I don’t drink alcohol. OK, that’s not entirely correct. Once or twice a year I’ll get a Bailey’s Irish Cream (aka chocolate milk with booze) at a casino. When the waitress asks, “straight or rocks,” I won’t remember how I had it the last time or if I have a preference.
Helaine is right up there with me. If it were for the two of us, bars and the spirits industry in general would cease to exist. On the other hand, we’re fairly non-judgmental about this. We don’t mind if other people drink and have served alcohol in our home.
All this is leading to the fact that Helaine and I spent a good part of the afternoon at a local bar watching the Philadelphia Eagles humiliate the Green Bay Packers. For Eagles fans, this was a wonderful game. Our biggest concern was the coach leaving quarterback Donovan McNabb in too long, possibly subjecting him to injury.¹.
I’m not sure I had ever gone to a bar just to watch a football game. It was actually a lot of fun.
We went to Eli’s on Whitney, a bar and restaurant that also does catering. The bar itself is rectangular with the bartenders in the middle. On the outer walls are about a dozen TV sets. Inside, above the bartenders heads, are another 10 sets.
Each TV was tuned to a satellite feed of a game. Since there were fewer games than sets, many had the same game on.
We came in around 4:00 o’clock. The place was crowded with fans still watching the early games as the late shift moved in. A large proportion of the people there were wearing jerseys, sweatshirts or other team attire. Helaine and I were wearing Eagles sweatshirts.
Through the course of the afternoon we had appetizers, (soft) drinks and dessert. The tab came to about $30 and I gave our waitress a 35% tip based on both her good service and the long time we were there.
It is not like watching at home. On the other hand, it wasn’t bad at all. I enjoyed it, especially when it became obvious there were many more Philadelphia than Green Bay fans. There were cheers for each good Philly play – meaning a lot of cheers today.
As the season winds down, more and more games will be on free local TV, meaning there will be less reason to watch at Eli’s. If the opportunity presented itself again, I’d go in a second.
¹ – If you know Rush Limbaugh, would you please tell him an apology to McNabb for what he said last season is way overdue. There’s just no arguing with the numbers and Limbaugh must see that by now.