Groundhog Day

Sports Journalists Forum – Media, Newsroom & Reporting Talk

Help Support Sports Journalists Forum:

Mark2010

Active Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
14,940
OK, so I just watched Punxsutawney Phil come out of his hole and see his shadow and, thus, predict six more weeks of winter.

Phil, said his chief handler, is a proud Steeler fan (who would have thunk it?). Couldn't be, say, a Bears fan, because bears prey on groundhogs, eh?

One snide TV commentator pointed out that Phil has only been correct 39 percent of the time. OK, so I suppose that's an improvement over most local TV weather casters, but still.... How on earth does this rodent manage to hold down a job, not to mention a custom groundhog house and get like 15,000 to come out on a freezing morning (sipping various alcoholic beverages and waving yellow towels) to watch this nonsense??

This, friends, passes for a lead story now that the inauguration and Super Bowl are behind us.
 
Pitchers and catchers in 11 days.

And yes, there will be six more weeks of winter, at which point it becomes Spring!
 
Mark2010 said:
OK, so I just watched Punxsutawney Phil come out of his hole and see his shadow and, thus, predict six more weeks of winter.

Phil, said his chief handler, is a proud Steeler fan (who would have thunk it?). Couldn't be, say, a Bears fan, because bears prey on groundhogs, eh?

One snide TV commentator pointed out that Phil has only been correct 39 percent of the time. OK, so I suppose that's an improvement over most local TV weather casters, but still.... How on earth does this rodent manage to hold down a job, not to mention a custom groundhog house and get like 15,000 to come out on a freezing morning (sipping various alcoholic beverages and waving yellow towels) to watch this nonsense??

This, friends, passes for a lead story now that the inauguration and Super Bowl are behind us.

Phil has no credibility. With all those TV lights, of course he sees his shadow. Stevie Wonder could see his frackin' shadow in that environment.
 
Mark2010 said:
How on earth does this rodent manage to hold down a job, not to mention a custom groundhog house and get like 15,000 to come out on a freezing morning (sipping various alcoholic beverages and waving yellow towels) to watch this nonsense??

I think he has naked pictures of Punxsutawney's Inner Circle, who care for Phil/plan the event.

As for people making the trip into Pennsylvania's Podunk country, I have no idea.

Drinking is no longer allowed at Gobbler's Knob, which takes ALL the fun of out it. Instead, you'll experience hot cocoa, 4 a.m. polka and shriveled nuts waiting for some guy to grab Phil's back fat and proclaim six more weeks of whatever.

Overrated doesn't even begin to describe Groundhog Day.
 
spnited said:
Pitchers and catchers in 11 days.

And yes, there will be six more weeks of winter, at which point it becomes Spring!

Nine days, according to MLB.com's countdown.

It can't come fast enough.
 
groundhog-day.jpg


BING!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Trey Beamon said:
Mark2010 said:
How on earth does this rodent manage to hold down a job, not to mention a custom groundhog house and get like 15,000 to come out on a freezing morning (sipping various alcoholic beverages and waving yellow towels) to watch this nonsense??

I think he has naked pictures of Punxsutawney's Inner Circle, who care for Phil/plan the event.

As for people making the trip into Pennsylvania's Podunk country, I have no idea.

Drinking is no longer allowed at Gobbler's Knob, which takes ALL the fun of out it. Instead, you'll experience hot cocoa, 4 a.m. polka and shriveled nuts waiting for some guy to grab Phil's back fat and proclaim six more weeks of whatever.

Overrated doesn't even begin to describe Groundhog Day.

Gobbler's Knob... wasn't Jenna Jameson in that?
 
slappy4428 said:
Trey Beamon said:
Mark2010 said:
How on earth does this rodent manage to hold down a job, not to mention a custom groundhog house and get like 15,000 to come out on a freezing morning (sipping various alcoholic beverages and waving yellow towels) to watch this nonsense??

I think he has naked pictures of Punxsutawney's Inner Circle, who care for Phil/plan the event.

As for people making the trip into Pennsylvania's Podunk country, I have no idea.

Drinking is no longer allowed at Gobbler's Knob, which takes ALL the fun of out it. Instead, you'll experience hot cocoa, 4 a.m. polka and shriveled nuts waiting for some guy to grab Phil's back fat and proclaim six more weeks of whatever.

Overrated doesn't even begin to describe Groundhog Day.

Gobbler's Knob... wasn't Jenna Jameson in that?

They showed it in Tucson last night.
 
It is silly, but it is one of those traditions that is kind of cute and worth keeping around. I don't see much of a problem with this.
 
Trey Beamon said:
Mark2010 said:
How on earth does this rodent manage to hold down a job, not to mention a custom groundhog house and get like 15,000 to come out on a freezing morning (sipping various alcoholic beverages and waving yellow towels) to watch this nonsense??

I think he has naked pictures of Punxsutawney's Inner Circle, who care for Phil/plan the event.

As for people making the trip into Pennsylvania's Podunk country, I have no idea.

Drinking is no longer allowed at Gobbler's Knob, which takes ALL the fun of out it. Instead, you'll experience hot cocoa, 4 a.m. polka and shriveled nuts waiting for some guy to grab Phil's back fat and proclaim six more weeks of whatever.

Overrated doesn't even begin to describe Groundhog Day.

No more booze? F*** that, then. (Not that I ever had any urge to make the four-hour round trip for this "event" in the first place ...)
 
Another New Yorker mad that Bloomberg signed the bill ending term limits for NYC mayors. :D

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/why-chuck-the-groundhog-bit-the-mayor/index.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
 
Apparently Punxsutawney Phil and his wife, Phyllis, are the proud parents of two baby groundhogs.

We are cracking up at my shop reading this quote from the AP story, as the tuxedo-clad handlers of the famous rodent announced the news:

“We’re pleased about it, and I talked to Phil with my cane, which lets me speak Groundhogese, and Phil could not be more excited that he started a family.” — Thomas Dunkel, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club
 

Latest posts

Back
Top