WORLD POLICE & FIRE GAMES COMING TO NYC!

It's just been announced that the 2011 World Police and Fire Games are headed to NYC!



Over 20,000 full time firefighter and law enforcement athletes from over 70 countries all the world will descend onto our fair city from August 25th to September 5th, to compete in sports competition and specifically planned events which will respectfully coincide with the observance of the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.

Team NYC will kick off the countdown to the games by sponsoring the WPFG (World Police and Fire Games) Bar Tour!

Here's an opportunity to come out and have a good time, while at the same time, supporting the fundraising efforts for the World Games! Eight days, eight stops in Manhattan, Queens & Brooklyn, with good times guaranteed, all for a great cause: The World Police and Fire Games!

As one of the featured bars on the WPFG Bar Tour, we are honored to be involved in the World Police and Fire Games and look forward to hosting our event on June 9th!  We would love to see you there too!

ALSO NOTE: The World Police and Fire Games are currently recruiting VOLUNTEERS for the Games.  If you are interested in volunteering in this great event, go to their website (click link) for more info!

CINCO de HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday was apparently the perfect day to celebrate all things Mexican as Cinco de Mayo came on like gangbusters in Murray Hill.  It certainly caught me off guard.

I spent most of the afternoon helping FIREMARSHALL ED set up for the evening's shennanigans in anticipation for what should have been a busy night.  After the setup took place, I had some time to kill, so I popped over to BAREBURGER for a quick bite and to catch up on some paperwork (great place, by the way).  While I was there, I could see throngs of happy people walking up and down 3rd Avenue, with party faces on.  The bars were starting to fill up and that was my cue to get back to Third and Long.

When I got back to the bar, the place was EMPTY, except for SID the KID, our bartender and two old ladies, enjoying a nice cold sangria by the window.  I thought to myself "This isn't happening right now".  Where were all of the revelers that I saw walking up and down the Avenue?  At first I started to go into panic mode- but then I stopped.  Why panic?  We're set up for a good night of revelry.  If the masses come out to play, they come out.  If not, what can you do?  There are only so many things you can control.  So I went up to the apartment to do some last minute things and when I came back..... BOOM.

I don't know what happened during the 30 minutes I was gone but during that time, the bar went from zero to sixty and the place was jumping!  It became an "all-hands on deck" situation, as pints of Dos Equis flowed like Niagara Falls, groups of co-workers were dancing about and plenty of bad decisions were being made. 

To say we were slammed is an understatement.  I have to tip my hat to my staff for being up for the challenge, even SULLY, who gripes about everything, even kept up with chaos with minimal complaints.  So what looked at first to be a bust of a night, turned out to be a pretty good one after all. Ole!

THIS WEEKEND:  The weekend is highlighted by NBA & NHL playoffs (including the possible early end of Round 2 games in the NHL), and the Running of the Roses, the Kentucky Derby.  Join the RUNNING MAN as he tends bar during his annual Kentucky Derby Viewing Party, complete with $2 mugs and $5 Mint Juleps!  Should make for a fun day!  And of course, don't forget to celebrate Mother's Day this Sunday!

OLE! OLE! IT'S CINCO de MAYO!

Yes boys and girls, yet another sign that the Summer season is quickly approaching, (though you wouldn't know that based on how our Spring has been so far): Cinco de Mayo.

You know, it's that holiday that Americans assume is the celebration of Mexican Independence (which it isn't) by way of tequila shots, Mexican beers, flowers, piñatas and plenty of bad decisions.  To learn more about what Cinco de Mayo is, click here .  In a cliff-notes version of what Cinco de Mayo really is, it's the celebration of the Mexican Militia's victory over the French Army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. (Mexico's Independence Day is September 16th).

But America being what it is, we'll use any holiday as an opportunity to celebrate with friends and cocktails.  So that being said, bring on the party!  We'll be celebrating CINCO de MAYO with copious amounts of Dos Equis (because that's what the Most Interesting Man in the World would do), tequila poppers and flavored shots (all $4 each), all night long! We'll also be serving up homemade sangria throughout the night so make sure to raise a glass to all of our friends who hail from South of the Border!

See you after work and of course, "STAY THRISTY MY FRIEND!"


Cheers

I'M CONVINCED: THE WEATHER CYCLE'S OUT OF WACK.

It's been a banner Spring here in NYC so far.  Since the season started, I can count on one hand the number of "spring-like" days we've actually had.  It's been that miserable.  Either it's been chillier than usual or so rainy, you would have thought you lived in Seattle.  It's been a huge FAIL.  Now that we're into May, things better improve quickly or else we won't have anything to show for the miserable Winter we endured.

So lately I've been having issues with my Dell laptop.  It seems that I may have exhausted all of the space on my C: Drive. And you when you see the little icon that says," you're running low on space, you should delete unused programs"?  I begin doing that, clicking on programs that says that they are "rarely used", yet not realizing that they may be important to the running of the laptop.  As a result, I somehow screwed up my Excel program, hosts of other programs, and I still keep getting that damn icon telling me that I am low on space.  And to make matters worse, when I click on a program to remove, it tells me that I don't have enough space to REMOVE the program?  Does that make sense? 

As it is, the keyboard is shot and I have to use an external keyboard to use it.  I've added memory to it, currently use an external hard drive for it (though I'm not sure if I am even using that correctly); Clearly it's time to get a new laptop.  Keep in mind, that this thing is almost 5 years old ( I won it in a quirky contest, called THE BRYAN MURPHY PROJECT) and it has taken quite a beating.

Everyone that I talk to about this keeps pushing me to get a Mac, and while the idea of getting a Mac sounds appealing, I am CLEARLY attached to my Dell (even as it falls apart before my eyes); and the thought of trying to transfer all of my files and stuff that I use for the bar from a PC to a Mac frightens me, quite frankly.  However, it is looking more and more like something needs to be done soon.  Hell, I can't even print up a flyer anymore. Ugh. Stay tuned.

Last night we had the guys from HOCKEY TALK LIVE in house to broadcast another hockey show during Dollar Draft Madness.  The guys (Paul, Sean and Ice Creep Mike) are great- they have a bubbly personality, know the sport of hockey and like to have a great time.  And with the NHL playoffs in full swing, it's cool to have them in house to interact with the hockey fans there to watch the games.  I was hoping to have them connect with the Vancouver Canucks fans who had been showing up to watch the games more and more of late.  However, after all of the calls from Canuck fans asking about their game, we only had one Canuck fan who actually showed up for the game!  Go figure.  The HOCKEY TALK LIVE guys still had a good time with everyone else at the bar, including our staff. 

TONIGHT: Pub Trivia returns to its regular time with a "Cinco de Mayo" theme! Team registration starts at around 7:30pm and the fun starts at 8pm.  We have $20 buckets of Full Sail Session Red or Black  and $4 Mixed Well Drinks (for ladies), all night long!  We'll also have NHL/NBA playoffs on tap throughout the night, so join us for some great fun!

Speaking of CINCO de MAYO, we're throwing our yearly CINCO de MAYO bash on Thursday, with $4 Dos Equis pints and $4 flavored shots all night long, so gather up the compadres after work and let it all hang out!

Cheers!

LONG OVERDUE WEEKEND RECAP (long post)

Sorry for the late recap; It's been a busier than usual week for yours truly.  We find ourselves dealing with more traffic of late, thanks to the influx of great sports taking place.  Between the baseball season, Champions League and both the NBA & NHL playoffs heating up, it's getting harder and harder to keep up with everything going on.  Add to that, all of the international newsworthy items dominating our TV's this weekend (Prince William and Kate's wedding, Pope John Paul's beatification, the death of Osama Bin Laden), and you can see how this has been a whirlwind weekend of sorts.

On FRIDAY, the bar hosted a Viewing Party for the New York Mets.  It was sponsored by SNY TV and Hometown Beverages (Hometown NY Lager), who provided giveaways, including SNY Gift Bags and Hometown swag.  We even had a guest appearance by the "Cow-Bell Man", who is frequently seen at Citi Field.

SNY TV were there taping highlights of the Viewing Party to air sometime this week...

"Cow-Bell Man" playing his famous instrument...

It was also the going away party for one of our own, CHEVON (aka Shivank K.), who was preparing to move back to the Windy City.  He was only with us a short time, but he made an immediate impact with the bar.  A great guy with a great personality, he left his mark at Third and Long and he will certainly be missed.  Good luck in your new endeavors, Shivank! 

The Viewing Party had a great turnout and the bulk of the fans there were having a good time, until Ryan Howard stuck a dagger into their hearts with two home-runs (the second being a grand-slam).  That took the wind out of the sails of Mets fans and more or less sent everyone home.  Another typical Met loss.

SATURDAY was another day dominated by sports as the 2nd round of the NHL Playoffs kicked into high gear.  Boston routed Philadelphia 7-3 on the road, while Nashville stole Game 2 from Vancouver in the night game, 2-1 in double OT.  The highlight of the evening, however, was the long-awaited return of the UFC to Third and Long.  A star-studded card was in place for eager patrons including the much anticipated title matchup between Georges St. Pierre and Jake Shields.

While the early start time threw off some folks (9pm PPV card as opposed to the usual 10pm start), overall it was a great card.  GSP ended up holding on to his title, though his match was kind of boring.  He really has to start stepping up his game or else he might start losing supporters.  I'm just saying.

SUNDAY was by far the best day of Spring yet, in my opinion.  Not too hot, not too cool; the perfect day to be out and about, which is what I would have love to have been.  Instead, I found myself behind the sticks for what turned out to be a 13-hour marathon shift.  Thankfully I was blessed with an afternoon filled with great games and a history-making evening, thanks to the news of Osama Bin Laden.

It was a fairly quiet night, with a couple of small groups enjoying conversations or watching the Mets/Phillies game.  Some of our hockey buddies returned from a game over at Chelsea Piers and began talking about their game when someone sitting in the back came up to me and asked if we could put CNN on with sound.  I asked why and he showed me a text message he received on his phone about the death of Osama Bin Laden.  I put the TV's on CNN, and almost immediately, the bar became quiet as everyone took in the startling news.  As Wolf Blitzer shared the news of what happened, the reaction in the bar ranged from shock to elation. And when you saw the scenes from the White House, Time's Square and Ground Zero, folks really took to the news.  Of course, there were some skeptics in the house, wondering where the body was, and if in fact Bin Laden was indeed truly dead.  In any case, it certainly made for a surreal evening. 

And if that wasn't enough, I was sad to hear the unfortunate news about one of the legendary bar/restaurant institutions in the NYC area: O'Neills in Maspeth, Queens burned to the ground in a late-night fire.  

A staple of Maspeth for over 75 years, O'Neill's was the perfect place to watch sporting events or get together with friends or family for dinner and special occasions.  The O'Neill family are genuinely good people and you hate to see something like that happen to anyone, let alone them. Thankfully, no one got hurt in the fire. I'm sure that I speak for a lot of people by hoping that they are able to rebuild and reopen soon.  Best wishes go out to them.

That's it for the recap!  Another busy week ahead, with Champions League re-plays on Tuesday (Real Madrid vs Barcelona) and Wednesday (Manchester United vs Schalke 04) afternoon; NHL & NBA playoffs, CINCO de MAYO (Thursday) and of course, our annual Kentucky Derby View Party on Saturday.  Add to that mix a steady stream of baseball and bad decisions and you have the ingredients for another fun week at 3& L!


Cheers!