Blue Rodeo is almost as much of a national institution as the Canadian Football League's championship game -- and the two will come together when the Toronto roots-rock band plays the Grey Cup halftime show at Calgary's McMahon Stadium on Nov. 29.

"The CFL is far superior to the NFL game, in my opinion," singer/guitarist Greg Keelor tells Spinner, comparing Canada's three-down football to the four-down brand played in the US. "It's way more exciting."

That excitement usually carries over to the Grey Cup game, as well, adds Keelor's co-frontman, Jim Cuddy.

"I think the Grey Cup is one of the most dependable championship games. The Super Bowl's often a bust. With the Grey Cup, the lead usually changes hands four or five times and something spectacular happens in the last couple of minutes. I'm looking forward to it and am really excited about being there."

Keelor is also looking forward to entertaining the 45,000 fans at the game and approximately three million Canadians watching on TV. Though he's wary of the perils of playing guitar outside in Calgary at the end of November.

"Playing outside sometimes is like playing a cheese cutter. Your fingers hurt so much and then they go numb and your playing slows down. And I hate that pain from when the life starts coming back to them. It's a nostalgic sort of pain that I remember from having ice on my feet.

"But it's only 10 minutes -- and it takes about five minutes for your hands to freeze. So if we have any luck with a Chinook of any sort, we'll be okay."

While Keelor and Cuddy have done just fine for themselves after choosing to pursue careers in music, there once was a time when they also sought glory on the gridiron.

"I was the quarterback of the junior team at our high school and Greg was a senior defensive end. Somehow he missed the memo about not rocking the quarterback during a scrimmage," joked Cuddy.

"To this day, I tell Jim what I knew back then: as quarterbacks go, he was going to be a great musician," quips Keelor in return.