Watching Baseball in a Bar

The Baseball Buddy has been up visiting us so of course we’ve been watching plenty of baseball games. He, the Boyfriend and I took a night to go see an Anchorage Bucs game (our local ball club) on a particularly good night with some good play and one of only a few sunny actually warm days in this very cool summer.

We’ve also watched a game or two at one of our favorite bars to catch a ball game after work. It got me thinking, Girlfriend, to offer you some pointers on watching baseball in a bar.

There’s a bit of an art to watching baseball in a bar. Some things you have control over and of course, others just happen. You need to go with the right people, you have to pick a place that has baseball playing on the tv, and it helps if the bar is showing a game you actually want to watch. Food is always good if you are going to be watching for awhile, and the Boyfriend points out, it helps if you can get peanuts in the shell, even if they are out of a vending machine. (The place we watch is a “bar” bar, so it ain’t fancy.)

I live in Alaska time Zone, which means a lot of east coast night games are usually in their sixth or seventh innings by the time I get off work. We can easily catch the last two or three innings of a game then still have the whole evening ahead. Late afternoon is a great time to go see a game. Usually bars are slower and there isn’t a lot of chatter or a loud juke box stuff going on.

Pick a place that has multiple screens if you can so you have a better chance you will find a team you want to watch. If you just love the game of baseball, it probably won’t matter what teams you are watching. The Boyfriend said that any baseball game is better than a basketball game.

Me? I like to watch teams I know. I appreciate good baseball, but I like it even better if I recognized the guy up to bat, or know a little about the pitcher. You don’t have to know much, but if I recognize Jeremy Reed or Tim Wakefield or Johnny Damon or Ichiro Suzuki, I’m gonna to be more interested. And if you are with people you like and who are fun, that’s your insurance against a boring or uninteresting game.

Best time to find baseball in a bar that isn’t a designated sports bar or baseball bar is in April and mid July to mid August. The basketball playoffs tend to dominate in late spring early summer and football gradually sneaks back in August, roaring back into life in September. It is a tough fact, but not everyone likes baseball. Once the Boyfriend and I walked into a place one afternoon and asked the bartender politely if we could get a ball game on. We were told quite bluntly that the hockey playoffs were on and other customers in the bar were watching. Ouch! Sorry. Hockey wasn’t even on our radar. So be mindful of others in the bar. Choose a baseball friendly place or a place with multiple screens so you can live and let live.

A table with an unobstructed view is the best. In the place we like to go, there are multiple screens. Once during the fattest part of the season, we could see three screens of baseball from our table. And this is no lie, we once were watching when all three screen had bases loaded and went to full counts. It was sensor overload, and of course while we were watching one game, the team hit a home run on one screen and when we switched attention to the other screen, the first screen showed the batter striking out (while there was another home run in the middle screen.) Whew! No way on earth we could have orchestrated that one.

At some point, try sitting at the bar and watch a game over the head of the bartender. It’s more social and you are bound to have a better chance at having a moment with the other barstooled patrons. You definitely want to watch the playoffs or better yet, the World Series, with a bunch of like minded fans in a crowded bar. There’s a camaraderie that happens at these time and you want to be part of the full crowd press of fans rooting for the same team.

It goes without saying to always treat your waitress or the bartender kindly. These people work hard and put up with a lot of shit in their job. You don’t want to add to it. Tip your waitress or bartender well and be kind to them.

Now here comes a challenge. How much do you talk during a game? Seriously, this is a fine point of balance. I find that guys love to talk a lot about baseball. Especially if you have a stats guy, he is a fountain of minutiae and obscure facts. Other patrons can go on and on. In a loud, booming somewhat beer soaked voice, they counter guess the manager, they think the umpire is blind as a bat, and they always have a better way of playing the game. But I have found that guys aren’t very tolerant of women talking about baseball. It is like they wait for you say something stupid. Sometimes, folks at your table just want to watch the game and talk is distracting. I like to ask questions so I can learn more, and I put in my own observations from the watching I’ve done. But learn to read the body language of when your companions are starting to get irritated. So here are a couple of ideas.

First of all, baseball is supposed to be fun, so don’t take anything too seriously that happens in a bar. No matter what, you are there to have fun, so cheer, yell, whatever you want and don’t let anyone deter you from being a fan. Or go with a bunch of Girlfriends and talk as much as you want.

Or do what I do. At some point during the game, I find myself watching and eavesdropping on the other people in the bar. I love people watching. I love it when a Yankees ball cap comes in and sits down three bar stools from a Boston Red Sox cap. Boston always has the loudest fans so I know it won’t take long before there is a shouting match at the television, each in its own distinctive East Coast accent. I also love to keep an eye on the middle age quiet guy sitting by himself at the bar nursing a beer with his eyes glued on the set watching the Detroit Tigers game. I know that guy probably grew up watching that team with his dad and he is watching every play with old, experienced eyes and a hopeful heart. Or, there is the drunk who has cornered some young pretty Girlfriend I want to rescue, because he is talking her ear off trying to impress her with his knowledge while she is politely listening and nodding her head, but trying to plot an exit strategy.

I like watching the people almost as much as the game. Sports brings stuff out in people that is wacky and almost beyond reasonable explanation. I think sports matters to people because it makes people care passionately about something and fight epic battles and go up against the enemy mano-a-mano, and win victoriously or lose tremendously and at the end of the day they can still go home without losing their life, a limb or their children or a homeland. It is the Roman coliseum without the chariots, the blood or the Christians being ripped asunder. So people will cheer and yell and verbally punch each other in serious good fun. Fan, of course, is short for fanatic.

Which brings me to my final point. When you watch baseball in a bar and you realize that someone else two tables down is rooting for your same team, make eye contact with him or her. Raise your glass and mouth the words, “Go Mariners!” That fan will always raise a glass and toast you back. Because, for one brief moment, you’ll both believe that your team will actually win.