Early this year, for a couple of months, I had the honor of writing a couple of college basketball-related posts for Off-Wing Sports, Eric McErlain's terrific sports blog, and a once-a-day stop for yours truly. His post today on what makes a good sports bar is well worth the reading:

So what makes a good sports bar? It's a place you go to watch the game with like minded folks who are looking for the same thing. It's not a place where catching the score is an afterthought. It can have pool tables and arcade games, but they can't be the main attraction...Music is fine, as long as it's in the background, and not dominating the scene.

What else? How about some character? Some history -- and it helps if you're part of that history too. How about some identification with the neighborhood the bar resides in? And how about a crew of regulars, not an ever-shifting cast of twenty-somethings looking for the next hot spot.

And, apologies to my friends who have recently become parents, a sports bar is for adults only. Points off if your favorite place has a kid's menu.

It is a source of irritation that reviews of sports bars always focus on the number of big screen TV's, or the number of extra-curricular activities that go on that don't involve sports. When I go to a sports bar, I don't care about air hockey or pool tables, and I don't want to have the juke box going full blast when my team is playing; I just want to watch the damn games, hang out with my chums, and drink as much Sierra Nevada as I can afford. Anyways, if anyone from SoCal has any suggestions for what their favorite sports bar is, let me know; I intend to publish a similar post shortly.

And for any and all who care, here's Hunter S. Thompson's take on the joys of being a 'Niner fan.