Recent Super Bowls have seen a virtual Noah's Ark of pigskin prognosticators, including manatees, orangutans and camels - oh my!
But with Super Bowl XLVIII coming to the New Jersey/New York area's MetLife Stadium for the first outdoor, cold-weather NFL championship game since 1962, another furry forecaster may have a bigger impact on the game than his critter counterparts.
Not only is the NFL hosting its first outdoor Super Bowl outside the sunny states of Florida and California, it's also the first NFL title game to be played on Groundhog's Day, when the famed
Punxsutawney Phil and other meteorological-minded Marmota monax make their predictions about the arrival of spring.
In fact, the Big Apple has its own soothsaying groundhog at the Staten Island Zoo that claims to foretell both the weather and the Super Bowl winner, although he incorrectly called for an early spring and the San Francisco 49ers to prevail last year. Staten Island Chuck will have a busy day Feb. 2.
So will the NFL if the weather doesn't cooperate. League executives privately fear the worst - a snowstorm that shuts down the city and turns the world's No. 1 spectactor event into a whiteout. The various groundhogs may disagree but the forecast, but the more reliable Farmers Almanac calls for blizzard-like conditions on Super Sunday.
Throw in some whipping wind and sub-freezing temperatures and fans with the hottest tickets in town my find more use for the groundhogs' fur than their forecasting skills.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
