Punxsutawney Phil: Has Fame Gone to His Head?

Oh come, let us adore him?

Punxsutawney Phil, that reclusive Garbo of groundhogs, has made his prediction for 2013:

My new Knob entrance is a sight to behold

Like my faithful followers, strong and bold

And so ye faithful,

there is no shadow to see

An early Spring for you and me.

Punxsutawney Spirit photo by Larry McGuire

Here’s that “new Knob entrance” Phil mentions: a fancy Gobbler’s Knob gateway they finished just in time for his premiere today. Phil probably demanded it in his contract. His image appears above the title, of course.

Plus now he’s name-checking his “strong and bold” followers like a Lady Gaga? (Can Groundhog claws be far behind?)

And by the way: “ye faithful”? Just who is he comparing himself to with that kind of language? Today’s pronouncement calls him “Punxsutawney Phil, the King of the Groundhogs, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, Weather Prophet without Peer.” All that’s missing is “and he shall reign forever and ever.”

Still, if Phil is putting on movie-star airs — if he’s got the bored Greta Garbo gaze down pat — who can blame him? He drives the entire local economy, after all.

For that matter, his film Groundhog Day made it onto the National Film Registry in 2006, a year before Garbo’s Grand Hotel. He’s earned his attitude.

Prediction: It’s just a phase. Phil’s handlers will talk sense into him; he’d be nuts to give up his franchise gig, even for Hollywood and his own action movie franchise. “Look at Shelley Long after Cheers,” they’ll tell him. Surely he’ll be back looking for his shadow next year. Right?