We Walk into a Sports Grill

PressBox Sports Grill, Clovis, California

The play by play continued in the restroom. Since this month’s bar choices are all about the NBA Finals, this is no little thing. It was still preferable, of course, to time restroom breaks with commercials, but that doesn’t always work out. So it’s nice to know one won’t miss any of the action.

Usually music plays over the speakers at this PressBox Sports Grill location, but for the big games, the audio of the game trumps music.The majority of the screens are assigned to that game. For game two of this year’s NBA Finals, 16 of the 22 screens, including the giant indoor theater screen, played the Warriors vs the Cavaliers. (One screen near us had ESPN drag racing followed by Ultimate Fighting -- which did get rather bloody.)

There are three locations of the PressBox Sports Grill, all opened in the past few years. We decided on the Clovis location, as opposed to either of the Fresno locations. We wondered, as often happens when we’re deciding about a place to visit, would PressBox really be a bar or more of a restaurant? Going inside, we were happy to see the bar with bottles on the shelves behind it.

But PressBox is also a restaurant. The evening we were there, several families with children (and maybe a couple of youth sports teams) were eating in house -- so it wasn’t the kind of place where we expected to be carded at the door. We didn’t even have to show our I.D.s when we ordered our drinks. The bartender was confident, one would guess, we were of age. I ordered “The Press” (Pinnacle Cherry Vodka with soda and Sprite) and Mindy ordered a Dirty Root Beer (Pinnacle Whipped Vodka, Amaretto, whipped cream and Barq’s root beer).

While the bartender, Sarah, was preparing Mindy’s drink, some whipped cream splashed up on her face. Wiping it away, she said,  “Not the first time that’s happened. I go home smelling like booze.”  About the drink she said, “It’s dangerous.  You want to drink it like root beer, but it’s not.” (When we mentioned we like cider, Sarah gave us a sample of a ginger cider, Ginja Ninja, from Oregon.)

Through the evening, we had opportunities to talk with Sarah.  She manages the bar. In fact, she works at all three PressBox locations, working as many as sixty hours a week. She started a few months ago, and is working hard to shape up the bars and their staffs.

She thinks of much of the staff as kids, since they’re mostly a decade or so younger than she is. She has been amazed at what they don’t know about popular culture. It was one thing, she told us, when one of her co-workers didn’t know the TV show The Facts of Life, but when another co-worker didn’t recognize Bruce Springsteen, she realized there had been a failure of parenting somewhere down the line. She believes it may be her job to teach the history of pop culture along with the essentials of service. (She thought she might start with Tom Petty.) We encouraged this work of philanthropy.  

One of those young co-workers is a barback named Tommano. He’s only been working there for about a month, but he appreciates the new job, especially the tips (which are better than at his previous work). We asked him our two standard questions, “What makes for a good bar?” and “What makes for a good church?”

He said he looks for atmosphere -- the people who come to the bar, and the conversations that happen there. “On top of that, good service always,” he said with a smile. As for a church, Tommano said he attends The Well (a church we visited recently). A good church depends on the pastor, he thinks. He says that a good church is “more for the message for me.” He said that it’s good for some people to have a supportive group. The Well has lIfe groups that he said his girlfriend’s parents appreciate, but for him, “I go for the pastor.”

When Sarah had a chance to chat, we told her we visit bars and churches. She said, “Those are the best two places to socialize on the planet.” Which is, of course, part of the point of our travels. As for what makes for a good bar, she said, “There’s a lot of things; good staff, fun, good sports, a little bit of everything.” She added, “You could have the best food, but if the service is bad, it won’t matter.”

As for what makes for a good church, she said, “A sense of community. A church that isn’t favorable to the members who donate the most money. A church that isn’t run like a corporation. A lot of churches are like, ‘We need this and this, so donate, donate, donate.’ The people they’re getting money from have less, and the pastor lives in a million dollar house. A lot of churches are nicer than the schools, you know? That’s ludicrous.”

Because we were taking up bar space for a long time so we could watch the game, we ordered food along with our drinks. The chicken wings and garlic tots didn’t disappoint, and thankfuly, the Warriors didn’t either.

Neither did the staff at PressBox, who made it a very pleasant evening.

We Walk into a Sports Bar for Some Basketball

Yosemite Falls Cafe and Sports Bar, Granite Park (Fresno)

Stephen Curry hit another beautiful three point shot, and the man next to me let out a big, high pitched whoop. “Sorry,” he said, “I thought I was at home.”

We, on the other hand, were quite aware we weren’t at home. At home, we couldn’t watch the NBA Finals because we don’t have cable or satellite. To be honest, this month we’re going to schedule our bar visits to coincide with the basketball games -- there will be at least four games, so we can visit a different bar to watch each game for our four posts this month. (As of this posting, the series could be a four game Warriors sweep, which would be fine with us.)

On Thursday night, we walked into Yosemite Falls Cafe and Sports Bar on Cedar Avenue in Fresno -- for the sports bar side of things. Yosemite National Park is a hour’s drive away, and that provides the restaurant's theme and decor. Both the tables and the bar were about half full, and we found two seats at the bar with a good view of one of the screens.

Mindy ordered Menage a Trois red wine (she couldn’t remember what varietal the bartender mentioned) and I ordered a rum and Coke. (I overheard a man discussing beers with the bartender, Ravyn. She was describing sour beer to the man, “It’s like you swallowed a bunch of warhead candies, but it’s very good.”) After a we’d been at the bar for awhile, we ordered some tasty Blue Steak Bites on focaccia bread (as Ravyn recommended).

Though there was a framed LeBron James jersey above the bar, the crowd was quite obviously cheering for the Warriors. The man next to me was encouraging them with shouts of “Good team! Good team!” and “Yes! Oh, yes!”

Someone called out, “There will be a whole lot of LeBron crying tonight!” There was much to cheer on the Warriors’ sidet, as they held a twenty point lead over the Cavaliers through most of the second half, eventually taking the game 113 - 91.

When the game was over, we asked a couple of people our standard two questions (“What makes for a good bar?” and “Whether you go or not, what makes for a good church?”)

Charles, the hearty cheerer next to me, gave his opinion on good bars: “It’s actually the spirit of the bar, the vibe of the place when you go in. Actually, it’s the people. The waitresses and the bartenders that make the place.” He continued into the answer for the second question, “For the church it’s the same thing. What makes it special is the people inside it. I’ve been a contractor and the sheetrock and bricks and wood are all the same. It’s the people that make a difference. It’s like the spirit in the (Oakland) Coliseum tonight.” That would be quite the place to be.

Mindy asked Ravyn the bartender our questions as well. “This is the best bar I’ve worked in. It’s long and spacious, and you have access to everything you need except lemons. You have to go into the kitchen for them. This is my favorite job because of the good management.” She praised the way management treated the staff.

She said she didn’t feel qualified to answer our church question. “I’m not sure. My views have changed. I used to be a Christian, but now I’ve come to believe in that everything is connected. But before then, when I was still a Christian, I came to see you didn’t have to go to church; you could worship by yourself.”

Ravyn thanked us for coming, and we thanked her for a very pleasant evening. The Warriors also had a big part in making it a pleasant evening, and I guess we can thank them here. Thanks, Dubs, for a great game that helped us have a great time at the bar, and thanks again, Yosemite Falls, for providing a place for us to watch the game!

We walk into a bar in Tennessee

Embers Ski Lodge, Nashville, TN

After a day of t-shirt and shorts weather, one obviously feels the need to cozy up at the fireplace of a ski lodge. At least that's how things worked for us in Nashville, TN. Embers Ski Lodge is a bar in the 12South Neighborhood (quite the trendy place), and it's committed to the alpine theme. The servers wear ski patrol shirts as does the welcome bear. The lights are snowballs. The drinks have thematic names like the award winning "Cool Runnings."

What really won us over though was when Willa the bartender asked for our IDs before she'd take our drink orders. (A little tip for getting tips to bartenders out there: of course you need to get ID for people who might be underage. But the people who really appreciate being asked for ID are the people who are parents of people who need to be IDed.)  We both ordered Old Fashioned variations, Rudolph's Vacation for me and a Sun Drop for Mindy.

I noticed a Steph Curry jersey and a more generic Golden State Warriors shirt, and I knew I would need to talk with the people wearing them. When I went to their table, I met three friends who were waiting for the Dubs to make history as the team with the most wins in a regular season*. Shawn, Michael and Carson cheerily greeted me. They could tell by my Oakland A's shirt where my probable sports alliances lay.

We talked for a bit about a trip the guys had taken to see the Warriors play against the Grizzlies in Memphis and the team's prospects in the playoffs**  We had time before the game started to ask our two questions: What makes for a good bar? What makes for a good church?

Shawn and Carson agreed on the importance of good liquor. Shawn noted that being a native of this area means loving the whiskey. I suggested perhaps a wine and beer bar would be just as good, and both guys scoffed. Michael, on the other hand, doesn't drink, so he values different things. He likes a good cheese dip. (Jumping ahead to the next question, he said churches could use a good cheese dip.)

It just so happens that Carson does the financial books for Embers (and the pizza parlor next door), so he also considered what makes for a bar that does well financially. He said statistically, a bar that has a patio and the weather for it will do well -- both things Embers had that day. (We were inside in that night though. That's where the televisions are)

Shawn and Michael live in Clarksville, where there are plenty of bars -- country bars playing country music. They prefer a place like Embers that plays other music (I noticed Shawn singing along with Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," but there was also more contemporary stuff like Sheppard's "Geronimo.")

On to the church question. Not surprisingly (we were in Music City, after all), music remained the focus. Carson appreciates a church building having good acoustics. Michael grew up in a Church of Christ Church that had no musical instruments where singing was a capella, so he appreciates a good band. (Carson had a similar experience growing up, but his father would take the kids to a Church of Christ and also to a bonus church for music, being inclusive.)

Shawn's uncle played the organ and would travel from church to church -- and his uncle hated going to a church with an organ that hadn't been cared for, out of tune and in disrepair. So a church needs both a good organ and a good organist for Shawn.

More friends came to join the group to watch the game: a couple, Angie and Devyn, along with Kyle. They were roped in for the questions as well. Angie said that the music must not be country. "You don't find me at a honkytonk!" (We obviously did not come to the most typical of Tennesee bars. Of course, the snow sports theme might have been a clue to that already.) Devyn said a good bar needs to have lots of TVs for watching sports. "I could sit and drink at home. Sports and people to talk about sports is what brings me here."

Transitioning to the church question, Devyn said, "Put a bar in the church." More seriously, he said the speaker should be funny. He said that when he grew up in the Catholic Church and it really wasn't fun. I asked what Angie thought would make for a good church, and she agreed with Devyn that a bar in church would be prettygood.

Kyle answered the bar question by pointing to the importance of "the welcoming factor." He values being able to go into a bar in a new city and have a good conversation with a stranger. He comes from Boston, and he appreciates the friendliness of the South. For a good church, he appreciates a good choir and "unbiased opinion about sexuality."

We had an opportunity to chat with Willa the bartender (yes, the one who had won us over by IDing us) and ask our questions. She said a good bar, beyond the liquor, needs a sense of community. A lot of bartenders are focused on putting on show, but to her, it's more important to make a connection with the guest and have a good conversation.

We asked her what makes for a good church, and she repeated that a sense of community is important. When she was a kid, she said, she went to a Presbyterian Church and considered going to into youth ministry. But her parents became Jehovah's Witnesses and made her go with them. She felt continually judged. She said, "A church should be your safe haven, your support system." But that wasn't what she felt when she went with her parents.

I was glad to find that Embers on that night was a safe place for a Warriors fan, and I stayed until the end (Central Standard Time).

Statistics

Total time spent in bar: Mindy 1 hour 15 minutes, Dean until the game ended (conveniently, we were staying a block or so away)

Our rough count: 25

Music: light rock with some eclectic choices

Snacks: there's a full food menu with a multitude of French fry options

Followup: none

Visitor Treatment: A sign at the entrance invited us to sit anywhere; Willa (the bartender) offered us a drink menu and brought us water as soon as we sat at the bar (and she'd checked our ID). The waitstaff were friendly and willing to pose for pictures near the antique skis.

*Yeah, they did it, 73 wins. Go Blue and Gold! 

**All the way, baby!