When you're raised in Compton, Calif., a crime-ridden Los Angeles borough known for its drug warfare and alcohol-related incidents, and you survive to see adulthood, you remember the close calls and brushes with death.

"I've seen shootings, fights, car-jackings ... all kinds of stuff," said cornerback Mark Estelle, signed by the Alouettes as a free agent in September. "All the things anybody growing up there sees.

"And I've had close calls ... people shooting and bullets flying by. Thankfully, God watched over me and protected me. Obviously, he had better things in store for me."

Compton is beginning to become well known to followers of the Canadian Football League. Michael Fletcher, a dominant linebacker with Toronto, comes from there, as does Ed Hervey, the Edmonton receiver. Estelle, still getting his feet wet in three-down football, didn't have a chance to converse with Fletcher before last weekend's East Division final between the two teams. Perhaps it was by choice.

Compton is caught in a bloody turf war between infamous rival gangs - the Bloods and the Crips. Fletcher grew up in a Blood neighbourhood; Estelle was raised in an area controlled by the Crips. The Bloods wear red and the Crips blue. They fight over colours and they fight over neighbourhoods.

Once, Estelle was leaving a high school party when members of the Blood gang started shooting as he and some friends walked to their car.

"We dove on the ground and ran," he said. "Luckily, we got away - thanks to bad shooting."

On another occasion, people were celebrating the July 4th holiday when shooting erupted at the corner of Estelle's street.

"Me and my brother didn't know they were shooting because of the fireworks," he said. "All of the bullets went into my brother's car."

Male residents of Compton make a choice early in life - gangs or sports. For those like Estelle, Hervey and Fletcher, the choice is made easier thanks to athletic prowess.

Estelle was a gifted two-sport athlete as a child, playing second base and shortstop in baseball, running back and then cornerback in football. The oldest of five children, it was Estelle's mother, Jewell, who decreed at an early age that her boy would study hard and play hard. There would be no idle time for him to hang around street corners, mingling with nefarious individuals.

And if Estelle's grades weren't up to par, his mother, who never married the boy's biological father but eventually married a man who raised Estelle as his stepson, took his sports privileges away as punishment.

"That's how my mom kept me out of trouble," Estelle, now 25, said out of admiration. "A lot of my friends were gang-banging, staying in the 'hood. That's all they knew. I practised sports in the parks and stayed out of trouble. My mom always wanted me to be the best and not turn out like a lot of them did. She was strict and hard on me. She was tough. She made sure I did my school work and went to church. I had to be a role model for the younger kids. That's how I took it. Be the best, so they'd look up to me. I wanted to get a scholarship and go to college, so they'd see me as being successful.

"I knew sports was the only way. That's what kept me going. If not for football, I doubt I would have gone to college."

Estelle went to Utah State, almost a decade after Als quarterback Anthony Calvillo, where he started 24 of 32 career games. He earned all-Sun Belt Conference honours as a junior and was named the school's defensive MVP as a senior.

He attended Montreal's training camp in 2005 before doing the same with Baltimore of the National Football League. He ventured overseas last winter, playing with Cologne in NFL Europe, and then attended Houston's training camp. Als general manager Jim Popp called Estelle when he was released by the Texans, and he made his CFL debut in the season-finale Oct. 28 against the Argonauts, playing weakside corner.

In the division final, he intercepted a Damon Allen pass early in the second half, returning it 78 yards for a touchdown.

Estelle isn't sure what the winter will bring. He plans on playing with Los Angeles of the Arena League, but while entering the option year of his CFL contract he will have an opportunity to work out and sign with an NFL club.

And he plans on spending some time at home, in Compton. He might even wear something red, the colours of the rival gang.

"I'm well known. I can wear whatever," said Estelle, who graduated with a degree in sociology and hopes to one day work as a probation officer. "There are no worries for me. I'm no stranger to Compton. It's not my first time there. I know where to go and not to go.

"It's funny," he added as an afterthought. "I have no idea where I'd be without football. There's no telling what I might be doing."

Note: Mark's 78 yard interception for a TD in the CFL Eastern Division Championship game against the Toronto Argonauts helped the Alouettes reach the Grey Cup. That spectacular interception also made the Halftime highlights on ESPN's Monday Night Football!