Alouette Calvillo likely to retire
MONTREAL — It’s a scene that will be recreated by every one of the eight Canadian Football League teams at some point in November. Garbage bags are stuffed with personal belongings, there are whimsical musings about what might have been in all but one of those cities and players begin looking ahead.
And so it was on Monday, as the Als embarked on yet another long and cold winter, the third successive season this team, once the envy and benchmark of every other franchise, has failed to make it to the Grey Cup. And, when the players reassemble next June for training camp, it almost certainly will be without quarterback Anthony Calvillo.
Calvillo, who hasn’t played since suffering a concussion in mid-August, made that point perfectly clear on Monday, as the team reassembled one last time at Olympic Stadium.
“I’m favouring retiring. That’s for sure,” Calvillo told a room full of media. “The fact that I’m thinking about it is concerning. The fact the concussion kept me off the field for so many weeks is also concerning. The biggest thing is the fact I’m still not 100 per cent.”
Calvillo said he’s still suffering from pressure in his head. The more he challenges his brain, the more frequent are the sequences of the pressure returning.
“Do you want to play? Of course. But physically, am I able to continue?” Calvillo said. “If I come back, am I going to think about taking and hit and being too worried? That’s what I don’t want.”
General manager Jim Popp, who replaced the fired Dan Hawkins as coach following five games, said he could return in the same dual capacity although his results, were marginal at best. The Als went 6-7 under Popp — albeit 4-2 over the final third of the schedule — before losing Sunday’s East Division semifinal.