Dear Phil, (On Urban Legends)

Today, Punxsutawney Phil failed to see his shadow and predicted that we will have an early spring. Legend has it that if the sun is shining on February 2nd, there are 6 weeks of winter left. I'm sure all the spectators who braved the winter storm warning to see Phil were cheering him on as his shadow took the day off. Phil's prediction marked the 125th anniversary of his weather forecasting. Of those years, Phil has predicted early spring only 16 times.

These numbers aroused my natural curiosity so I did some research. I found that groundhogs live between 3-4 years in the wild and up to 10 years in captivity, yet Phil has been predicting the weather for over a century. Conclusively, Phil must either be the longest living groundhog in the history of the world or an impostor. Judging from the way the North East has been pummeled by storms this winter, I'd have to lean towards the latter.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are being duped.

And here I was, ready for spring.