We don’t have cable at home, so when big games come on, we go someplace to watch them. Even if you do have cable, sometimes it’s a hell or a lot of fun to go out to a sports bar to watch them, with other fans. Here are a few tips I’ve picked up over the years to assist you in this endeavor…

1. Pick a place that has at least five hundred TVs…okay, not that many, but the more TVs a place has the more likely that the game you want to watch will be on at least one of said TVs. Say you want to watch Tennessee football…how annoying is it when you get to the bar, and they are showing everything BUT on their TVs…which leads me to…

2. Be a regular at the best sports bars that have lots of TVs. As a regular, you have CLOUT! You can get the barkeep to put your game on at least ONE TV that you can see from your seat. Be sure to always tip well, at least 20%, and they will be good to you. Trust me on this one!

3. Get there early, to get choice seats. When we went to Federal Jack’s a couple of weeks ago, while on vacation in Maine, to watch a Sox/Y*****s game, we got there an hour and a half before the game started. Good thing we did…the place ended up getting packed, but at least we had good seats.

4. If you’re gonna hang there for the duration of the game, be sure to alternate alcohol with water or some other non-booze drink….at least if you are the one who has to drive home. I have found that as long as you’ve ordered food, and keep ordering something throughout the game, the barkeeps don’t mind giving you water in between beers. Especially when they know that you will tip well! Seriously, they don’t want to be held liable if people drive home drunk and get killed or something, so they are happy to serve water. Still, give them a good tip.

5. Sit at the bar. At many places, if you take a table, even if you can see a TV from it, you will be rushed away from it within a couple of hours, because people are waiting for those tables. Bar etiquette is different…as I said above, you can stay there for a whole game, as long as you ordered enough food and drinks to make it worth their while. At most places, this means that you have to leave the kiddies at home with a sitter, if you have kids…bars are for adults 21+.

With football season in full swing, and baseball going into post-season, I hope you will appreciate these tips from One Who Knows. Enjoy!

So, today Mike got an e-mail from the main office of his employer, which is located down in Rhode Island. They are planning a party for the 5th anniversary of the company (which is a subsidiary of a larger company that has been around for much longer. It sounds like a nice time…they’ve booked a ferry from Providence to Newport, there will be lunch at a restaurant there, and afterwards there will be various other activities in town (free time to do what you want, free RIPTA trolley pass provided). Upon return to Providence, they’ve booked a nightclub.

The nightclub part I can do without. But the rest of it sounds nice.

The lady who is planning this has suggested three dates for this, and sent out a mass e-mail to all the emplyees, asking them which is best for them. Those dates are: Saturday, August 18 - Saturday, August 25 - Saturday, September 1.

The 25th is out, as we’ll be up in Manchester for that whole weekend, two Fisher Cats games. I already booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn next to the ballpark.

September 1 is also out, as we’ll be returning from our vacation in Portland that day. No can do.

That leaves August 18. But guess who, just last night, bought Brockton Rox tickets for that night? If you guessed ME, you get a cookie. But not today…it’s too hot to do any baking today.

Now, I SUPPOSE that if this thing were to be held on the 18th, we could at least do the lunch part, which is from 1-3 PM. The ball game is at 7PM. It said in the e-mail that Mike forwarded to me that if anyone needed to get back to Providence sooner than the scheduled ferry trip, it could be arranged. So theoretically, we COULD go to at least part of this. Brockton is sorta on the way back home from Providence, we just need to get on route 24 rather than staying on I-93 all the way to north of Boston.

I think I might like to go for at least the ferry and the lunch thing. The waterfront restaurant sounds nice, and I’d like to see more of Newport than I have before. And you know how much I LOVE boats. And it’s all on the company’s dime, so why not?