THE FINAL HOLIDAY COUNTDOWN...

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22:  The first signs of the holiday exodus is upon us.  I am noticing frantic shoppers, scurrying around with packages in tow during their lunch break.  I also begin noticing a few travelers making an early start to their long holiday weekend, hailing down taxis with luggage in hand and frustrated scowls on their faces.

Yes, it's that time.  Having Christmas Eve/Day falling on a weekend presents a mixed bag.  For starters, it falls on a weekend, which takes away from having time off from work because for all intent and purposes, you're already off on the weekends.  What's the fun in that?  So in effect, you have to create a long weekend for yourself, whether it be taking that Friday or Monday off (if your company wasn't gracious enough to give it to you).  Again, what's the fun in that?

As far as it relates to us at the bar,  Christmas Eve presents an interesting dilemma: How do you plan for the day?  There's a full slate of NFL games on tap during the day, with a lot of key matchups (NY Jets vs NY Giants, Miami vs New England, Tebow vs Buffalo, etc); There's also that last-minute Christmas shopping blitz before the stores shut down.  And of course, many of your Sunday regulars will be traveling.  So, what kind of crowd will you get on Christmas Eve?  Hmmm.....  Christmas Day is a moot point because we'll be closed anyway.  I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Tonight should be the last hurrah for everyone working in the city before everyone shoves off for the long  holiday weekend.  We have a lot of things on tap tonight, starting with the "Battle of NYC" (Rangers vs Islanders, 7pm).  There's also Montreal vs Winnipeg (830p) for our Habs followers, and Buffalo vs Toronto (7pm) in the "Battle of Niagara Falls".  And then there's the MAACO BOWL (Boise St. vs Arizona St., 8pm).  So we're sufficiently stacked for sports.  We also have Molson Canadian on tap (as well as bottles), along with Labatt Blue and Alexander Keith's bottles for $4 each (from 5-10pm and during all NHL games).

Last night was Pub Trivia Night and the theme for the evening was, of course, "Christmas/Hanukkah".  Some of the questions for the night were definitely thought-provoking and the fact that I didn't know there was a video game in the '90's called "Lemmings" proved my point.  It was a fun night and the team that won were pleasantly surprised at how well they did.

AND FINALLY:  The other day, we posted that we were ending our long-running "Dollar Draft Madness" promotion after 20 years at the end of the year.  Some of you were confused by the post, thinking it meant that we were closing.  We want to assure everyone out there that we are NOT closing, not by a long shot.  Just making some changes with some of our weekly specials.  The decision to discontinue our long-running dollar mug special was a difficult one to make, but a necessary one.  It was a special that numerous people enjoyed over the years.  I've known many people who made friends over dollar drafts, consummated business deals over dollar mugs;  Hell, I even known people who met their spouses here over dollar drafts.  So it produced a lot of great memories over the years.  But it (as with most things) ran its course and with the change in demographics and tastes, you have to adjust accordingly.  And that's what we find ourselves doing in this case.

So rest assured, Third and Long will still provide you with "Good, Pouring Fun", with its usual array of great drink specials throughout the week.  Check in daily on our FACEBOOK page, on TWITTER and our website for updated information on what's on tap!


Cheers!