VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Alvin Walton feels as though he has been here before.
The media sessions, the questions, the hype. Only the landscape is different.
Super Bowl or Grey Cup, some things never change.
This is Walton's first sampling of Canadian football's version of championship week, but in many ways, he's a grizzled veteran. Two trips to the Super Bowl while a member of the Washington Redskins have prepared him for anything.
Back then, in 1988 and 1992, he was a strong safety known for his tenacity -- a quality he brought with to his second life as a linebacker with the Baltimore CFLs.
Without it, he might not be playing football.
A knee injury led to his release before the 1992 season after six years in Washington, and it kept him out of football until this past summer. The NFL pushed him aside. The CFL embraced him.
"I was just looking at coming here as an opportunity to get back into football," he said.
Now, he's playing for the Grey Cup and a place in history. Not bad for someone who had to work himself into shape during training camp, learn a new position, endure a couple of hamstring injuries and spend most of his time banging helmets on special teams.
"They had told me when I first came that linebackers have to play a lot of special teams," he said. "I just tried to gear myself for that and get in shape. My rookie year, I was on all the special teams. It was just really going back to being a rookie."
What could this 30-year-old "rookie" offer a collection of CFL veterans, castoffs and raw recruits?
"Leadership," he said. "Guys come talk to me, and I try to get them pumped up by making the big hit or anything that gets them going."
Said Daryl Edralin, who coaches the linebackers and special teams: "Alvin has a lot of savvy for the game. He does some things you can't coach. He sees a lot, and he knows how to get a guy down in the open field, which, I guess, was his forte in the NFL."
He also helped to transform Baltimore's Matt Goodwin into the league's Most Outstanding Rookie. An outside linebacker, Goodwin has received most of his acclaim by blocking five kicks (including four punts) and returning three for touchdowns.
He was eager to learn and willing to listen. Walton was glad to oblige.
"I talked to 'Dirty' all the time, especially in those early games," Goodwin said. "He'd tell me to do this, do that. He brings an attitude, a confidence, like, 'I've been there.' And he's one of the guys. You can talk to him about anything. You meet him and
you'd never know he has two Super Bowl rings sitting at home. He's just a down-to-earth guy."
Walton, 6 feet, 220 pounds, will make his third consecutive start at middle linebacker, where he shares time with third-year player Ken Benson. A void was created when Malcolm Goodwin was lost for the season to a neck injury incurred in the closing seconds of the Sacramento game Nov. 5, and Walton was eager to fill it.
Playing the middle means playing more, "and that's when I'm most comfortable," he said.
He feels right at home with the CFLs and intends to come back next season, though he said if an NFL team expressed interest, "I'd have to think about going."
Either way, he's not ready for retirement.
"When I came out here, I almost died trying to do all the running you have to do for this game," he said. "But it's been rewarding. I got to play football again."