Courtesy Montreal Gazette:

What must have been going through Anthony Calvillo’s mind last October, when he learned his wife, Alexia Kontolemos, had been diagnosed suffering from B-cell lymphoma, a non-Hodgkin’s tumour of the lymph glands and lymph nodes?

What must have been going through his mind all those dark and dreary mornings, when he accompanied his wife to her treatments at a Montreal hospital? Or when he met the Montreal media, assuring them he would return to the Alouettes this season?

Calvillo was true to his word, reporting to training camp at the end of May, reiterating he was committed to this team for the entire season. And, for one glorious night at Ivor Wynne Stadium, it all came together for this veteran quarterback and likely, by extension, his wife and family that certainly must have been watching back home.

“This is the one thing I’ve been looking forward to - not only myself, but especially my wife and family,” Calvillo said after leading the Als to a season-opening 33-10 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. “The objective was for me to get back on the field, and that’s what happened.”

Heading into his 15th Canadian Football League season, and less than two months away from his 36th birthday, Calvillo was a maestro on the field, dissecting a Ticats defence that appears as porous as it was in 2007, when Hamilton lost 15 of 18 games.

Calvillo completed 25 of 37 passes for 293 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kerry Watkins. One was for nine yards and the other covered 32 yards.

What made his performance more inspiring and impressive, was the fact Calvillo missed a portion of camp after tweaking his Achilles. He didn’t dress for the first exhibition game and played barely more than a quarter of the other, last week at Winnipeg.

Calvillo has been a notoriously slow starter over the course of his career, but that wasn’t the case against the Ticats. In the third quarter, he completed a

22-yard pass to Jason Armstead, moving Calvillo into second place in career passing yards, surpassing Danny McManus. Calvillo now has 53,343 yards in his career. McManus retired in 2006 with 53,255. Damon Allen leads with 72,381 and is unlikely to be caught.

Calvillo was so good, he was replaced by Brad Banks in the fourth quarter. Imagine that, an Als backup quarterback actually playing without an injury occurring.

Can we then assume, should Calvillo return in 2009, he’ll simply boycott training camp and exhibition games, merely showing up when the games count in the standings?

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