21 FEB 07: UNA NOCHE LOCO
It's nice to have a real sports bar close to downtown these days. I can't count a pizza place on Broadway as a "sports bar" - especially when it only has two TV sets, and you have to ask the staff to change the channel to an important game they don't know about.
The sports bar I'm talking about is Locos Grill and Pub on 13th Street. I've visited it twice on Monday nights in the last few weeks, to see my old alma mater (and Top Ten ranked) Kansas Jayhawks play basketball. The restaurant has several high-definition TV sets - but I really haven't been able to count beads of sweat at the foul line.
Locos Grill and Pub not only has HDTV for sports events, it has a full menu of food and drinks. While it may not include the large-sized Scrambled Dog of The Sports Page, it offers several desserts where the sports bar on Veterans Parkway does not. And the cheesecake actually costs less than some of the overpriced items at full-scale restaurants.
But to be honest, I have yet to get to the dessert course at Locos. The appetizers are extra-large and very filling. My belly spent much of Tuesday processing the "Nachos Muy Loco" with chicken. The chips came covered with cheese sauce, along with embedded jalapeno peppers which are perfect for justifying Locos' big glasses of soda.
Perhaps some people at Locos drink things other than soda -- because when I was there Monday night, two men almost came to blows at a table. But I'm afraid I really didn't witness what happened. When my favorite team is on TV, I try to emulate them -- by being completely focused on the court.
I heard what sounded like glass crashing to the floor, and turned my head to see one man pulling up another by the collar. Kansas-Kansas State is a rivalry game, but I'd never get this angry with an opposing fan. Besides, neither man seemed to be wearing K-State purple.
(It could have been worse, though - they could have been tossing toward the mechanical dartboard next to the bar.)
A Locos manager intervened at this point, and police never had to be called. A server told me later that "two friends" had come into the sports bar, and almost wound up fighting. At the now-torn down Choctaw Grill on Macon Road, they would have put a wrestling ring in the parking lot and promoted this.
A few minutes later, one of the men involved in the scuffle had a long discussion with the Locos staff near my table. He kept claiming he did NOT mean to disrespect anyone there. But it seemed a bit like some other negotiations that day - the talks Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Both men wound up leaving Locos, and one talked openly about never coming back. I'm not sure if that was his decision, or the manager's orders. But the bar chairs were propped up shortly after they left - and my view of the second half on the HDTV behind the bar wound up more like a fifth-row seat on the arena floor.
But all in all, Locos is a nice place - and my large-sized appetizer plate with a large diet cola cost me less than 11 dollars with a tip. In fact, the server gave me back a ten-percent "Money Mailer" coupon I used. I suppose that was a "thank-you" gift, for sitting through an unscheduled sideshow.
BLOG UPDATE: The Muscogee County School Board voted Tuesday night to put the old Baker High School building up for sale. So now your dream for the building can come true. It can become a community center, an office building - or the new home of the recently-demolished Candlelight Motel and Cellars Lounge.
The Muscogee County School Board also heard from Northside High School students, about a new auditorium [11 Jan]. Students say it was promised five years ago, but never built. Maybe they should call Edward DuBose at the Georgia NAACP, to get faster results.
What else happened Tuesday? We tried to keep track of it....
+ A late-afternoon jog around South Commons found little white warning flags on the ground, alerting me to a pesticide application. I knew it smelled like spring outside - only it was the man-made counterfeit.
+ An Alabama pilot survived an emergency landing in Phenix City. He took off from Columbus Airport, and went down in Idle Hour Park. Give that man some credit -- he obeyed the signs, and did NOT trespass his plane inside Garrett-Harrison Stadium.
(WRBL found it curious that the pilot was taken to The Medical Center in Columbus, even though Summit Hospital was practically down the street. Officials explained the Medical Center has a "trauma unit" - while I guess Phenix City was simply in trauma over not having a hospital for years.)
+ Attorney Stephen Hyles had an unusual day. In the morning, he watched a client plead "guilty but insane" to a Harris County church attack. In the evening, he led a Columbus Library discussion of the Shakespeare play "As You Like It." Wouldn't "Love's Labours Lost" have been more appropriate?
+ Ground was broken in Plains for a new Alterra biodiesel plant. Former President Jimmy Carter was part of the ceremony, and said the new plant will help end our dependence on imported oil. It's nice to know he's still searching for that answer, after 30 years....
+ A bill was introduced to move up next year's Georgia Presidential Primary to February 5. So many states are considering this that next season's Super Bowl may have NO noteworthy commercials - because campaigns will buy up all the time.
+ The Columbus State women's softball team opened its home season by sweeping a doubleheader from Clark Atlanta. The Cougars won 20-1 and 20-0. If they'd been playing table tennis, the outcome still might be in doubt.
+ Instant Message to Chief Assistant District Attorney Mark Post: How many times do people pick on you about that name - or suggest you should be working in "Night Court?"
This blog had more than 28,000 visits in 2006, from people in Columbus and around the world. To advertise to them, offer a story tip or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post your e-mail comment and offer a reply.
BURKARD BULK MAIL INDEX: 4294 (+ 134, 3.2%)
If you mention this blog in public, please be polite enough to let me know.
© 2003-07 Richard Burkard, all rights reserved.