FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2009

GATORS WIN....AGAIN!

Last night a packed bar watched in amazement as the FLORIDA GATORS pulled out a hard-fought victory over a resilient OKLAHOMA SOONERS team, 24-14. The game was much closer than the score indicated and quite frankly, the SOONERS had plenty of opportunities to take full control of the game. However, a few costly turnovers and not taking advantage of the red zone turned out to be their undoing, as the GATORS were able to win the battle of attrition and pull away in the end. A fun game to watch and now we listen to the critics cry over who truly should be called the "National Champion".

Some highlights from last night:

*A return visit from a patron that I like to call PRISON BREAK. This guy first turned up at our bar a little over a year or so ago. He was a large, husky, tough looking character- straight from one of those prison shows like "OZ", except that he really was just released from prison (his Riker's Island I.D. bore that out). When he appeared the first time, he kept to himself, ordering shots and a beer or two before making his way out, giving everyone a mean stare in the process. The next day, he returned with this "flamboyantly" dressed black woman and they chatted each other up over drinks before stumbling out into the darkness, no doubt to go "make up for lost time", if you know what I mean. The guy's been in and out ever since, always during the day, and it looked like he was cleaning up his act: got a job as a construction worker, no longer throwing menacing stares at everyone and actually cordial from time to time.

Last night, however, was another story. With the bar being packed for the game, I had my door guy start a line outside. PRISON BREAK shows up, looking disheveled and dirty, much like our very first meeting with him. He somehow gets in after having wait in line and he immediately makes his way to the middle of the bar where OPIE CUNNINGHAM, SUPERFLY SHAFT, NORBIT, THE MAYOR OF MURRAY HILL and SILENT BOB were holding court. He begins chatting them up and ordering shots. I get a message from my door guy to look out for him as he got a bad vibe from him. NO SHIT! THE GUY WAS IN PRISON! It turns out that PRISON BREAK was wound up on something and not himself. So I motioned the bartenders to not serve him anymore and I would have to figure out a way to get him out of there without igniting his fury. Because quite frankly, if he were to flip out, he'd probably kill the whole bar in one fell swoop.

I then shoot OPIE CUNNINGHAM a text message telling him to be alert of the guy. So he looks at me and shrugs his shoulders as if he didn't know what else to do with this person. PRISON BREAK recognized OPIE as his day bartender and I guess when you go into a place not knowing anyone, the natural thing to do is go towards a familiar face and last night was OPIE's lucky night. At that moment, PRISON BREAK makes his way towards me on his way to the bathroom. He recognizes me and goes to give me a handshake and mutters under his breath "I hate yuppies". Great. Oh and as he walked by, this STENCH of B.O. cut through the crowd like a hot knife on butter. I again motioned to the bartenders to cut the guy off as I knew I had to somehow get this guy out of there.

He comes back up from the bathroom, stares at me again with this blood-curdling snarl and walks back to the group. It became obvious at that moment that the rest of the group was uncomfortable with OPIE's new friend and maybe he picked up on it too because next thing you know, OPIE was leading the guy out of the bar. Somehow he was able to convince the guy to leave without incident (though I think he wanted a piece of our door guy).

*Speaking of our door guy, he made up for the PRISON BREAK incident by tossing out a frat boy who got a little "touchy-feely" with some guy's girlfriend. The guy kept trying to talk up the girl while she was sitting next to her boyfriend and at first the couple put up with the chatter. But when the guy began to unbutton his fly to do whatever it was he thought he was going to do, my door guy pounced on him like the LION KING and got his ass outta there. Good stuff. He got a lot of compliments for his swift action afterwards.

*Back to OPIE CUNNINGHAM. Many of the regulars turned out throughout the day to say their goodbyes to our dear friend as he finished out his last day as our day bartender. They shared a lot of laughs, funny stories and it was pretty cool to see. Everyone will miss him as he makes his way "Down Under", as will I. It's difficult to find a bartender that has a good read on their patrons and OPIE seems to have that way about him. He could engage with you very easily and as a patron you would feel comfortable with telling him your life story within minutes. He will be missed.


WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

The NFL Playoffs kick into high gear this weekend with two doubleheader matchups:

SATURDAY: Tennessee vs Baltimore (4pm), Arizona vs Carolina (8pm)

SUNDAY: NY Giants vs Philadelphia (1pm), Pittsburgh vs San Diego (4pm).

There will be great drink specials ALL WEEKEND LONG, just check in on our website for more details!



Nuff Said