The calendar says it’s Super Bowl week.
Which means we’re once again in the final throes of football season.
Of course, unless you’re a fan of the New England Patriots or Atlanta Falcons, your season has been over for a few days longer. And if you’re a New York Jets fan, well… it’s been over for roughly a generation.
And as any Jets fan will tell you, the week before Super Sunday can be particularly difficult to stomach.
Every sports station is doing in-depth analysis. Every news program is researching ticket sales and hotel revenues. Every lifestyle show is sending its kooky correspondent to the game site to ask inane questions about Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Tom Brady’s wife.
I can’t speak for all the Gang Green faithful, but I’d just as soon skip it all.
Fortunately, if you’re like me in that regard, there are much more enjoyable options available.
And if you’re reading this, chances are you’re already plugged into some of them.
Thanks to good meteorological fortune, Florida is blessed with better weather this time of year than 99.9 percent of the United States – including the New England region, the Greater Atlanta area and, come to think of it, the northern New Jersey swampland that’s home to the Jets.
And Southwest Florida is home to the Tween Waters Inn, which any Jersey refugee will tell you is a better place to spend a weekend than the Newark-area stretch of the Garden State Parkway.
East and West Orange, notwithstanding.
Anyway, rather than enduring another ESPN dissertation on the three-deep zone, another CNBC recap of Southeast Texas occupancy rates and another TMZ “exclusive” from the Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars pre-game party, the TWI offers a slightly less gamey complement of activities.
There’s lounging by the pool. There’s imbibing at the Crow’s Nest.
And, oh yeah, there’s the Gulf of Mexico.
Spending a few days between the conference championships and the Super Bowl with sun on shoulders and toes in sand does wonders for any emotional trauma still lingering from missed field goals and untimely turnovers. And a few extra days even erases the sting of 48 straight years without a title.
Conveniently, my 8-year-old son – a Cowboys fan… don’t get me started – just happened to stash a Nerf football in his bag, so both my hankering for a quick game of catch and the overwhelming urge to sack something were quickly remedied, too.
And hey, if you’ve got to get tackled, why not have it on a blanket of white quartz and crushed seashells?
All that said, if you’re so hardcore that missing the big game might trigger a case of the DTs, there’s an answer for that as well. The Crow’s Nest has a Super Sunday bash set to begin at kickoff, and it’ll include raffles for $500 in cash (for the United Way), $50 and $100 dining credits, two- or three-night stays at the Tween Waters Inn (or the West Wind Island Resort, Beachview Cottages or Castaway Cottages), a champagne/Norman Love chocolate basket, a beer/snack basket and Crow’s Nest T-shirts.
In-game offerings will include a free scratch-off ticket with the purchase of an entree/sandwich, five-bottle domestic beer buckets for $15, Jell-O shot specials and a special Super Bowl menu.
Not a bad Sunday, regardless of rooting interest.
In fact, go all in and it’s more than enough to make you forget your team fell a few wins short.
And almost enough to make you forget you’re a Jets fan.
