Sports Bars

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It seems that the mere mention of sports bars on ILE are met with the type of revulsion usually reserved for scatological references in conjunction with your breakfast of champions. However, I've had nothing but good times in them.

Tell me why you hate sports bars so much, or at least why they are more worthy of scorn than, say, scummy dives filled with quasi-racist xenophobic locals.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

just not my scene. but i can blend in anywhere. ( gee i wonder what caused this thread? )

― kephm (kephm), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I've had fun in them when I've gone for a specific sporting event. Otherwise, there's a little too much advertising all over the place.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Love them. I always feel at home at them. THere is always a game on. Had a great time at one on Sunday watching my beloved Lions get demolished by the Eagles -- a game I wouldn't be able to watch in my own hom, met some cool Eagles fans that were there, had a delicious Turkey Club sandwich. What's not to like?

― Roy Williams Highlight (diamond), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

and come on, dive bars are much better people watching and teh cheap booze helps

― kephm (kephm), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I love them, but I'm...well, you know...

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't really like sports, or spearhead trips to sports bars, but some of my (girl)friends like to go to them and I've been having good times lately. Sometimes they have good burgers and cheap beer. This on normal afternoons/nights though, I don't like being there when there's some actual sporting event going on in town.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Sports pages above the urinal also=k-classic!

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

cheap booze helps

The bar I was at had a special -- 22 oz Sam Adams drafts for $4.

― Roy Williams Highlight (diamond), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Tell me why you hate sports bars so much, or at least why they are more worthy of scorn than, say, scummy dives filled with quasi-racist xenophobic locals.

'Round here, it's difficult to tell the two apart.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

They have the best TVs. Once I was at one here in town in the middle of the afternoon and we got them to put MTV (a replay of that year's VMAs) on. Good times.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

what about seedy bars that are the only sports bar in town? i watched the patriots win the superbowl at one of these a few years back and i felt like Loius Leakey at the Olduvai Gorge

― kephm (kephm), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I forgot to mention that the TV in question was about as wide as I am tall.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I met some friends at one when there was a college game going on here, for ex., and it was horrible. There was an outside area (no tables or chairs) that was basically like a prison yard except with drunken sorority girls and crushed beer cans covering the ground. Inside, it was loud, sticky-floored, and the wait for a drink was ridiculous.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Sports Bars in Ireland are usually brightly lit, play loud mainstream rock music and decorated with a combination of framed signed jerseys and Harley Davidsons suspended from the ceiling. They tend to attract big groups of lads in River Island shirts looking to eat chicken wings with their pints.

I like to do my drinking in more sedate, traditional pub-like surroundings as I am old and afeared of big groups of chicken wing eating, starch-collared, marauding 19-year-olds.

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

You have to be very careful about your dive bar, though, or go with a large posse.

I suspect this is another "only black people think about this" thing.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

and Jews!

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

okay, just being paranoid.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

they're cheaper than strip joints.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

(I also suspect that if you aren't overly fond of bars, most bars blend together and the actual experience at the various venues are much more influenced by the people you are with rather than the locale you choose.)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

There's one in a strip-mall by my house. I was snotty about it at first, but yeah, I realized that one place to go sit and drink with your friends is essentially as good as another.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

plus the school dept cut piano composition, studio art, ETC when i was in 5th grade and then took that $$ and built like 12 weight rooms. so maybe part of it is old fashion GRUDGERY ?

― kephm (kephm), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I prefer to watch my sports in regular old dive bars, preferably with a similarly rowdy crowd. My favorite recent memory of this is watching game 5 of the 2001 World Series (Yankees/Diamondbacks) at the Beachwood Tap in Chicago. A bar full of Yankee-haters (including me) watching Byung Hyun-Kim blow his second game in a row with a 9th inning home run to Scott Brosius to tie the game. 50 people screaming "FUCK!!!" at the top of their lungs at the same time...awesome.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

English people like to watch football in pubs.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I only go when I want to experience a big Laker game "communally" and that, very rare and even then I usually go for dives that happen to have a big TV. Went to Hooters and it was way too bright for a drinking establishment and the waitresses put on this annoying wall of forced sexual indifference which I'm sure is necessary from their standpoint but which still makes for a dud experience and a small tip(mine and theirs nyuk nyuk).

― tremendoidmandel, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm actually really interested in checking out this place, a gay sports bar that's not too far from me.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:17 (twenty-one years ago)

gay sports are great!

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Basically what you want to look for are 'Sports Bars' that are smaller and a little more off the beaten path, but that still cater to the sports fan: They've got the multiple TVs, and they've got all the DirecTV packages so they can show multiple out of town games. Yeah, as a rule I avoid the BIG bright corporate sports bars like ESPNZone or Alumni Club or whatever.

― Roy Williams Highlight (diamond), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Three new beers on the menu!

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I miss the sports bars in Minnesota that had the pull-tab booths. Otherwise, I prefer watching football at the house.

I couldn't imagine going into one of those places if a sporting event wasn't being televised. What would be the point?

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Among the new beers at the gay sports bar:

Burning River Pale Ale: Subtle malt flavor assertively hopped with citrusy and piney Cascades.

It's tempting to think that's one giant euphemism.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I watch baseball in an equal opportunity dive on Market called the Expansion. If anything, I used to get looks for my propensity to wear a tie 'cause it's an old merchant marine bar. The last of the old racist/anti-semitic cranks was recently forcibly ejected for threatening the bartender for his anti-Bush politics, which, in SF, should really have come as no surprise. I watch soccer at a now Irish owned (sweet irony) English pub on Haight Street that, in reality, is quite a healthy mixing pot of nationality, race, gender, and orientation most of the time though I must admit it was less than entirely civilized after Portugal beat England.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.upperdeckandplayers.com/assets/images/db_images/db_sports-bar-elite1.jpg

"So, I dunno. If you need me to come by to look at that sink..."
"No, Roy. I told you that it's okay."

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:44 (twenty-one years ago)

sports bars get their fair share of racist, xenophobic, misogynist types.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

ive never been to one!

― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Tell me why you hate sports bars so much, or at least why they are more worthy of scorn than, say, scummy dives filled with quasi-racist xenophobic locals.

Like the two are mutually exclusive...

Anyway, short answer: I hate sports.

― Wherethetittiesatopholus, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I love them, but I'm...well, you know...

really into muscular jock dudes?

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm actually really interested in checking out this place, a gay sports bar that's not too far from me.

Crew is okay, I've been there several times. They have really good TVs, but like any bar were sexual preference is a major selling point, the sports seem to fall by the wayside. It's a little better during big games, more sports fans come out, but most of the time it's a lot like Clarks. I'd probably go back, just for the TVs though.

I've had trouble finding my perfect sports bar here in town. I need something comfortable, but a lot of TVs, that show games nationwide, since most of my teams still reside in the southeast. I don't want to see another frickin bears game.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmmm.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:43 (twenty-one years ago)

about 14 years ago, there was a gay sports bar near san diego (solano beach) called "the tight end".

i don't mind sports bars. there are some good ones here in SF, lots of brit expats gettin their pints on in the dawn hours.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I am still really impressed at your initiative with exploring the city, Jeff!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Well my one of me roomates is a flaming homo, so I've probably been to more gay bars than any straight man should.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, that explains it, then ;-)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I was going to go to Crew with a gay friend, so perhaps that will be better.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

There's nothing essentially wrong with sports bars, just practically. I am a scrawny girl and I like to wear makeup and don't like sticking out like a sore thumb. I also hate competitive sports. Ergo, I go to bars full of people who look like me, talk like me and think like me.

― mouse (mouse), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 23:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I just got back from Crew... the first sports bar ive ever been to, and i have to say even though some baseball game was on, i dont think anyone was paying attention. actually, only one TV had the cubs game, and the other 6 TVs had gwen stafani/cher/scissorsisters music videos on. lots of corny fags, and also banners of local college sports teams... dont think anyone in the bar actually knew anything about sports, except for me though. i didnt mean to go there, but it was right around the corner from this other corny bar some friend took me to that was trying to be upscale except they had a really bad (but very cute) house DJ and also ESPN on, which was not far from that bar Simons where we started at - which has a nice jukebox but corny crowd and also had ESPN on. does every bar in chicago have corny clientele and ESPN on the TV?

i tried to get a chili cheese dog from 7-11 on the way home but they sold out, so i had combos and a bottle of water, and a lotto ticket which i won 4 bucks on. score.

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

the gay sports bar was fucking cheap though. $3.50 for a pint of beer!

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

other corny bar some friend took me to that was trying to be upscale except they had a really bad (but very cute) house DJ and also ESPN on

Uptown Lounge??

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:27 (twenty-one years ago)

My younger sister works part-time at this place near Minneapolis:

http://www.mawsdesigns.com/b-bunny.jpg

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Uptown Lounge has a dumb $20 minimum on cards. Which I never seem to have a problem surpassing, but hate everytime. Those 4am bars can get away with murder, just because I want to drink till dawn on Saturday nights.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, did you try the beergarheti at Crew?

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Televisions everywhere so you can ALWAYS see the football. A Good Thing.

I may be trying Sporto in Glasgow tonight for the Milan v Celtic game.

Try sports bars more.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Sports bars in England are always absolutely horrible, in my experience. It probably doesn't help that I'm not into sport.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

What is that bunny holding? Hot dogs? Breadsticks? A pan-flute? It sure ain't a beer because even bunnies know better than to hold a mug from the top like that.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I get the feeling that it's just something that britain can't do right, like English ubs in Italy it just doesn't work.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Uptown Lounge??

Yes yes thats it. It was empty on Tuesday nite around midnite except for the cute DJ and his corny friends. And an old drunk man playing Golden Tee 2004.

Also, did you try the beergarheti at Crew?

I don't remember which beer I tried. I didn't know any of them, so I asked the bartender to pick one and surprise me. It was a dark beer and pretty good actually.

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

The Sports Cafe on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow is kind of like a bowling alley with no lanes. It's brightly lit and sells rotten chips, but when England and Scotland are playing at the same time (but not against each other) they put the England game on in the Team Lounge, which is full of big, leather sofas. I saw the game against Poland there and it wasn't until Poland scored that I realised that the place had more Polish people in it than English (I had been abandoned my my Scottish chums when the Other Game started). When we got one back, we all started chanting POLSKA POLSKA and laughing at them. It was good fun. Unfortunately, then one of the Polish blokes started picking on a black guy and they nearly came to blows - glasses and bottles were reached for - and they were oblivious to us at the back shouting SIT DAHN! because they were fighting in front of the big screen, so the bouncers had to come along and take them away. I was chuffed that I watched the game right to the final whistle all by myself because I don't like being in a pub on my own, let alone one where there is fisticuffs. The end.

― Madchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

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