When the Ottawa Redblacks decided to move on from Shawn Lemon, there was a word floated around about the character of the defensive end. Selfish.

Four more words: Not a team player.

A tweet Thursday night from The Lemonator may have shown he is all class, minus a couple of the letters.

Immediately after Redblacks GM Marcel Desjardins was bowled over by Lions punt returner Chris Rainey on the sidelines and remained down with a knee injury for several minutes, there was this Twitter gem from Lemon: “Hahahaha now there is a bday gift for me lol. #loveit”

After taking some criticism, Lemon tweeted: “I’m out for my bday dinner, don’t know what y’all talking about. #getoffmyline.”

But is there more to it? Was it, indeed, a sour Lemon?

Earlier this year, Lemon engaged Desjardins, who appeared to faint with the kicking net breaking his fall after getting up quickly on Thursday night during Ottawa's 29-23 loss to the B.C. Lions, in a strongly worded Twitter exchange.

Lemon posted a screengrab of what he said was a conversation with the GM, welcoming him back to Ottawa if NFL opportunities didn’t work out. Desjardins responded: “We have not communicated since you requested your release … nothing more. AND THOSE ARE NOT MY TEXTS.”

Desjardins re-affirmed later it was ABSOLUTELY. NOT. HIM.

“They were from him, I have no reason to lie,” said Lemon.

Could it have been a mistake, from a different person, or different number? “Nope,” said Lemon. That’s the number I’ve always had for him.”

Lemon later deleted the conversation from Twitter.

Lemon, who signed a lucrative free agent deal with Saskatchewan this off-season, lasted one game with the Green Riders. He whined about his role and was dealt to Toronto. To be fair, Lemon was good for Ottawa, with six sacks and three forced fumbles in nine games in 2015.

Did Lemon aim his tweet at an injured Desjardins? Or did he simply find humour in a birthday gift?

Sports do not build character, they reveal it, right Shawn?

THOSE SPYING EYES

A few weeks ago, Roughriders coach Chris Jones suggested the Redblacks had gotten inside information from some of the western team’s practices. Basically, he accused the Redblacks of cheating.

Desjardins denies his team had inside information. “I’m not going to get into that whole dynamic. It’s not worth my time,” he said.

There are fans at Redblacks practices, but it’s nothing the Ottawa team is taking any action on. Nobody is required to sign in.

“We look around and see if we recognize anybody,” said Desjardins. “But the way we’re set up here, how do we control that anyway? It’s not even just people coming in, there’s the berm up on the top there. We can’t control who’s here. If people are doing their homework the proper way, they shouldn’t need those things.”

COACH IS HIP

Redblacks coach Rick Campbell is a huge Tragically Hip fan.

“They’re real guys,” he said. “You can tell they care about each other and they care about the fans. (The farewell concert in Kingston Saturday) was a sad day, but it’s pretty exciting to know the mark they’ve left on people.”

Singer and quintessentially Canadian lyricist Gord Downie was diagnosed with an incurable former of brain cancer in May.

“Gord Downie’s a quirky guy in a good way,” said Campbell. “There’s a lot of meaning and a lot of layers to what he’s saying — it’s well thought out.”

Campbell, who’s seen the band perform in places like Spokane, Seattle, Edmonton, Calgary and New York, said his favourite Hip song is The Dire Wolf and Emperor Penguin is also big on his playlist.

FREE BIKE PARKING

Not enough people know about this, but there’s free valet bicycle parking available for Redblacks games, open two hours before kickoff. No locks necessary, the bikes are safe and secure — supervised during the game. Wheel-Up (wheelup.ca), which was developed by retired Ottawa police officer David Ashton, provides the service. Ashton’s step-daughter Erin Rajhathy and her husband Ivan Jensen now run the business.

THE END AROUND

Nice flybys by CF-18 jets, buzzing the nearby condos … Great to see Canada 7s rugby player Natasha Watcham Roy (Olympic bronze medalist) from Gatineau holding the chainsaw for the night … An objectionable conduct penalty to Ottawa’s Nick Taylor, who replaced Antoine Pruneau at linebacker, extended the Lions’ first drive. Another drive was kept alive by an objectionable conduct penalty to Jermaine Robinson. What are these guys thinking? … QB Trevor Harris padded his stats with a completion to himself in the second quarter. When a ball was batted in the air, he caught it — for a 10-yard loss … It’s Tackling 101 – four Redblacks had a shot at Rainey before he scored the Lions’ second touchdown … Attendance was 24,677 … Ottawa had its pass rush going. Ettore Lattanzio had two of their sacks … Nice play call on second-and-two late in the third quarter with Harris finding Greg Ellingson for a 52-yard strike. Ottawa scored on the next play, with Travon Van easily finding the end zone. A Chris Milo convert gave them a 20-19 lead … The Redblacks certainly played with much more heart than in their embarrassing loss to Montreal a week ago … Robinson alertly pounced on a B.C. fumble on the Ottawa two-yard line early in the fourth. Two plays later, Harris, for the second time in the game, couldn’t handle a Jon Gott snap and the Redblacks gave up a safety and the lead.