When you
’re as fervent a sports nut as I am and you make a move as
drastic as the one I’ve just pulled off, which involved uprooting
my wife of 22 years and 15-year old dog and settling 3,000 miles
clear across the country, you come to the quick realization that
mid-September to early October is the abs
olute worst time to make such a move. The only time of the year
that could ever possibly be worse would be in the heart of March
Madness.
When you’re as fervent a sports nut as I am and you make a move as drastic as the one I’ve just pulled off, which involved uprooting my wife of 22 years and 15-year old dog and settling 3,000 miles clear across the country, you come to the quick realization that mid-September to early October is the absolute worst time to make such a move. The only time of the year that could ever possibly be worse would be in the heart of March Madness.
You see, the move was the easy part. What I foolishly failed to calculate was the three to four week waiting list that our friends at DirectTV would be placing me on.
My first week here coincided with the opening weekend of football season and already full-blown pennant races. Yet, here I am at my house by Chesbro Lake using rabbit ears to draw a signal. Forget ESPN, that was out of the question. I would have settled for a scrambled David Letterman or Jay Leno, which is what I finally managed to pull in.
But come Sunday afternoon, well, morning here, (which was another thing that took a ton of getting used to, NFL for breakfast) I needed my dose of football and was about to stand up next to the television set and negotiate rabbit ears for seven hours.
What did we do before cable?
Well, thanks to the Boxseat Sports Grill I didn’t have to worry.
I walked in the front door of the sports bar on Vineyard Blvd. in Morgan Hill and looked around at the 11 television sets, including three plasma big screens. Suddenly, all was right in the world.
I quickly found a spot at the bar and ordered what everyone else was ordering. After all, I figured the locals had some inside knowledge.
“Gina, I’ll have a Bloody Mary, too,” I said with a bit of deprivation. I’m not exactly a huge Bloody Mary fan but it was after all BREAKFAST time and something just didn’t seem quite right about ordering a Sam Adams that early. No sooner had I ordered the drink when Kevin, the owner walked by. “Good choice, that’s her specialty. It’s why she works every Sunday morning,” he piped in.
And he was right.
In the weeks since, I’ve started every Sunday morning the same way. A Bloody Mary followed by a great nacho plate and a Sam Adams.
But that got me thinking. As great as Boxseat is, there must be other popular watering holes where one can catch a game. It wasn’t long after that I stumbled across Glory Days in Morgan Hill, another nice spot, with a more expanded menu but fewer televisions than Boxseat.
Now, we operate out of Gilroy so before writing this column I had to go check out the local popular spot, the Garlic City’s ever-popular Claddagh Irish Restaurant and Pub. It was voted best sports bar in Gilroy in recent “Best of” editions of the Gilroy Dispatch.
And with good reason. Dan has been behind the bar there for at least 10 years and knows every regular by name and their favorite drink. I ordered the corned beef sandwich. I mean what’s more logical than that, especially at an Irish Pub. They have one big screen television and several small ones scattered throughout the bar.
I’ve also heard that Dutchman’s, Happy Dog and Pinocchio’s have plenty of bang for your viewing pleasure. I haven’t been to any of them yet but in a responsible effort of taking one for the team, I’ll be there soon enough. My friends at the Hollister Free Lance also reminded me that Johnny’s Bar and Grill and The Vault are two popular watering holes in that neck of the woods. If you know of any others worth checking out, please holler at me on the Green Phone.
My DirectTV is now firmly in place, thank goodness. But there’s still something about being at your local watering hole to watch your favorite team win or lose (sorry Red Sox fans, maybe next year). This Sunday I’ll be in San Francisco covering Tiger Woods and his friends for the final round of the American Express World Championships. But rest assured that next Sunday morning (I can’t believe I’m already actually getting used to saying morning football), I’ll be at my spot and no doubt you will as well.
Cheers had it right… it’s the place where everybody knows your name and everybody is just the same. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt when there’s a game mixed in with all the fun.
