Where To Watch Football In New York: A Bar For (Almost) Every NFL Team

If you’re visiting New York this fall (and you should, it’s the best time to go), and you like football, there’s an important thing to keep in mind. Jets and Giants fans may seem to run the show, but many — if not most — people in this city hail from somewhere else. And they’ve brought their football allegiances with them.

New York has a bar for almost every pro football team’s fans (and countless college teams as well, but that’s another can of worms). Some teams have a few bars to choose from. Others, like the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints, share one space (usually peacefully, though that 2009 NFC championship game sure made things exciting…). Most of these spots are a microcosm of the place they’re cheering for, dishing out potlucks, swag and a chance to meet other people from your hometown. At the very least, you’ll have someone else cheering for the same touchdowns and interceptions that you are.

So don’t cut your NYC trip short — stick around on Sunday and cheer for your team at one of these bars:

Team Bar
AFC North
Baltimore Ravens SideBar, Wharf Bar & Grill
Cincinnati Bengals Phebe’s Tavern & Grill
Cleveland Browns Manny’s on Second
Pittsburgh Steelers Reservoir Bar, Public House, Hibernia Bar, Irish Exit
AFC South
Houston
Texans
Idle Hands Bar
Indianapolis
Colts
Keats Bar
Jacksonville
Jaguars
Legends
Tennessee
Titans
SideBar
AFC East
Buffalo
Bills
McFadden’s, Kelly’s
Miami
Dolphins
Traffic Midtown East
New England
Patriots
Professor Thom’s
New York
Jets
You’re in New York. If you can’t find a bar playing the Jets you’re not looking hard enough.
AFC West
Denver
Broncos
Mustang Harry’s, Butterfield 8
Kansas City
Chiefs
Village Pourhouse
Oakland
Raiders
The Watering Hole
San Diego
Chargers
Deweys Flatiron
NFC North
Chicago
Bears
Overlook Bar, Triona’s, The Gael Pub
Detroit
Lions
Mercury Bar East
Green Bay
Packers
Kettle of Fish
Minnesota
Vikings
Bar None
NFC South
Atlanta
Falcons
The Watering Hole
Carolina
Panthers
Brother Jimmy’s Upper East Side (draws a small crowd)
New Orleans
Saints
Bar None
Tampa Bay
Buccaneers
Stillwater Bar & Grill
NFC East
Dallas
Cowboys
Stone Creek
New York
Giants
Again, close your eyes and point your finger and you’ll find a bar playing the Giants.
Philadelphia
Eagles
Shorty’s, Wogies, Merrion
Washington
Redskins
Redemption, The Australian
NFC West
Arizona
Cardinals
No dedicated bar
San Francisco
49ers
Finnerty’s
Seattle
Seahawks
Carlow East
St. Louis
Rams
Dewey’s Flatiron (There isn’t a huge following but this place draws occasional fans)

Did we miss one? Add your favorite football bars in the comments below.

MORE FOOTBALL: Check out how the NFL’s opening match-up teams stack up as travel destinations. Would you rather spend the weekend in Baltimore or Denver?

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: This week Michigan hosts rival Notre Dame. If you’re going to the game, don’t miss these other must-dos in Ann Arbor.

10 NYC Happy Hours Where You Can Eat For Free

NYC happy hours that provide food for free were an essential survival tool for me when I was younger and in college in New York. Notoriously an expensive city, New York isn’t without its budget secrets. Happy hours that will feed you for free are among those secrets. Whether you’re visiting or living in New York, if you’re trying to make a little bit of money stretch while still having a good time, these 10 NYC happy hours that provide free food will help you to accomplish the seemingly impossible: to eat and drink incredibly cheaply in New York City.

1. Agozar, 324 Bowery
Buy a drink between 5 p.m.-8 p.m. and get free tapas.

2. The Charleston, 174 Bedford Ave. (Brooklyn)
Free personal pizza with a drink purchase between 12 p.m.-8 p.m.

3. Aurora Soho, 510 Broome St.
Puff pastries, flatbreads, tomato paste and cookies are put out between 5 p.m.-7 p.m.

4. Tarallucci E Vino, 15 E 18th St.
Snacks like quiche and pizza are put out for drinkers on weekdays between 4 p.m.-close.

5. Crocodile Lounge, 325 E 14th St.
Free personal pizza with the purchase of a drink.6. Levee, 212 Berry St. (Brooklyn)
Free cheese balls or Twizzlers available for drinkers upon request.

7. Yum Yum 3, 658 9th Ave.
Free appetizer with drink purchase between 4 p.m.-8 p.m. on weekdays.

8. Keen’s Steakhouse, 72 W 36th St.
Free snacks like Swedish meatballs, shrimp and wings at the bar between 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.

9. The Watering Hole, 106 E 19th St.
Free food buffet between 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. on weekdays.

10. Darbar Grill, 157 E 55th St.
Free appetizers in the bar between 5 p.m.-8 p.m.

Baby On Board: Babies Born In Train Stations

Last week, the hashtag #MetroBaby was trending after a Washington, D.C. woman gave birth to a baby boy on a Metro platform. Despite many humorous suggestions for the baby’s name (my favorites: Stan Clear and Doris Closing), Amir Mason was born a few weeks early and delivered safely.

Yesterday, New York got its own Metro Baby when police helped deliver a baby boy in Penn Station. On her way home from a doctor’s appointment and waiting for a Long Island Rail Road train, the mother was overcome with labor pains and taken to the police station office inside the train station. Paramedics from St. Luke’s Hospital were on hand to deliver baby Oscar, and assisting MTA Officer Melissa DeFrancsco noted, “It was awesome.”

The D.C. Metro baby got a train-themed gift basket and $100 transit card from the agency. The New York MTA is presumably still picking out a card.

Are train station babies a new trend? What station is likely to be next? I’d vote for somewhere like London‘s airy and renovated St. Pancras station, with plenty of restaurants and shops, a luxury hotel, and an easy hop to Paris by Eurostar.

Politicians Will Do Just About Anything To Promote Tourism

Why would New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a 71-year-old with a net worth of at least $27 billion, agree to compete in a whitewater-rafting race against the governor of New York? Andrew Cuomo and Bloomberg haven’t always seen eye-to-eye but tourism promotion can make for strange bedfellows. The pair found themselves squaring off in six-man rafts in a race down the Indian River on Monday in an effort to boost tourism in New York state’s Adirondack region. Cuomo’s team smoked the New York City mayor and his crew by 18 seconds but the PR for the Adirondacks was unbeatable.

Bloomberg and Cuomo aren’t the first politicians to take part in a publicity stunt to promote tourism and they surely won’t be the last. President Obama took a swim in the Gulf of Mexico with daughter Sasha, then 9, in the wake of the BP oil spill in 2010 and got whipped by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in an arcade football game while on a post-Hurricane Sandy visit to the Jersey Shore designed to promote tourism in May. Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled all over the world to promote California as a tourist destination, even posing for hokey photos with clusters of grapes or with his mouth stuffed with oranges.

Other tourism promotion efforts haven’t been as successful. For example, in 2010, Virginia’s Governor, Bob McDonnell, had to apologize after declaring October “Confederate History Month” to promote tourism while failing to mention slavery in the proclamation.

Local and national tourism boards and private companies have also used peculiar promotions to boost destinations: South Korea is using pop star Psy of Gangnam style fame as an unofficial tourism ambassador, Chinese authorities had dozens of bikini clad beauties square off in a Gangnam style dance competition for the honor of promoting Chinese tourism, regional tourism boards in Australia have used “best job in the world” contests to promote tourism and the hotel chain Travelodge offered a free Christmas time stay to married couples named Mary and Joseph. By comparison, the brief race river race in the Adirondacks seems downright old school.

Rare View Of Empire State Building Endangered


I had only been talking to Brooklyn’s Richard Kessler for a minute or two before he began telling me about his personal passion project: protecting a rare view of the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Mirador.

The view of the iconic building from the edge of Prospect Park, a view many New Yorkers or travelers aren’t even aware of, is framed by the Grand Army Plaza arch. If you stand at the base of the black median lamppost which is on the road that leads into Prospect Park, face the Grand Army Plaza arch and look through it, you can see that the Empire State Building bisects the arch perfectly. Keep in mind that this view will be easier to see in colder months when the leaves have fallen. This serendipitous placement of the arch in relation to the Empire State Building provides a breathtaking image of New York City for those entering or exiting the park, or just passing by.

According to Kessler, plans are underway for the construction of a building that would obstruct this rare view. You can read and sign his petition here.Brooklyn residents have a long history of fighting to preserve increasingly rare views of Manhattan. The Brooklyn Paper has documented this kind of opposition in DUMBO and Greenwood Heights and these aren’t the only cases by any means. Without much in the way of scenic landscape, views of the famous skyline are coveted among New Yorkers.

[Photo Credit: Richard Kessler]