Happy Groundhog Day!  It is Sunday, February 2 and there are only 299 days until Black Friday, so start staking out your spots now to be ready for the big rush.  Today we recognize the birthdays of Jacob van Campen, Jetty Weels and Brandee Dawn McCoskey.  On this day in 1633 M Rossi’s opera “Erminia sul Giordano” premiered in London, in 1893 the first movie close-up (of a sneeze) was filmed in Edison Studio, West Orange, NJ and in 1962 8 of 9 planets aligned for the first time in 400 years.  As mentioned earlier, it is Groundhog Day in the US and Hom Strom, the end of winter, in Switzerland.

I am sure that many of you are scratching your heads, wondering what Hom Strom is, so I will tell you.  This is one of the most anticlimactic celebrations I have ever heard of.  Hom Strom is held in the village of Scuol in Switzerland.  Older schoolchildren meet in the village square to build the Hom Strom, or man of straw.  Strands of rye are twisted together and then twined around a 24 foot long pole.  Legend requires that the work be completed by noon, at which time the bundle should have reached a diameter of around two meters.

The pole is placed in a specially prepared hole in a field outside the village.  In the evening when the tower clock strikes eight, the oldest boys throw balls of fire, rags drenched in petroleum, at the Hom Strom and set him aflame.  The children and adults sing the Hom Strom song.  Half an hour later, the spirit of winter is consumed and everyone goes home.  That’s it.  Yawn! 

We have things like that here, too.  As an example, today – Groundhog Day.  Every year we all get geared up to see if the groundhog sees his shadow.  Today was also my father’s birthday.  I used to call him every year to see if he saw his shadow.  Anyway, we get all excited about the day.  Will he see his shadow or not?  The big pronouncement is made as to whether he did or not and that is it.  If he sees his shadow, so the story goes, he is frightened back into his burrow and we have six more weeks of winter.  Realistically, we have what we have regardless of what he sees.  What makes it even less a prognostication of future weather is that there are a number of “celebrity” groundhogs and they do not always agree.  So do we average it out?  If half of them see their shadow and half do not does it mean we only have three more weeks of winter?

Now let’s spend some time discussing the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl being held today.  The forecast does not call for the bone-chilling temperatures we have been having for the past couple weeks.  Too bad!  I was kind of looking forward to watching the game from the comfort of my living room while a stadium full of football crazies froze their collective tookus off.  I heard, back in the beginning of last week, that some 18,000 tickets were still available for the game, in part because of the weather.  In the past, scalpers would walk the parking lot trying to sell tickets, last-minute, to people who showed up hoping to get in.  I don’t see that happening this time.  First of all, who is going to pay $150 to get in to park, if they do not have a ticket?  Secondly, from what I have heard about the way things are controlled, NFL officials are the only ones who would be walking the parking lot selling tickets and they are all in New York at the Super Bowl.

One thing that bothers me is the way the NFL has almost completely ignored the state of New Jersey.  Most of the celebrations and parties are being held in New York.  The sports broadcasters, a couple weeks ago, were referring to the game in New York.  Terry Bradshaw was one of the big offenders for that.  Maybe that is why that girl Ella should be going to the game rather than Terry.  I’ll bet she could see that East Rutherford is in New Jersey, not New York.  

Last May, when all the hoopla started, everyone was excited by the event and cities and towns throughout the area were looking forward to having events that would increase tourism and generate sales for New Jersey businesses.  Oops!  No one bothered to explain to them that the super bowl was being held in New York and only the actual game is being played in the part of New York that is in New Jersey.  I suppose the NFL is confused by the fact that both football teams that play here still call themselves the New York Giants and Jets.  Maybe they should not have been so quick to remove geography from the school curriculum.  

Newark was planning a concert, but the NFL would not return calls when the city called trying to generate funding from sponsors and the concert had to be cancelled.  Montclair tried to set up an event and they were told they were not an authorized site.  What made it even better was the NFL wanted to set up a store in Montclair to sell their paraphernalia and they wanted the place for free.  Do they realize that they are dealing with New Jersey?  We don’t do free.  Especially when you have shown as much disdain for us as the NFL has.

I had also heard that the half time show was actually going to be held in Madison Square Garden and not being performed in the stadium. It turns out that was just a story and not true.  If it were true I think the reasons would be clear.  No one connected to the game knows where the stadium actually is and the band bus drivers do not want to pay the $150 fee to park.  And, because of the NFL, the drivers wouldn’t even be able to go to Medieval Times for dinner and the show.  Oh well, no sense getting too worked up.  I am fairly sure this event won’t be scheduled for New York (Jersey) again any time soon.

This week’s fact tells us that 1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire are strung across the US.  Just think, all of that wire for about 150 senior citizens who refuse to get cell phones.