To The Groundhog - Again

Going back to last Feb. 2, TigerBlog had this to say:

TigerBlog understands that not every movie made is trying to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. In that vein, he's never understood the complete disdain so many people have for the movie "Groundhog Day."
TB saw it in the movies when it came out in 1993, and he's seen it about a thousand times since. It's a perfectly harmless, funny, at times charming, certainly inoffensive movie, and yet there are so many people who flat out hate it.
As an aside, TigerBlog was always confused as a kid by Groundhog Day, as six weeks after Feb. 2 takes you to March 16 (or March 15 in a leap year), which is still winter. He never quite understood the whole "six more weeks of winter" thing. Shouldn't it be more like 10 more weeks of winter if the point is that figuratively speaking spring will be late to arrive?

This year, he'd like to say this about the significance of Feb. 2:

TigerBlog understands that not every movie made is trying to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. In that vein, he's never understood the complete disdain so many people have for the movie "Groundhog Day."

TB saw it in the movies when it came out in 1993, and he's seen it about a thousand times since. It's a perfectly harmless, funny, at times charming, certainly inoffensive movie, and yet there are so many people who flat out hate it.

As an aside, TigerBlog was always confused as a kid by Groundhog Day, as six weeks after Feb. 2 takes you to March 16 (or March 15 in a leap year), which is still winter. He never quite understood the whole "six more weeks of winter" thing. Shouldn't it be more like 10 more weeks of winter if the point is that figuratively speaking spring will be late to arrive?

And next year, he'll probably add this:

TigerBlog understands that not every movie made is trying to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. In that vein, he's never understood the complete disdain so many people have for the movie "Groundhog Day."

TB saw it in the movies when it came out in 1993, and he's seen it about a thousand times since. It's a perfectly harmless, funny, at times charming, certainly inoffensive movie, and yet there are so many people who flat out hate it.

As an aside, TigerBlog was always confused as a kid by Groundhog Day, as six weeks after Feb. 2 takes you to March 16 (or March 15 in a leap year), which is still winter. He never quite understood the whole "six more weeks of winter" thing. Shouldn't it be more like 10 more weeks of winter if the point is that figuratively speaking spring will be late to arrive?

Get the joke?

See, in the movie, Bill Murray woke up every morning in Punxsutawney, Pa., outside of Pittsburgh, and every morning it was exactly the same: Sonny and Cher were singing "I Got You Babe," it was Groundhog Day morning, it was 6 a.m. and there was a snowstorm on the way.

No matter what he did, it seemed like he would be stuck there forever.

At first, he takes this as a sign that he can get away with anything, mostly self-destructive, with no consequences. It's only until he learns how to truly care about other people and makes a real commitment to becoming the best person he can be that he is able to get to Feb. 3.

In many ways, it reminds TB of the movie "It's A Wonderful Life," in which the main character starts out with an idea of what he wants out of his life and only through complete self-reflection - brought on through fantasy - does he see what's really important, and how he was actually where he wanted to be all along.

TigerBlog loved it the first time he saw it. Others, such as Roger Ebert, needed a little more time, at least according to Wikipedia:
After giving it a three-star rating in his original review,[11] Ebert acknowledged in his "Great Movies" essay that, like many viewers, he had initially underestimated the film's many virtues and only came to truly appreciate it through repeated viewings. In 2009, the American literary theorist and legal scholar Stanley Fish named the film as among the ten best American films ever.

No offense to Mr. Fish, but it's not one of the 10 greatest American movies ever. Still, it is a great movie to watch once or twice a year.

Today, Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, largely because there is no sun to make a shadow. Instead, there is plenty of ice and rain from a storm, which if you live in the United States, had a nearly 40% chance of affecting you.

Here in Princeton, the result was a lot of ice in trees and on roads and everywhere else. The bright side is that the storm did not include the 12-18 inches of snow that TB heard at first and then the five to eight inches of snow that were threatened on Monday.

In "Groundhog Day," Phil Connors (Murray's character) is a weatherman. It's a great profession, because people are fixated on what you say, regardless of whether or not it's going to be correct.

The concept of the weatherman fits in nicely with where American society as a whole is these days. The weatherman is always talking about the next thing, tomorrow or five days from now, rather than dwelling on whether or not what he/she most recently said was in anyway correct.

It's the news version of Bracketology, which has gone from a fun little exercise for a guy in Philadelphia to something that becomes the focal point for millions of college basketball fans, as well as analysis on TV, the radio and print. And the great part is that none of it matters, because in the end, it has no impact on what the actual tournament brackets will look like.

At least in the case of St. Joseph's University marketing administrator Joe Lunardi, the man who popularized Bracketology for ESPN.com, he takes the time to go through the same types of processes that the NCAA committee does, and as a result he will often have almost every team that ends up in the field.

And his work does provide a good barometer for where the college basketball season is at any given point and where it seems to be headed. But still, if he says that Georgetown will be a sixth seed in the Southwest, it doesn't mean it's true.

Just like saying there'll be eight inches of snow, when in fact, there was less than one.

Still, Bracketology makes for great discussion, especially given what's going on this weekend in Ivy League men's basketball.

Princeton hosts Harvard Friday night in a matchup of Ivy League unbeatens. The following night, Harvard is at Penn, also unbeaten in the league.

Should the Crimson sweep, they would be the clear frontrunner. Should the two home teams sweep their weekends, then they would meet here Tuesday night with first place on the line.

The current Bracketology has Harvard as a No. 14 seed, taking on No. 3 Villanova in Washington.

Just like saying that there's a 30% chance of snow in a few days, there's no accountability for being wrong. In fact, there's almost no chance that it'll be No. 14 Harvard vs. No. 3 Villanova in Washington, D.C., even if Harvard wins the league.

But hey, it makes for great discussion.

The games over the next week will set the tone for the early part of the Ivy men's basketball season, but no team will win the title this soon.

In the meantime, there's a chance for more snow and wintry mix Saturday around here, as well as a 100% chance of a whole new Bracketology next week.