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Naylor's Sideline View

Globe and Mail reporter Dave Naylor writes about the world of football both on and off the field.
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Thursday, November 26, 2009 9:51 AM

Two vets remain from U.S. expansion

David Naylor

In what is truly a Canadian affair, about a Canadian league, there are a couple of remnants at this Grey Cup from the league's not-so Canadian past.

I'm referring, of course, to the CFL's ill-fated expansion into America from 1993-95.

That seems like a long way back in the CFL's rearview mirror and yet there are two players in Sunday's game - Montreal's Anthony Calvillo and Saskatchewan's Eddie Davis - who trace their roots back to those wacky days.

Calvillo was with Las Vegas and Davis with the Birmingham Barracudas.

I wrote a story a little over a year ago about them being the last two players who played on those teams, with both noting that a lot of their young teammates aren't even aware the league had a presence in the U.S. (Which is certainly true of Hamilton running back De Andra' Cobb who is 27 and from Las Vegas ... when I recently asked him if he remembered the Posse he just shook his head.)

Davis had teammates over to his home in Calgary and when they saw a Barracudas helmet in his living room they said "what's that?"

A little bit of history at the 97th Grey Cup.

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David Naylor

David Naylor

David Naylor has been a Globe and Mail sportswriter since 2000. A graduate of Carleton University’s journalism program, he interned at The Globe in 1991 before spending the next eight years covering news and sports in print, radio and television for various media outlets, including the CBC, The Score, NPR, The Village Voice and The Globe and Mail.

He has covered CFL football in Toronto, Ottawa and Saskatchewan and has reported on 12 Grey Cup Games. He has also covered eight Super Bowls, 12 years of Stanley Cup playoffs, an NCAA basketball tournament, the Olympics and Paralympic Games.

In addition to his duties with The Globe, David is a regular contributor on TSN, appearing as a panelist on The Reporters with Dave Hodge and as TSN’s CFL Insider on Sportscentre and game-day broadcasts. He is also frequently heard as a commentator on sports for CBC Radio.

David is the co-author of the best-selling book, McCown’s Law, The 100 Greatest Hockey Arguments.