A Saturday Night

I've been sitting on this story for over a week now for two reasons: 1) I didn't know if it could make for a substantial post by itself and 2) I didn't really know how to approach it. I sat around all week waiting for something else to happen to beef up this post, but enough is enough, time to post. Plus I need to reach my weekly quota.

The weekend started harmlessly. Fitzy's on Friday, Softball on Saturday followed by the Hambletonian. Now that doesn't sound too exciting, but you have to remember Fitzy's is the greatest bar on earth and any day that combines softball and horse racing is pretty fantastic too. I could have gone to bed as soon as I got home, slept till Monday morning and still have woken up boasting of having a fantastic weekend. However, the weekend still had some wonder up its sleeves.

The previous Thursday was Rachel's birthday so Saturday night we were going to the city to celebrate. So around 9:30 I picked up Dmo and Melissa and we headed down to the city to meet up with Rachel and her future sister-in-law. Somehow we found a parking spot right next to the bar we were going to but Rachel was still 10 minutes away, so I decided that I wanted some of J's Pizza, sadly all I could find was a Subway. On our walk back to the bar Rachel called us from inside, and we told her we would be there in a few seconds. This exchange took place outside the bar as we got there:

(Note: No matter how I write this it won't be as funny as it was in person)
Bouncer: Hey guys how's it going? Ten dollar cover charge tonight after 11
Melissa: It's 11:02
Bouncer: Ok, here's what I'll do, I'll comp you....(Rick and Doug put their money away) and hit you guys up for ten dollars each
Rick: That doesn't really help us out much
Bouncer: Oh Bro, (gets the attention of his partner) Shorts and Sneaks, come on, it's Saturday Night. Can't come in.

Now I'm not going to argue against the right a bar has to give itself a certain type of atmosphere by not allowing shorts and sneaks. But I'm a shorts and sneaks kinda guy. If you don't want to allow shorts and sneaks in, I don't want to go in. What I do have a problem with is places like Bruxelles and D&D's that get so high on themselves that won't allow hats. That's rediculous. Any way, needless to say the bouncer became a running joke for the night, his delivery was priceless, often imitated, never duplicated.

The night wasn't a total waste though. We hung out at another bar down the street that allowed shorts and sneaks, however Rachel really wanted to go dancing. Yes, I did feel bad that I prevented Rachel from going to the bar she wanted to go to, but I wasn't going to not wear shorts and sneaks. Melissa and Rachel decided to go back to the original bar and try to beg the bouncer to let me in, but I told them to save their breath. Dmo and I let them go dancing at their fancy bar, and we went uptown a bit to meet Eddie O at The Central Pub. A fantastic establishment which immediatly jumped up to number three on my list of greatest active bars. They allowed shorts and sneaks and Dmo was treated to this exchange during his first trip to the bar:

Dmo: Can I have Boddingtons please
Bartender: Damn right you can have a [explicit deleted] Boddingtons. Happy Holidays, this one is on the house.

You can't beat that.