This week’s column is lovingly devoted to the bastion of sport-viewing, the place that combines the three favorite pastimes of many Americans: sports, TV, and beer.
Sometimes the best bar/restaurant to watch a game isn’t a traditional sports bar, however. The only true necessities are an abundance of TVs and an atmosphere conducive to watching sports (e.g. no loud music). Drink specials are a bonus, and are always welcome.
Here’s a list (chronological, of course) of three of my favorite sports bars in the country:
Andy’s Pub & Gold Crown Billiards
Erie, PA
About a mile from the house in which I grew up, Andy’s potato skins drew me in as a child. As I matured, it became a favorite haunt for watching Monday Night Football with friends as we negotiated the post-college job-finding minefield. I liked Andy’s because it was mostly non-denominational—I could root for the Bills, my friend Rick could pull for the Bears, and nobody would think twice.
I did, however, avoid Andy’s on the two days a year when the Steelers and the Browns faced off. Familes turn on each other, the divorce rate triples, and most of Northwest Pennsylvania deteriorates into sectarian feuds like it was Kandahar. As a Buffalo fan, I avoided the conflict by default; the Bills haven’t been to playoffs since 1999 and the “Music City Miracle” (which will likely fill its own rant-fueled column another time).
Most memorable game I watched at Andy’s: Ohio State’s 2003 double-overtime BCS Championship victory over Miami (the Buckeyes’ first national title in over 30 years).
San Francisco Saloon
Los Angeles, CA
While it’s not really a sports bar, I began frequenting the Saloon because my friend Pete Holland, a former defensive end at UCLA (now a Nashville songwriter), tended bar there when I first moved to L.A. I watched many NCAA tournament games there every March, and devoured just as many Saloon burgers, which Pete claimed were “fourth best in town” (he posited that folks would argue with a #1 or #2 ranking, but that most would accept “fourth best” as inherently legit).
I guess you could call the Saloon a UCLA bar, mostly because it’s relatively near Westwood (about 3.5 miles), because Pete’s a UCLA grad, and Bruins basketball coach Ben Howland would occasionally drop by and rub shoulders with us common folk.
Most memorable game I watched at the Saloon: Game Three of the 2006 NBA Finals, where Dwayne Wade, Dan Crawford, Ken Mauer and Jack Nies pulled off one of the biggest heists in Finals history (which will likely also fill its own rant-fueled column another time).
Skybox at the Hilton North Raleigh
Raleigh, NC
OK, so I’ve only been to the Skybox once, but it’s a helluva bar, and the odds-on favorite for my new sports-viewing haven. It boasts nearly 50 TVs (all flat-screen or plasma), as well as 5 x 9 and 6 x 10 projection screens.
The best part? The Skybox is where the Ohio State Alumni Group of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill triangle meets once a week for Buckeye football games. With everyone clad in scarlet and gray, $3 “Buckeye Brew” on tap, and as inflatable Brutus standing guard, how could it get any better?
Most memorable game I watched at the Skybox: last Thursday’s season opener, a 45-7 clubbing of Marshall. I’ll certainly be there on Saturday for the rematch with Miami (the first time the teams have met since the 2003 Fiesta Bowl; hopefully will not fill its own rant-fueled column another time).
