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On the field tonight, Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo and B.C. Lions safety Barron Miles will be opponents as their 2-2 CFL teams clash at B.C. Place Stadium.

Off the field, Calvillo and Miles, a former Alouette, remain close friends, spending time together in the off-season with their families and staging football camps around Montreal.

"We've been fortunate to stay in one city and have gotten some good friends out of that," said Calvillo, who signed with Montreal in 1998 after stops in Las Vegas and Hamilton. "It's great. It's made my life a lot easier, and my wife's life a lot easier, knowing that we have people like that. They are not family, but they feel like family to us."

Calvillo is grateful for the friends he has made in football, such as Miles and his wife, Jennifer, and happy to be interacting with them — even across the line of scrimmage — after his 2007 season ended prematurely. Calvillo missed the final six games, including a 24-22 playoff loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, last year to be with his cancer-stricken wife last fall.

Alexia Kontolemos was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma last October and spent time in hospital shortly after delivering the couple's second child. Kontolemos, from Montreal, was having so much trouble breathing that doctors initially thought she was asthmatic. The situation was so serious that Alouettes general manager Jim Popp explained Calvillo's leave from the team by saying Kontolemos was "fighting for her life."

Yesterday, Calvillo reported Kontolemos is doing much better these days. She is in the late stages of radiation therapy and feeling healthier.

Her husband is doing much better, too.

Four games into the season, Calvillo is leading the CFL in touchdown passes, yards and passing efficiency. The 35-year-old is showing little rust and is back to his old ways, completing a high percentage of passes (69.2), with far more touchdowns than interceptions (11 to 2). He even has 87 rushing yards on nine carries.

"The stuff that happened off the field made him realize that the game that he is playing is a child's game and you need to take it as that," said Miles, who spent seven seasons with Montreal before moving to Vancouver in 2005. "He stepped away from it to help his wife out and I think getting back into football made him realize that this is a fun sport … and not a job."

How much longer will Calvillo play?

The former most outstanding player and a two-time all-star said he and Kontolemos decided that he will play this year regardless of her condition, but there is no long-range plan.

Earlier this season, Calvillo moved into second place in CFL career passing yards, passing Danny McManus. Should he play three more seasons after this one, Calvillo would have a chance to pass Damon Allen as professional football's passing leader. Calvillo sits at 54,408 yards, while Allen has 72,381.

Calvillo is second in completions to Allen and in seasons of 5,000 passing yards with four, behind Doug Flutie's six.

"It's funny," Calvillo said. "This was the first year I started thinking about what I've done in my career and how close I am to the end. In the past, I don't want to say I've taken it for granted, but I'm definitely appreciating it a lot more now."