argos coach, “the best nose guard in the league,” and his presence on the field is essential to Toronto’s success. And perhaps that begged a question: Mightn’t Belli, the most penalized player in Argoland last season, benefit from a semester or two of, say, anger-management classes.

“I’d be lying to you if I said I haven’t been offered that before,” said the player, laughing. “(But) they pay me to be an angry individual out there … ”

Belli, indeed, was unrepentant.

“I play on the edge,” he said. “Every once in a while when you play on the edge, things happen. I don’t apologize for the way I play out there. Their offensive line, as most offensive lines, were trying to throw me around and take advantage. … It gets frustrating sometimes.”

Stubler, who was obviously less than thrilled at Belli’s lack of restraint, said he posed a simple query to the player: “Is it worth it? … If you go to the house of ill repute and you’re married, is it worth it to you? It’s the same exact thing. That’s exactly what I told him.”

Asked if he is confident that Belli has learned his lesson, Stubler chuckled: “I have no confidence I ain’t going to get hit by lightning tomorrow. … I’ve asked him to be accountable for what he does and he said that he would. I’m good with that, because I like Adriano Belli. He’s a stalwart of our defence. He’s a good person. … You can’t ask anything more of a man than Adriano is.”

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