Hello, weather fanatics and rodent lovers everywhere! Welcome to Punxsutawney, PA, and Gobbler's Knob, where you'll find that world-famous rodent with the powers of Doppler radar, "Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary", better known as Phil the Groundhog! (Accept no substitutions.) Upwards of 30,000 people show up in Gobbler's Knob each February 2nd to see what Phil is gonna say, and hopefully purchase some of those neato souvenirs...

You see, each Groundhog Day it's this little guy's responsibility to let you know if you'll need to keep your winter coat on for another 45 days or so. But if he doesn't see his shadow, then by all means break out the short-shorts and put the top down on the T-Bird, 'cause baby, here comes summer! (At least in theory. Try convincing someone when it's 20 degrees below zero in early February that it'll soon be Spring, and they'll probably lock you up...)

So, the $64,000 question for today is Why Groundhogs? Well, Pennsylvania's earliest settlers figured that the groundhog, which has an uncanny resemblance to the European hedgehog they had grown up with back in Germany, was a pretty smart creature, and therefore the locals decided that if the sun appeared on February 2nd, the groundhog would see its shadow and hurry back into its underground home for another six weeks of winter. (I'd have to imagine that alcohol was involved somewhere in this thought process, wouldn't you?) So while we're at it, let's check out Phil's expertise, shall we? To date, he's seen his shadow 92 time, no shadow on 14 occasions, and 9 times there was no record. (Oops.) So, Phil predicts more winter about 85% of the time.

As for the beans, well, they're not very good at predicting the weather, but you should see them pick horses at the racetrack sometime...

Of course, Punxsutawney Phil hit his peak of fame in 1993, with the release of the Bill Murray / Andie MacDowell classic, "Groundhog Day." 'Four Stars', say the beans. Go rent it today. But Phil has had other brushes with greatness, too - he got to travel to the White House and meet President Reagan back in the 80's (ooooh!), and he even appeared on Oprah's show once. (No word on if she made him cry.)

It was too bad that Phil was available to personally make an appearance today, but the beans were proud to stand in. And yes, the beans did see their shadow, which means six more episodes of 'Celebrity Boxing' on Fox this fall. Sorry about that.