Alouettes will retire Anthony Calvillo's #13 jersey Oct. 13 against Riders, recalling the 13th Man

The Montreal Alouettes certainly aren't triskaidekaphobes, as the number thirteen has proven very lucky for them indeed. The team announced Tuesday that they're going to retire the #13 jersey worn by legendary former quarterback Anthony Calvillo, professional football's all-time leading passer who officially hung up his cleats in January. Hilariously, as CBC Calgary's Devin Heroux noted, they're doing so during an October 13 game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who provided the CFL's most legendary use of thirteen (one even explored in a documentary!) in the 2009 Grey Cup against Calvillo and the Alouettes:

That may stir some animosity in Saskatchewan, as the thirteenth man's still a sore subject there. It's appropriate, though; Calvillo brought so much success to the Alouettes in a decade-plus of wearing #13, and that 2009 Grey Cup in particular helped add to his legacy. It marked Montreal's second-straight trip to the Grey Cup under then-new head coach Marc Trestman and their sixth appearance in the decade, but it ended in their first championship since 2002 and helped reduce the (silly and unnecessary) questions about if Calvillo could win the big game.

The 2009 game also paved the way for the Alouettes to defeat the Roughriders again in a hugely-popular rematch the following year, becoming the first team to win back-to-back Grey Cups since the Toronto Argonauts in 1996 and 1997. Retiring Calvillo's jersey against Saskatchewan on October 13 may or may not be an intentional poke at the Riders (Montreal would probably have you believe it's nothing of the sort), but regardless of the intention, it works as one, and a logical one. Without that 13th man, Calvillo's career might be remembered differently.

Of course, Calvillo found incredible success apart from any result in that 2009 game, and his story of overcoming a childhood of remarkable hardship and poverty in Los Angeles to become a CFL star would be just as noteworthy if the Riders had won in 2009. There are other moments that might even sum up Calvillo better; the way he played half the 2010 season with the knowledge he might have cancer, kept that secret until after winning the Grey Cup, and then bounced back from surgery to remove a cancerous tumour without missing a game the next year comes to mind. His remarkable role as an ambassador for the CFL, including his recent pickup game with a group of Montreal kids, is also well worth noting. Still, that 2009 Grey Cup will long be remembered for two 13s, Calvillo and the Roughriders' extra man. Retiring his jersey on October 13 against Saskatchewan seems like the perfect commemoration of that, whether it was an intentional reference or not.