sports bars?

Last night after a very long day at the office and a spell on the elliptical, I decided that I wanted to see how Jeremy Lin was playing.

Lin, the New York Knick sensation, had been at point guard for a streak of six straight wins--and except for highlights I'd not seen him play. Some 200 miles Northeast from "the city" Knick games are not regular fare on local stations. So, I figured I would go to one of several sports bars in the area and watch the second half of the game.

I first went to a place I frequent during football season. The bar on Sundays is packed with zealots or bettors. On Friday night the place had some buzz but few seemed to be paying attention to any of the twenty something televisions on the wall. And nearly all of the tvs were tuned into the Bruins hockey game. A few had on the espn offering, a basketball game between the mavericks and the sixers. I asked the helpful attendant if she could put the Knick game on. She took her remote control and went through what seemed like 200 offerings, but discovered that the package the Knick game was on, was unavailable in this tavern.

Well, no great disappointment. I would have liked to see the game but there are worse calamities one can endure. What I thought was interesting was that in this sports bar there were very few people watching anything that was on the screen. It was a night out which is fine, but the hockey game could have been playing infomercials for all the attraction it had.

I finished a beer and went on down the road to a new place that is called, The Stadium. The stadium is trying to look the part. When you walk in, attendants are wearing striped referee uniforms. There are televisions on top of televisions in this joint. Yet, despite the atmosphere every single set is tuned into the Bruins game. When I ask for the Knick game, the receptionist tells me "no problem." But there is, they cant get the game on because they don't get the particular package.

I look around the establishment. It is crowded, but it does not seem like sports fans who are in the booths. A crooner (in a Bruins shirt) is singing old rock and roll songs.

Lin's Knicks, I discovered when I got home, lost their first game since the sensation was inserted in the starting lineup. I wonder if they will be able to regain the momentum they had during the streak. My sense is that Lin's weaknesses will be identified by opponents and the Knicks will again become mediocre. I could mention this the next time I go into one of these sports bars, but I am not sure if any patrons there will know what I am talking about.