Getting to the beach is a breeze. Parking at the beach is a breeze. Everything about Jacksonville Beach is a breeze except the breeze.
It's more of a gale. The rain is coming in sideways. It's like being on the set of The Perfect Storm, and you're George Clooney.
It is 47 degrees, and the wind makes it feel closer to 30. The rain doesn't help. There isn't another living soul on this stretch of beach except for a bird. It is walking against the wind and appears to be muttering to itself.
Something about who would be crazy enough to have a Super Bowl here.
No matter where the Super Bowl is, you have to get away from it sometimes. There's only so much time you can spend in buses or wandering around the media center like an extra from Shaun of the Dead. Instead of grousing (although this bird is not a grouse) about Jacksonville, it seemed like a good idea to take a positive approach and enjoy whatever the place has to offer.
And so: To the beach!
Fittingly, the car radio is blaring "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads: "All wet, hey, you might need a raincoat." Park, jump out, and, hey, no need to shut the car door. The wind takes care of that.
The visit to the beach lasts about two minutes. Back across the parking lot, on the other side of First Street, is a welcome sight. Lynch's Irish Pub. This weather all but demands a cozy turf fire and a pint of the brown. And it's all for sound journalistic purposes. With the large Irish American populations in Philadelphia and Boston, fans were likely to congregate here.
Nope. Not a one.
But the Waterboys' "Fisherman's Blues" is playing on the sound system, and Lyndsey does a mean double pour of Guinness, so no problem. Lynch's is a decent approximation of an authentic Irish pub, at least for a place trapped inside the standard Florida prefab rectangle.
Fan alert: Boston's Samuel Adams Lager is just two taps down from Pennsylvania's Yuengling Lager. May the best lager win.
For a moment, the Super Bowl seems far away indeed. But wait.
A young woman working in the pub is covering up the wall decorations with banners sporting the Super Bowl logo and the words "Bud Bowl." An inflatable Budweiser chair takes up space in the corner.
Lyndsey and Lisa, the two bartenders, are talking about the latest buzz: Vin Diesel, an actor overqualified to play an extra in Shaun of the Dead, is said to be planning a visit to Lynch's that very evening. A photographer who knows someone who knows Vin thinks he may come to the beach after dinner.
Faith and begorra. The Super Bowl is impossible to escape.
The second Guinness tastes just as good.
But then it's back into the sideways rain, head down, muttering something about San Diego and Miami.
Contact columnist Phil Sheridan at 215-854-2844 or psheridan@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/philsheridan.
