It’s easy to beat up on Justin Bieber as star of the CFL's halftime show this weekend. He’s rich enough to eliminate homelessness in Canada, young enough that he probably thought Michael Jackson got his moves from Justin Timberlake and likely can’t recall the last time someone told him, "No."
But Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen and Marianas Trench are clever, aspirational choices by the CFL to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Grey Cup. Arguably there’s no bigger star to the under-20s of the world than Bieber, and while that may not be the demographic of the people who actually attend the Grey Cup or even watch it at home, that is how old their children and grandchildren are. Like it or not, if you’re already a CFL fan, the bone they’re throwing you is in the shape of the legendary Gordon Lightfoot who, despite his massive talent, can't help but stick out amidst such a teen- and tween-friendly lineup.
This “CFL: the next generation” inspired us to look back over the game's history of halftime shows, and we couldn’t help but stumble upon some interesting math. Here’s a look at the Grey Cup’s halftime shows, by the numbers.
0: credible sources of information for the mystery band the Parablegics, stars of the Grey Cup halftime show in 1999.
1: first Grey Cup halftime show featured Juno Award winner Luba in 1991.
2: number of American acts (the Black Eyed Peas and Lenny Kravitz) that have performed at the historically Canadian halftime shows, and number of times the Super Bowl has featured former Grey Cup halftime show acts (Shania Twain: Grey Cup 2002, Super Bowl 2003; the Black Eyed Peas: Grey Cup 2005, Super Bowl 2011).
7: number of women who have performed at Grey Cup halftime shows (Jepsen will be the eighth).
13: number of albums a cappella group the Nylons had to its credit when it starred in the 1996 halftime show.
18: age of Bieber.
27: ages of Jepsen and Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench.
72: combined ages of Bieber, Jepsen and Ramsay.
74: age of Gordon Lightfoot.
100: happy full century, Grey Cup!
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