Super Bowl city

It’s not enough to stand around the water cooler and discuss whether Philadelphia can stop New England from winning its third Super Bowl in four years.

You ought to know a little about where the game is being played.

This year, for reasons nobody can figure out, that means Jacksonville, Fla., famous the world around as a good place to stop for gas when you’re driving from New York to Miami.

Aw, we’re just jealous because we won’t be hosting or playing in Super Bowls for the foreseeable future.

If you don’t think of Jacksonville as a big city, you’re wrong. The population is about 800,000, but the 1968 merger of Jacksonville and Duval County created the largest city — 841 square miles — in America.

To honor Jacksonville’s big event, here’s a trivia quiz to help you appreciate America’s football capital for a day — and then put it out of your mind again.

1. Originally known as Cowford, the town was renamed in 1822 for General (and later President) Andrew Jackson, although he:

a) sunburned easily.

b) never set foot there.

c) hated the beach.

2. The St. Johns River running through Jacksonville is one of the very few U.S. rivers that flows:

a) different directions in summer and winter.

b) whichever way the city flowmaster decides.

c) south to north.

3. During the Civil War, Union troops burned down most of the city:

a) once.

b) twice.

c) three times.

4. In 1954 Jacksonville bartender Ricardo Gracia made history by inventing:

a) the hose that spouts many soft drinks from a single nozzle.

b) the pina colada.

c) the Heimlich maneuver.

5. Jacksonville hosts an annual meaningless college football classic called the:

a) Freedom Bowl.

b) Atlantic Bowl.

c) Gator Bowl.

6. MaVynee Betsch is famous for:

a) crusading to save the historically black-owned American Beach near Jacksonville from developers.

b) walking around carrying her incredibly long dreadlocks draped over her arm.

c) giving up an opera career to live on the beach and fight for its preservation.

7. Sheriff Nat Glover has kept his 1995 campaign promise to serve prisoners fewer hot meals and more:

a) Bologna sandwiches.

b) Tofutti.

c) Soylent Green.

8. There aren’t enough hotel rooms in Jacksonville, so many Super Bowl visitors will be staying:

a) home.

b) on cruise ships.

c) in Nat Glover’s jail.

9. The Jacksonville Jaguars’ fuzzy, goofy mascot is named:

a) Jaxson DeVille.

b) Jumbo Jackson.

c) Jerry Jaguar.

10. Picking sea oats on Jacksonville’s beaches will get you:

a) a hearty, cholesterol-free breakfast.

b) bitten by their fiercely protective mother.

c) fined for disturbing a protected plant.

Answers: 1-b, 2-c, 3-c, 4-b, 5-c, 6-all three, 7-a, 8-b, 9-a, 10-c.