Canadian Football League

Birmingham Barracudas quarterback Matt Dunigan, who leads the Canadian Football League with 34 touchdown passes, will miss the remainder of the season with a broken finger he suffered on his throwing hand during Thursday night's 45-18 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos.

Minutes before the Ravens were scheduled to begin practice at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday, the organization announced it had signed Stevie Baggs Jr. to the roster. The 30-year-old linebacker has spent time with the Arizona Cardinals and the Detroit Lions, but has played mostly in the Canadian Football League. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 241 pounds, Baggs is a pass-rushing linebacker. The Ravens have been practicing at less than full strength at linebacker. Rookie outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw (bruised right shoulder)

MONTREAL -- The largest crowd ever in the World League of American Football -- 53,238 at Olympic Stadium -- was silenced by the Barcelona Dragons, who beat Montreal, 34-10, behind two touchdown passes from Scott Erney to Gene Taylor to spoil the Machine's home debut last night.The game marked the return of professional football to Montreal. The last game was Nov. 9, 1986, when the Alouettes of the Canadian Football League drew just more than 9,000 for a playoff game against the Toronto Argonauts.

News item: : The Ravens just completed an undefeated preseason and have a long week to prepare for their regular-season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs at M&T Bank Stadium. My take: : To quote Tom Petty, the waiting is the hardest part, especially when your opening act is the Orioles. Related news item: : The Chiefs fired offensive coordinator Chan Gailey just two weeks before the team's Week 1 matchup against the Ravens. My take: : The Chiefs also might be without starting quarterback Matt Cassel, who is sidelined two to four weeks with a knee strain.

Jan 18 -- The Calgary Stampeders sign Doug Flutie to a five-year contract.Jan 27 -- The Canadian Football League's board of governors approves expansion teams for Memphis, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala.Feb 17 -- The San Antonio City Council approves an agreement to bring the CFL's Sacramento Gold Miners to San Antonio for the coming season.Feb 17 -- CFL commissioner Larry Smith brands as "totally preposterous" a report saying the league will fold within six weeks, then begin play under a new name to eliminate roster restrictions on Canadian teams.

I do not consider myself old-fashioned or a stickler for detail. I'm definitely not hung up on labels.But it seems to me -- and you tell me if I'm wrong -- that any team in the Canadian Football League should, by all rights, be based in Canada.Otherwise, what's the point? Isn't the french fry dependably French? Isn't cream cheese Philadelphian? There must be some agreed-upon, universal standards.I bring this up only because it has recently come to my attention that Baltimore has a team in the Canadian Football League.

MINNEAPOLIS - In a biographical fact sheet, Reggie Fowler - who earlier this week announced he had signed an agreement to buy the Minnesota Vikings - declared that he'd played in the Little League World Series, implied he'd earned a business administration degree from the University of Wyoming and said he played for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals and the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders. Apparently, none of those claims is accurate. Fowler, 46, announced Monday with Vikings owner Red McCombs that he had signed an agreement to buy the team.

In the final analysis, no name was better than a new name for Jim Speros.In the end, a one-year tradition outweighed the merits of a fresh start.Yell to your heart's delight, Baltimore. The appropriate cheer at yesterday's name-the-team news conference at Memorial Stadium was C-O-L-T-S.Saying he had lost the battle but won the war over the Colts name, Speros announced he has chosen Baltimore Football Club as the official -- and only -- designation for his Canadian Football League team."It would be very awkward to walk into the stadium and have fans chant one name and you have another," Speros said after putting to rest the team's eight-month identity crisis.

When the Canadian Football League concluded its two days of meetings in Baltimore yesterday, team owners were able to measure progress in small steps.The aim of the meetings was to solidify the rapidly changing structure of the league."This year is a year for stabilizing," said Bill Comrie, owner of the B.C. Lions.In addition to addressing the major problems, there were also these developments:* The league made no decision on future expansion, but did establish a Team Services division to assist new franchises.

The following editorial appeared July 7 in the Toronto Star.As the Toronto Argonauts prepare to open their season against the Baltimore No-Names, there is a lot of premature celebrating about the revival of the Canadian Football League.The CFL, constantly on the brink of extinction, is now said to have been saved by the decision to expand to the United States.But we are reminded of the surgeon who says, post-op, that the operation was a success; unfortunately, the patient died.The expansion to second-rate American cities such as Baltimore (and third-rate ones like Shreveport and Sacramento)

Editor's note: Each Wednesday we'll bring you a Q&A with a Ravens player to help you learn a little more about the team. Kicking off our new feature is an interview with special teams standout and linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo. Ayanbadejo, one of the team's biggest acquisitions during the offseason, was with the Ravens before the 2001 season but was released before training camp. He discusses his return, life as a member of the Canadian Football League and nicknames. What advice did your brother Obafemi give you about playing for the Ravens?

A few of you figured out that Montreal's Charlie Lea had the shortest surname among pitchers who threw no-hitters. In recognition of Black History Month, here's another one: Who was the first African-American pitcher in both leagues to win a World Series game? I love fans who wax nostalgic about Memorial Stadium, though I wish they'd offer to wax my car instead. I feel like I grew up in that place. Maybe it's because I aged considerably while waiting in those long lines to use the bathroom.

MINNEAPOLIS - In a biographical fact sheet, Reggie Fowler - who earlier this week announced he had signed an agreement to buy the Minnesota Vikings - declared that he'd played in the Little League World Series, implied he'd earned a business administration degree from the University of Wyoming and said he played for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals and the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders. Apparently, none of those claims is accurate. Fowler, 46, announced Monday with Vikings owner Red McCombs that he had signed an agreement to buy the team.

THIS WAS THE ONE that got rid of all the frustration." So said then-Baltimore Colt Leonard Lyles to Sports Illustrated following the team's 34-0 annihilation of the Cleveland Browns in the 1968 NFL championship game. His words come to mind in light of the most recent watershed moment in Baltimore football -- the Ravens' stunning 39-36 comeback victory over its former biannual nemesis, the two-time defending division champion Jacksonville Jaguars. But the Ravens' win was not so much about relieving frustration as it was a retrieval of something in our collective past, a part of our community soul.

NOTEworthy Day:Committee members organizing the reunion of the 1958 world champion Baltimore Colts will salute Peter Angelos for being one of their most ardent fans. Angelos continues to hold an annual ballpark gathering for the players' enjoyment and has been a leader in raising funds for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) at Johns Hopkins, which is what the Nov. 19 gathering is all about -- plus having a chance to cheer once again for one of football's finest-ever teams.

When the Canadian Football League's Board of Governors meetings ended in Toronto yesterday, the league was down to 12 teams. The Memphis Mad Dogs had folded, and the imminent demise of the Birmingham Barracudas threatened to reduce the number to 11. CFL officials and the players have much to address in the coming weeks.League owners voted to lower the salary cap from $2.5 million to $2.3 million and to eliminate the marquee player designation that allows a franchise player's salary not to be counted against the cap.The CFL Players Association has to approve those changes, as well as any modifications in the most contentious rule facing the league: the import quota.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- When he stopped by as a guest at the Baltimore Football Club's preseason luncheon two weeks ago, Canadian Football League commissioner Larry Smith scoffed at the notion that negotiations between the league and the CFL Players Association might end in a strike."

While Baltimore's Canadian Football League franchise is busy making last-minute preparations for Sunday's Grey Cup game, Baltimore's newest semipro football team will be trying to chase down a Mason-Dixon League title.The Baltimore Renegades, a team that formed in late August after the Baltimore Bears disbanded, have overcome obstacles -- on and off the field -- and their final hurdle will come at 7 tomorrow night when they take on the North Carolina Charlotte Blast for the league championship at Lansdowne High School.

It has been called the most important two days in the history of the Canadian Football League, and the Board of Governors meetings began with a fumble yesterday in Toronto.The Memphis Mad Dogs, another symbol of the futility that has marked the league's expansion into the United States, announced they were bowing out of the CFL after one year in the league.The announcement did not come as a surprise. Memphis struggled at the box office from the outset and went downhill from there. The Mad Dogs averaged a league-low attendance of 14,352, lost about $4 million, and averaged barely 6,000 fans at their final four games.

Although all the numbers have yet to be tabulated -- how many people invaded Regina, how much money did they spend? -- Grey Cup Week was a success for the Canadian Football League.The CFL demanded $3.2 million of the profits, and that obligation has been met. The host team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was looking at a deficit of $2.1 million before the Grey Cup. That has been cut in half.But the euphoria of Grey Cup Week will be a distant memory when the CFL's Board of Governors assembles in Toronto for three days of meetings, beginning Wednesday.