Local sports bar owners weren’t daft when planning draft parties, as the subsequent verbal jousting shows:
– The annual draft day parties, featuring long periods of commentator small talk interrupted by the excitement of an actual pick, and promoted by some local sports bars seem to have made a return on their investment. And the ultimate example might be the guy in the Katzenmoyer jersey.
A guy sporting that somewhat obscure New England Patriot jersey, No. 59, was verbally jousting with a bunch of Viking backers on the night after they made their much celebrated wide receiver pick. The action at that point, seen at Buffalo Wild Wings, was more along the bar rail than it was on any playing field or draft podium. Then one of the Viking fans made reference to a supermodel while looking toward No. 59. I really doubt it, but he could have been referring to a certain famous quarterback’s supermodel squeeze. Around that same time on sports news TV was the announcement that there’d be special coverage of the eternal saga that is Deflategate, “Appeal of the Appeal of the Appeal. The Tom Brady Story, a Football Life.” Just kidding.
But seriously, the draft viewership at most sports bars was heavy during that first round, and some servers — mostly female — said that they couldn’t relate to all the hype, which became a topic in itself, but that they appreciated the business. Attendance peaked during the first couple of rounds, depending on if your favorite team was Minnesota or Green Bay, and what the selection meant to your squad — and there were plenty of commentators telling you what you should think.
The Katzenmoyer Syndrome also played out early on draft day among people looking for an escape from what seemed to be the drudgery of their everyday work lives. A convenience store clerk, who I don’t recall ever having met, asking me with interest what I’d be doing for the “main event,” before even taking my money. He made small talk at length, and didn’t let it go very easily, about my venue of choice to watch it (didn’t have a particular one) and what I thought might be the result (didn’t have an opinion).
– More from my local vault on Prince: The flower girl at the recently deceased superstar’s wedding was a close relative of a local woman, who says she got the little girl ready downstairs but was unable to then take in the blissful proceedings up above.