Friday, February 5, 2010

FOR A GOOD CAUSE...

Last night, the bar hosted a fundraiser for the Special Olympics of New Jersey. The fundraiser was the work of four people, JOE, OLIVIA, CHRIS and helped along by FRENCHY, who got JOE and OLIVIA to guest bartend with him to raise funds for the cause.

Between the guest bartending stint, donations made at the door and sales from a 50/50 raffle, the group did a pretty good job of raising funds and awareness of the Special Olympics. The group plan on taking part in a "Polar Bear Plunge" into the Atlantic Ocean on February 27th and the fund raising efforts last night is going towards that event, which is a yearly event for the Special Olympics of New Jersey.

If you are interested in taking part in the "plunge" or would like to support the efforts of these guys for a good cause, check out their web link HERE!

Good times had by all!

WEEKEND HAPPENINGS

So as I promised before, here are the highlights of the upcoming weekend:

TONIGHT: "After-Work Happy Hour" (5-9pm), featuring $4 domestic drafts/mixed well drinks!

SATURDAY: "Kick the Keg Saturdays" featuring $2 mugs, ALL BEERS ON TAP* (12-7pm)! SIX NATIONS RUGBY (England vs Wales), 12noon. "Hockey Night in NYC" (7pm-midnight), with $20 buckets of Molson Golden, Labatt Blue and Coors Light! $4 Molson Canadian/Coors Light drafts as well and all of the NHL games you can shake a stick at!!

(NHL CENTER ICE available here).

SUNDAY: SUPER BOWL XLIV!!! $4 Domestic Drafts during the game! Halftime Buffet! Great giveaways during the game! Best of all: NO COVER CHARGE! (No reservations- first come, first serve).

There you have it. Should make for one hell of a fun weekend. Let's just pray that the snowstorm stays away this weekend!


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

Thursday, February 4, 2010

BREAKING NEWS!

I want to take time to send a hearty congratulations to one of our own, MR. LOW KEY and his lovely, beautiful wife, CHRIS ANN on the birth of twin boys! The big event took place early this morning and reports are that wife and babies are doing fine. So RUBY, step aside, you're going to have new playmates soon! As for LOW-KEY, good luck my friend! We wish nothing but the best to you, CHRIS ANN and your new family!

Last night's edition of Pub Trivia was another fun-filled affair with yet more new faces, and lots of teams vying for a spot in the championship round of our "Pub Trivia Tournament of Champions".

The theme for this week's trivia was appropriate enough: The Super Bowl. Some of the theme questions asked included the following: Name three of the four multiple Super Bowl MVP winners (Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana and Tom Brady); Where is next year's Super Bowl taking place and what is the name of the venue (Cowboys Stadium) and prior to last year's 100 yard fumble return for a touchdown (I think it was by Pittsburgh), who held the record for the longest touchdown return in a Super Bowl? (Desmond Howard, 99 yard kickoff return vs New England, '96).

Overall, the questions were a bit tougher than usual, but then again, this IS the Tournament of Champions, so you gotta step up your game a bit! In any case, about 15 teams took part and the winning team was "I GOT FINGERED BY REX RYAN". They earned a spot in the finals , scheduled for mid-March. If you and your friends think you got what it takes to be the "Top-Dawg" of Pub Trivia.






Join us again next week for another edition of Pub Trivia! Next week's theme: VALENTINE'S DAY!





This weekend is shaping up to be an interesting one. On the one hand, there's the BIG GAME highlighting a crazy weekend in sports; everyone's looking forward to Super Bowl XLIV (my prediction, by the way, is the SAINTS in a close one); on the other hand, the weather mavens are predicting a big snowstorm for Fri/Sat. So as a person in the business, this makes me nuts. How do you plan for something like this? Cross your fingers and hope for the best? Stuff like this doesn't help my blood pressure, that's for sure. Stay tuned....

In the meantime, it's THIRSTY THURSDAY ($4 Coors Light/Sam Adams drafts & $20 buckets of Miller Lite/Coors Light, 5-11pm) and I have to prep for that. Should be another good night. And don't forget, with the Saints appearing in this weekend's "Big Game" and Fat Tuesday coming up, we're featuring ABITA AMBER ALE and TURBO DOG all month long!

On a quick, separate note: I've been finding FACEBOOK to be a useful tool to track down people. Every so often we come across someone who leave their driver's license at the bar or forget a wallet or purse. Three times in the last two weeks I've been able to track down the owner through Facebook and they were able to be reunited with their belongings. And they say Facebook is a nuisance. Not true! Good stuff.


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

365 Bars- A Virtual Bar Crawl Review

There's this guy who's taking up the project of visiting 365 Bars, one per day for a whole year. He just started this project and last night, he came into our joint. Check out his review HERE. And go check out his website: "A Guy Walks Into 365 Bars...."

A noble experiment.


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

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

SIX NATIONS COMING TO 3 & L....

In what is shaping up to be a HUGE sports weekend at the bar, we just added another prominent event to the Third and Long schedule: Europe's Six Nations Rugby Tournament. This annual event pits the national rugby teams of six nations: England, France, Ireland, Wales, Italy and Scotland.

It's a popular event and we've gotten many requests about it over the years and finally this year, with the availability of the event on BBC America, we're now able to carry the event live.

The tournament kicks off this Saturday at 12 noon with England facing off against Wales. So for all of you rugby fans, here's what you've been waiting for. We'll be serving up $2 mugs, all beers on tap* from 12 noon-7pm so make sure you get there and secure a spot. Between this event, the UFC event later in the evening and of course, Super Bowl Sunday, it should make for a busy weekend at the bar.

In the meantime, tonight is "Round 3" of the Pub Trivia "Tournament of Champions". Teams of 1-8 players are eligible to play and it's free to enter, with cool prizes to be won as well as a spot in the tournament finals in March. There are great drink specials to be had as well ($4 Mixed Well Drinks for ladies, $15 Buckets of Miller High Life). Registration begins around 7pm (strongly suggest you get there early to secure a spot); fun begins around 8pm.

This week's theme: The Super Bowl.

Still looking for suggestions for songs/albums to update the jukebox with. Submit your suggestions here.

Enjoy the dusting of snow. Not much fell so I guess everyone should be okay with their commute. In any case, be safe.


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

Super Bowl XLIV

The "Big Game" is finally here and that means the "Last Hurrah" of the Sunday Brew Crew for the 2009-10 NFL Season! The SWANFATHER is fresh off of "No-Juice January" and looking for the "Gentlemen's" to flow freely one last time! Let's send this one out with a BANG!!!


See you this Sunday!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

A BUSY MORNING...

This is turning out to be a busy morning and it's only 8:15am. Let's see what's happened so far in the world of the Swanfather:

-Saw Staten Island Chuck come out of his little hole and proclaim an early spring for us by not producing a shadow. Yay.

-Found out that the NY Rangers made a big trade, sending Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins (short homecoming) to Calgary for Olli Jokinen and young tough guy Brandon Prust.

-The Oscar nominations just came out. Some interesting surprises. The Hurt Locker getting a lot of love this year (9 nominations) ... District 9 for Best Picture??

- Just found out that the unthinkable took place yesterday: "We Are The World" was remade (photo credit: Reuters).

And finally, it's been almost two days since our big "Staff Day Out" and I still find myself sore as all hell.

Last night was another fun-filled night of BEER BINGO, hosted by our own resident comic, OPIE CUNNINGHAM, who seemed to have recovered well from Sunday's trip to Hell in a Handbasket. I popped in for a bit to take in the "scenery" and chat it up with BABY GIRL, (who was working on blackboards) and her good friend, S.A.S. (better known as "Sweet-Ass-Shannon").


Monday nights is shaping up to be an interesting night; besides from the obvious good deals ($1 Bud/Bud Light/Coors Light) mugs and the uniqueness of it (Beer Bingo- definitely different); It's just a laid back vibe. Not your typical hustle and bustle that you get during most of the other nights of the week. It's a nice change of pace to start the week. You should check it out one week and see for yourself. A well-kept secret (ok, maybe not so much).

I've got more errands to run and some Tylenol to get for these achin' bones. I'm off like Suzy's prom dress. DOLLAR DRAFT MADNESS tonight. You know what that means...


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

Monday, February 1, 2010

HELL IN A HAND BASKET (or STAFF DAY OUT)....

I'm writing this blog post in pain, thanks to my long weekend, more specifically, yesterday.

Yesterday I celebrated the end of NJJ (better known as "No-Juice January") by partaking in "Staff Day Out" with the employees of Third and Long. We usually schedule these get-togethers a few times a year as a way for the staff to blow off steam and bond together away from our place of employment. Besides achieving our goal of bonding, mayhem usually follows, especially after a day of drinking.

We started out the day by meeting up at the bar, where we were picked up by a Colombian Party Bus, driven by a guy who could pass off as the brother of Juan Valdez, the coffee king of South America.




We made our way to the Yellow Hook Grille in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for a very good brunch. Everyone was in good spirits and looking forward to the fun activity that would follow.



After brunch, we made our way to BROOKLYN BOWL for some bowling fun. I personally looked forward to this activity since I hadn't gone bowling in years.



We exchanged gifts along the way and had some good laughs with the exchange. I could tell, however, that with the flowing of the booze that we were about to make our way towards the "dark side"..

We finally arrived at the Brooklyn Bowl, which was located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, better known as "Hipster Land". I wasn't sure what to expect from this relatively new venue but I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the place, as well as the rest of the staff. While the outside of the venue looked like a non-descript warehouse, once you got inside, you got blown away by a sleek, funky (and yes, hip) venue that was part bowling alley, part restaurant, part bar and believe it or not, part concert venue.






The group and I thoroughly enjoyed out time at the BROOKLYN BOWL and I would highly recommend checking out the venue. Between the bowling and the open bar (all of their beers on tap are Brooklyn-based, by the way, with Brooklyn Brewery, Sixpoint and Kelso beers being highlighted), by the time we made our way back onto the bus, it was as the title suggested, hell in a handbasket. We'd completely crossed over to the dark side.

a poor soul falling out of a hammock hung in the middle of our bus...

And by the time we made it back to the safe confines of Manhattan and Third and Long, the casualties of the day were piling up quickly..

So today, between the Colombian Party Bus and the bowling, I'm nursing a sore neck. However, with all of the fun I had with my staff, it was totally worth it. Good times.

FEBRUARY BEER OF THE MONTH: ABITA AMBER ALE ($4/pint)



TONIGHT: MUG NIGHT MADNESS featuring $1 mugs of Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light AND $2 mugs, all other domestic drafts ALL NIGHT LONG! Beer Bingo at 7pm (free to play and great prizes to win)!

The countdown to the Super Bowl begins today as the big game is less than a week away. Stay tuned to see what's on tap for Super Bowl Sunday at Third and Long!



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