BATTLE of the BRAINS

The finals of the Pub Trivia Tournament of Champions took place with nine out of ten teams taking part in an epic battle of wits.  The tournament itself took place over the course of 8 weeks, leading up to last night's big showdown to crown the "Big Dawgs" of Pub Trivia.  There was electricity in the air as teams began showing up as early as 6pm to stake out a prime location for the Battle of the Brains.

We also introduced a new sponsor for our weekly Pub Trivia event: FULL SAIL SESSION BEER and Union Distributors are now the new official sponsors of Pub Trivia and they rolled out the welcome wagon with a full array of cool swag and of course, great tasting Full Sail Session Red and Session Black Lager!

The competition itself was fast and furious as expected and it came down to the final question to determine a champion.  And thanks to some wager miscalculating by a couple of teams, THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF LIBYA emerged on top and claiming the "Trivia Cup" as the winners of the Tournament of Champions!

The Real Housewives of Libya

It was a great night for Trivia, a well-put together event and everyone seem to have a good time, both winners and non-winners alike.
 

Kudos go out to my staff (Baby Girl for putting it all together, Amy Smart & Scuba Steve for helping in making everything run smoothly) and the people over at Union Beer Distributors and Full Sail for providing the great prizes! 

TONIGHT:  NY Rangers Viewing Party vs Atlanta (7pm).  The NY Rangers find themselves on the verge of making the playoffs but they are making it very interesting (again). With two games left, the Rangers are fighting with Buffalo and Carolina for one of two remaining spots in the East.  That means that tonight's game is HUGE!  Ranger fans, if you don't have a ticket for tonight's game, then join us at the bar!  "Molson Twin Thursdays" featuring Molson Canadian bottles, 2 for $7.00 (5-10pm)!

Cheers!

CROWNING THE CHAMPS...

Monday night we witnessed what could be classified as one of the ugliest title games in recent memory as the UCONN Huskies survived a poor shooting display versus an even worse shooting BUTLER Bulldogs team.  This was a classic case of reality not living up to the hype as both teams struggled to produce a quality game.  I guess in this instance, UCONN won (or should I say survived) the battle of futility as neither team could hit the side of a building, let alone a basket for long stretches of their game.  It was that brutal to watch. I actually felt bad for the patrons who actually had to sit through this game, it was that boring.  Thankfully we had dollar mugs to take the edge off the game.

 But at the end of the night, you still have to give credit where credit is due and so I tip my cap to the UCONN Huskies for completing what was an incredible run to win not only the Big East Championship, but the National Championship as well. It wasn't always pretty, but they did what they had to do to survive and win and so for that, kudos!

Speaking of crowning the champions, tonight we will be crowning our own "champions" of sorts as we reach the finals of our Pub Trivia Tournament of Champions! Teams have been competing for weeks to qualify for the Finals and the big night has finally arrived.  It should be a fun and highly competitive affair and great prizes will be up for grabs, thanks to our new sponsor, FULL SAIL SESSION ALE!

The battle for bragging rights and the coveted Trivia Cup begins promptly at 8pm!  Get there early as it will be a full house!




Oh, by the way, if you hadn't noticed yet, my Montreal Canadiens qualified for the playoffs last night! Now if the NY Rangers can do the right thing and close this thing out, the bar will be ROCKIN' with the NY Knicks, NY Rangers and my Montreal Canadiens all in playoff action this spring!  Bring the noise!


CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS continue this afternoon as Chelsea faces off against Manchester United and Barcelona meets Shakhtar Donetsk at 2:30pm!  Catch both matches LIVE!

Just realized that the NFL Draft is quickly approaching.  With the league in a lockout with no end in sight anytime soon, am I the only who doesn't give a crap about the Draft?  And I LOVE football.  I'm just sayin'....

AND FINALLY:  Every so often I write about the "Freegans" who congregate in front of the D'Agostino's Super Market and pick through the garbage that's tossed out by the store.  This particular group of Freegans meet up every Monday night and pick through the garbage for food items that they deem to be salvageable and they videotape their "picking sessions".  So I thought, "Why not take a few photos of them doing whatever they do?"  So I dispatched my trusty barback, SPEEDY GONZALES with a camera to take some snapshots.

Ironically enough, while they were busy picking and filming their "conquests", they didn't take to kindly to being photographed themselves.  Go figure.  Last time I checked, the sidewalk was public property.  Lucky for them, SPEEDY GONZALES was in a good mood or else he would have had his way with them.  We don't call him the Silent Ninja for nothing.

That's it.  That's All I Got. See you tonight!

Cheers!

AND THEN...THERE WERE TWO.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks in the world of College Basketball.  Starting with the new format of 68 teams and the "First Four" play in games, to the improbable runs of underdogs, jaw-dropping buzzer beaters and strange calls, it's been a tournament for the ages.  And after the dust had settled from the great Final Four games over the weekend, we are down to two very deserving teams in tonight's Championship game;  BUTLER and UCONN.

I'm almost afraid to make a prediction in this game simply because I have been riding a streak of futility lately and I don't want to jinx whomever I choose.  I will predict, however, that tonight's game will be a closely-fought affair and whoever wins will do it in the closing seconds, much like the second game in Saturday's Final Four.  There ya go.  Make sure you join us for the game tonight as we will carry it LIVE with AUDIO (9pm)!

Speaking of basketball, I have to tip my cap to the NY Knicks for clinching a playoff spot last night.  I never thought I'd ever say that again but yes, it's true.  The Knicks will be returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2004.  Great job by them.  That means that there will be something to look forward to at MSG in April, which hasn't had any activity in spring in a long time.  Now if the NY Rangers can hold on to the last playoff spot in the NHL's Eastern Conference, then the Big Apple will really be rocking!  Stay tuned!

TONIGHT: "Games n Mugs Night" featuring $1 Bud/Bud Light/Smuttynose mugs & $2 mugs, all other DOMESTIC mugs (5pm-close)! It should be a busy night with the NY Rangers playing for their playoff lives vs Boston (7pm), followed by the NCAA National Championship Game (Butler vs UConn, 9pm)!

Cheers!

NY METS OPENING NIGHT PARTY HIGHLIGHTS

2011 is a new year and that means thoughts towards a new baseball season and hopes for a trip to the post-season.  That's what Met fans had in mind when they showed up in droves last night for our Opening Night Viewing Party vs the Florida Marlins.

The Viewing Party, put together by the bar, Hometown NY Lager and MetsBlog.com was scheduled to begin at 7pm; however, folks began showing up dressed in Mets colors as early as 3pm.  I was working the day shift and by 5pm, I found myself "in the weeds" as the bar ended up being jammed packed with excited fans, ready to cheer on their team.  Once the Calvary arrived and the game itself began, we got back on track and everyone was able to enjoy the festivities.  Hometown NY Lager provided a great special ($3 pints of the NY Lager), gave away some cool prizes and it was pretty cool to witness Met fans talking about expectations for the upcoming season. 

All told, it was a great night for baseball.  Lots of chatter, great banter, plenty of cold beer... what more could you ask for on Opening Day?  Well, a win would have been nice, but I guess you can't have everything.  Hey, it's only one game and it's a very long season. 

Thanks again to HOMETOWN BEVERAGES and METSBLOG.com for their support in making last night's festivities a success!

Cheers.