One, Two, Three Strikes You’re Bored
Is there anything more boring than baseball? I truly doubt it. Maybe you didn’t have to listen to baseball non-stop when you were a kid, forced to keep quiet on the weekly one hour drive to Jersey City while your father listened intently to the play by play and cursed the missed catches, strike outs and bad calls. My dad, Ang was actually more entertaining than the pontificating sportscasters who filled in the interminable dead time between the rare excitement of a hit with even deader time. You know, even writing about this is boring me. Which brings me to my point: why are we subjected to baseball (and every other possible sport) when we go out to eat? Are sports fans the only people who patronize these restaurants? Is it too much to ask that I can have a meal – that I’m paying for, mind you – without being an unwilling spectator?
Oh, you like baseball? Good for you. Watch it non-stop for all I care. But stop subjecting me to the boring, repetitive non-action that is not nearly mitigated by the occasional spurt of activity. And don’t tell me it’s because I don’t understand the game; I know what a fielder’s choice is and what constitutes a balk. I even know how to keep score. I just don’t want to watch it – or any sports. Why can’t I have a choice? After all, I’m paying for the fracking meal.
Here’s what I think: if it’s a sports bar, hey, more power to you. Have 200 screens with everything from golf to hockey for all I care. But if it’s a restaurant or even just a damn Friday’s, either turn off the TVs or give me an option. I was thrilled when a local restaurant/sports bar had the screens in the restaurant side playing a loop of candles burning during lunch and dinner. Nice, unobtrusive and fitting for the space. In the bar, sports were playing on 20 screens. Then after the dinner hour, all the screens turned to sports. No problem. But now they’ve decided that the sports fans can’t even sit through a single meal without being distracted with a steady diet of sports. Oh, and the rest of us, too.
So, that’s it, Park East. I’m not eating in your restaurant again until you at least give me a few screens of The Cake Boss. I should be able to have my cake and eat it, too.
Tags: Babedom, baseball, beyond babedom, dinner without sports, listening to sports, men over 40, people who don't like sports, Sports, sports in restaurants, women over 40
