Lawrence of Canadia

On Thursday afternoon, the Montreal Alouettes released beleaguered running back Lawrence Phillips after a season of service with the organization. The Alouettes released this statement:

"Lawrence Phillips did not meet the minimum behavioral standards expected from the Montreal Alouettes Football Club and has been released by the organization."

A loaded statement, don't you think? It had left many questions to be answered, but in the next day's edition of the Montreal Gazette, it was learned that Phillips had missed a court date in Los Angeles and could have an arrest warrant against him. This was likely the straw that finally broke the camels back as Phillips has had a tumultuous year with the Alouettes. From two walkouts to his recent contract spat with GM Jim Popp, Phillips hasn't had the best of seasons, at least off of the field.

But the question is whether or not Lawrence Phillips will be in a CFL uniform again. It's whether or not he'll be in a football uniform period.

Phillips has a very checkered past, which goes back to his days at Nebraska, when he was in numerous off-field incidents including throwing a girlfriend down a flight of stairs. He was drafted as the sixth pick of the St. Louis Rams in 1996 and played for two seasons before being released midway through 1998, then played two games with Miami before being released again due to disciplinary problems.

In 1999, he played a season with Barcelona of NFL Europe and became the league's first (and only) 1,000-yard rusher. He then signed with San Francisco and was released due to an incident of insubordination. Then, the Alouettes gave him a chance in 2002, as new head coach Don Matthews looked to find a running back that could fit into his pass-happy system. Phillips eventually replaced longtime starter Mike Pringle as the starting running back. He rushed for over 1,000 yards and 13TD's, but walked out of a preseason practice and quit the team before their week nine game at BC over a money dispute. He came back and, injuries withstanding, helped the Als win their first Grey Cup in 25 years.

Phillips demanded a pay raise from the reported $50,000 he was making to a ballpark figure of $250,000, which is among the upper echelon of CFL players. But from what Jim Popp has said, there were a lot of undocumented incidents that lead to Phillips' release. There are teams interested in Phillips, two of them being the BC Lions and Calgary Stampeders, where former Als' offensive coordinator Jim Barker is now the head coach. But do they want the baggage that comes along with the player? BC coach Wally Buono has said he wouldn't mind.

Then again, you never know.