Monday, November 23, 2009

SH**SHOW SUNDAY....

BREW CREW SUNDAYS are generally one where everyone gets together for an afternoon of fun, antics and the occasional act of debauchery. And for the most part everyone has a good time with it. But every so often, say at least one Sunday a year, the debauchery gets out of hand and the day becomes a total shitshow. There's no rhyme nor reason for it, though looking back on it now, I've come to the conclusion that whenever these rare occurances take place, it's usually due to outside influences. Examples:

1) The infamous "Pier-Six Brawl with the Hat Boys" a few years back. Legendary fight between Brew Crew members and a group of hat-wearing guys on a bar crawl. Ugly.

2) "Turbo-Gate". When one of our regulars got into a heated argument with a female bartender and it escalated into a full-blown fight, which spun off into a couple other skirmishes; This incident caused the regular to get a temporary ban from the bar (unprecedented).

Both incidents took place on what was an ordinary Sunday. Both incidents happened out of the blue. Both incidents gave me agita (and other injuries).

This season we had been "shitshow-free"; most of the drama consisting of complaints of some of the DOLFANS behavior, but nothing crazy... until yesterday.

The day started out innocently enough. Many of the BREW CREW regulars were in attendance early on to catch the games and enjoy the free halftime buffet that I laid out for them. During the games we run a "quarter pool" where the regulars ante up some coin and predict the outcome of the score after each quarter (thanks to B TO THE B.. for introducing us to the game).

So we're playing the game and one of the members of the CORNER BOYS ended up winning the first quarter of the NY Giants/Atlanta Falcons game, thus netting him a cool windfall. At that point, one of the regulars, known for making idiotic and sometimes inflammatory comments, made one that made not only myself cringe, but pretty much everyone else too. (I can't even repeat it here). Looking back on it now, I should have known that it was going to be one of those days.

We get past that and everyone moves on and the day is going well. Everyone is having a good time and here enters JON CUSACK and STIFFLER. It was CUSACK's birthday weekend and he looked as if a Mack truck had hit him. He and STIFFLER apparently had been celebrating like rock stars the night before and now they were paying for it. But being the troopers they are, they jumped right back on the horse and picked up where they left off.

As the afternoon wore on, the bar began to get busier and next thing you know, we get hit with a very large contingent of Frat Brats, fresh off of celebrating a birthday of one of their own. They rolled probably 25-30 deep and as soon as they entered the bar, they immediately changed the tone of the bar. Chanting, screaming, ordering shot after shot and just being a general nuisance. It got to the point where everyone in the bar were getting annoyed with their behavior. Add to that mix, a stripper-gram someone got for CUSACK, a surprise visit from a former flame of one of the regulars (which made for a very uncomfortable situation), and you could see where this day was going. To be honest, I was surprised we didn't have a fight or two break out.

Eventually the Frat Brats cleared out of the bar, leaving the place a shambles in their wake. Throughout the night we had to deal with other drunken idiots, fresh from watching games elsewhere and coming in to either try and hit on chicks or just being total jackasses. In total we must have tossed at least 3-4 guys (and one clearly bombed young lady).

We also got a visit from the coaching staff of the COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS, who are in town to play the NY Rangers tonight. They ended closing the bar at about 2am. It was one of those days.

I have to give kudos to my staff for keeping their wits about them during the course of the afternoon/evening. At times it was a royal pain-in-the-ass to deal with so many drunken idiots at once, but I have to say, they kept their composure (probably better than I did) and got the job done.

So hopefully, we got our "Shitshow Sunday" for the year out of the way and it's smooth sailing for the rest of the season. I wonder what next year's edition of "Shitshow Sunday" will bring?


It's Thanksgiving Week and many of you will be making the trek home to see your families and enjoying the Thanksgiving break. We'll be closed on Thanksgiving Day, re-opening on Friday (better known as "Black Friday"). In the meantime, MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL takes center stage tonight with a pretty good game on tap (Houston vs Tennessee), 8pm. You can also catch the NY Rangers vs the Columbus Blue Jackets (7pm). Look for the coaches nursing a hangover on the Columbus bench.

$1 Mugs, Bud/Bud Light/Coors Light or $2 Mugs, all other domestic drafts ALL NIGHT LONG!

More to come.


That's It. That's All I Got.