You Can't Do That On Television

It's Groundhog Day in the US and as much as I dislike rodents I'm still watching the festivities at Gobbler's Knob.  The fireworks display just ended and the prognostication will be happening in about twenty minutes.  The poor thing will be dragged out of his ceremonial burrow surrounded by lit guys in top hats, look confused and then a prediction will be attributed to him that has a high probability of being wrong.  Did I say Americans can make a festival out of anything?  Because Lord Almighty, yes. 

I get to poke fun because I spent my freshman year in college in Punxsutawney but if YOU poke fun I'll totally call you a party pooper.  Punxsutawney isn't a college town in the classic sense of North East college towns.  The students are tolerated grudgingly rather than welcomed but it's the students who make up the most vocal part of the crowd, mostly because they're sloppy drunk.  Alcohol is forbidden at Gobbler's Knob itself but chances are they're still loaded from the parties in the dorms.  There are always a flurry of chastising phone calls from parents after they see their kids on the nightly news, nude from the waist up wearing a big groundhog hat and screaming.  I can only imagine how thrilled they are to be paying tuition at that moment.  Actually, the worst news moment that I remember from the year I was there wasn't a drunk kid.  Most of us were crammed around the television in the study lounge looking for each other when there was a blood curdling scream from the room on the other side of the wall.  That was the moment that poor T discovered that her boyfriend S was cheating on her via NBC Nightly News.  We all felt bad for her until she tried to milk the drama for two weeks solid.

Anyway, at least the drama ended eventually.  Not so, of course, for Bill Murray.  Today's song is the one he was doomed to wake up to until -- did you really think I was going to spoil it for you?  If you've never seen Groundhog Day you totally should.  Have a great day, whatever you're doing.