Top 5 Sports Bars
Welcome back, friends! Today, as I write this, it is Monday, June 8, 2020. Today, the great city of New York has started Phase One of its reopening post-COVID-19. While Phase One does not include the reopening of indoor restaurants and bars, it does mean we are one step closer to having someone else pour us a drink, in a public establishment, because they are being paid to (when we get back tip your bartenders and waitresses they can use it after these past few months). I mentioned in my last blog that one of my favorite aspects of attending sporting events is the tailgates and pregames. So, grab a beer ( you’re working from home who cares if its 10:00 am, its a pandemic nobody will know/judge you) and join me as I review my top 5 favorite pregame spots and sports bars in the greater NYC area.
5)Billy's Sports Bar - Bronx, NY:
Billy Sports bar on River Ave across from Yankee Stadium is a wild spot. If there is a playoff game or football event this is the place to be. Its the largest bar on River Ave. It is a large building with no windows, strobe lights, blaring music, and 200 of your fellow sports fans. When inside Billy’s, I challenge anyone to know what time of day it is. You haven’t lived till you pregame in this 80’s style disco club, filled with people wearing Yankee gear, at 11 am on a Thursday before a day game (it sounds like far more of a degenerate move when I type it out, its fun). Billys also has a rooftop area for you classy types. One of my favorite Bronx Spots for sure.
4)Jack Doyles - NYC:
Jack Doyles is just a hop skip and a jump from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. I love starting off my pre-game bar hops at Jack Doyles. It always has a festive sports environment before games at MSG. It’s a two-floor establishment that offers beer buckets and good apps. On Saturdays, during the fall it becomes a West Virginia Mountaineer bar, so if you want to drink 200 beers, and cheer on the Mountaineers, ( poetry blog to follow??) this is as close as you’ll get to Morgantown without leaving Midtown.
3)The Flying Puck - NYC:
As I sit and write this I googled Flying Puck and my pal Google is telling me it is permanently closed. I am going to say a rosary and pray the folks at Google are mistaken. But if this is true, this review turned into an obituary: The flying puck was a great bar. In the shadows of MSG, it was my go-to Rangers pregame spot. The windows and skylights were made of Ranger themed stained glass. The wait staff and bartenders wore Rangers Jerseys on gamedays. It was truly a great bar. I once took my girlfriend there before her first Ranger game and 3 “Penalty Shots” later she was fast asleep before the 2nd period. The Flying Puck is survived by Blueshirts fans everywhere. May it rest in the sweetest of peace. -----Idk- June 2020. (Hope this is Tupac Scenario and it’s not really dead)
2)Stout NYC - NYC:
Another bar that is within walking distance of the Garden and Penn Station. It is a fantastic bar. I have done St Paddy’s day there and boy oh boy was it fun. That being said the best time (in my professional opinion) to visit Stout NYC is during the Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament in early March. The place jams from 9am to midnight. There are fans from every Big East school there during that week. Once after a big win by the University of Connecticut Huskies, my father bought 15 or so random strangers a shot and started a U-C-O-N-N chant. I’ve gone before Ranger and Knicks games as well. A multilevel place that doesn’t disappoint.
1)Stans Sports Bar - Bronx, NY:
The Grandaddy of em all. When I die (probably soon if sports don’t return) I want some of my ashes spread here. I had the first beer of my life at Stans when I was 5 years old (probably more like 16 years old but whatever). Stans is in my blood. I could write a dissertation on my love of Stans Sports Bar. I’ve been there at 10 am, 1 am, and just about every hour in between. I’ve danced with my mother there to “New York, New York” after big playoff games. My father has been going there since he was my age. My girlfriend and I had our 2nd date there. I. Love. This. Bar. It is in my opinion, the staple of the Bronx pregame scene. If you ever go to a Yankee game and don’t at least stop in and have a beer at Stans, you didn’t really go to a Yankee game. Derek Jeter even stopped in there before he retired for Christ Sake. I may do another blog just about Stans at some point, so I’ll end it here by saying, I’ve never met someone who had a bad time at Stans, and if such person exists, I pray that our paths never cross. “So this is Stans”- Derek Jeter.