The Perfect Combination

We all love to give or have an opinion on things. We love to rank and rate things. We love to compare and contrast. I love all those things. I also love to travel. I also love to watch sports. All this loving combined leads me to one thing – a ranking of my favourite places to watch sport from all the places I have travelled. We’re not talking venues or stadiums, we’re talking top five sports bars baby!

1.       Lagasse’s Stadium – Las Vegas

This is the sports bar of all sports bars and I have been here just a couple of times. The bar is shaped and designed like a stadium, and has a stack load of ridiculously comfortably sofas and couches to watch any of the 20 big screens on the far wall. Words cannot describe this one I’m afraid until you go on a Sunday afternoon and watch NFL there. Book in advance, that’s all I will say, but it is well worth it.

2.       Real Sports Bar & Grill – Toronto

The reason I am writing this blog is because I am in Toronto this week and there’s only one place my buttocks will be perching throughout the day on Saturday! This place is insanely large, has the filthy North American menu that we all dream about (but the obesity nightmare promptly follows), and a huge range of beers. There is literally a television screen everywhere you look – it is just tough to watch them all!

3.       ESPN Sports Bar – Now defunct but was in NYC and LV

Another dream venue for any sports/beer/food fan with screens coming out of your ears and plenty of beer on tap. I have to admit however, the winner for this place was unquestionably the spicy BBQ sauce that came with the chicken tenders – no better taste in the whole wide world. Actually, they sold it on in Vegas at New York New York hotel, but it is virtually the same and just branded differently.

4.       Hooters – Anywhere

Now I know what you are thinking. Rob, you’re a filthy pervert and I shall never look at you in the same light ever again. I’m looking at the screens I promise, just the screens. Oh, and the boneless chicken wings! Who would have thought that they could make boneless chicken wings! Sounds innocuous now I think about it, but aside from those, it is a great place and atmosphere to watch sports. Honest.

5.       Walkabout – Various

Now in some respects, I am not sure this one merits reaching this list – there is esteemed company. What I will say however, is that going to Walkabout to watch any England v Australia game in any sport is fabulous and highly recommended. I’m not saying it won’t be dirty, there may be a chav or two, and the carpets may be sticky, but you will occasionally find a good one somewhere across the UK and have an entertaining session. Ok, maybe I am clutching at straws here.

When I was 16, I worked in Wakefield. They opened a Sports Bar just around the corner from the restaurant that I worked at. As I started work at 5pm, that gave me an hour to watch football before starting work, so I frequented the bar every Saturday afternoon. It was a fantastic place and the kind of place that I dreamed could be exported into my cellar when I grew up and had my own place. Sadly, it did not take long to go downhill. It attracted the wrong crowd, and it eventually had chards of glass on the sticky carpet which promptly tells you to leave a bar as soon as you have entered. Sad but true. I love the concept of a sports bar, but I have yet to really stumble across a gem in the UK like I have in North America which is why the list comprises largely of North American establishments. That along with the fact that watching sport, drinking beer, and eating filthy North American food is great fun. If anybody knows of any awesome sports bars, anywhere in the world, I want to know please. Don’t be shy.