In most cases now, even pre-covid, if you are in a bar and over 30 you're a overt/covert drunk. And all the 20 something's just think you are the old weird guy that had so many problems that not even the old crazy bar skank wanted to hang with you more than a night. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
I agree with most of what you said here. Largely I'm a free market guy. Nobody gives half a **** when grain prices are halved or it won't ****ing rain and I produce 20% of APH crop. So typically it is hard to get much sympathy out of me for business failures. However, shocks to the system are problematic. And doing things like wrecking real estate markets and massive small business bankruptcies just for the sake of a weird government policy is not healthy.
And sure, where you are the trends were heading that direction, but not necessarily everywhere.
Moreover, sports may or may not be back strong. Football seems to be doing OK, but I listened to a Bill Simmons podcast where he dorked out on NBA revenue numbers, and they may have some real changes. They're looking at massive, like 20% declines in revenue (I don't remember the numbers, but I recommend the podcast it's a good listen. Link). So they're talking about softening the changes to the cap so players and teams don't get absolutely fisted trying to build/keep a team, which means the owners eat shit...again... after eating shit in the bubble. Plus several owners are eating shit in their outside businesses. And so then what? They sell? I think there is a pretty good chance that if more than 2 or so sell in a short period there is a better than average chance the value of a franchise could decrease, maybe substantially. I don't know what that means for the league, but to just handwave any economic impacts from this is disingenuous at best. And the NBA was indestructible before COVID. I don't know what football is going to look like, but baseball relies pretty heavily (save NY and LA) on ticket sales. If this drags out I think there is a fair chance that sport may not bounce back as you're suggesting. And I don't even know what sports without TV contracts look like.
Bottom line is this, if it were to all happen organically, sure, fine whatever. But when insane volatility is introduced into markets, whatever/whereever it is, its bloody, and in most cases, the economy writ large is worse off for it.
This is exactly right and also why saying we needed to open up to save the economy in the summer were only thinking short term. Instead of taking tougher action and try to get things under control at least a little bit, we're going to allow this thing to cut us and bleed out slowly over the course of 12-16 months. The economy will eventually recover but there's still going to be a lot of damage.
That's because when people say "the economy" they really mean the stock market. But that isn't going to help the tons of small business owners who are going to take it on the chin, as well as all the people they employ. And that's just one example. We are leaving them out to dry because the economy will never fully recover until there's confidence among everyone to go out and do things.
But I concede that's more philosophical differences than politics or anything else. There are people who want to prolong things as long as possible, and other people who prefer to just rip the band aid off. And you'll see that here. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
Sports bars became a ridiculous waste of money more than a decade ago.
$15 dollars for parking, $10 dollars for a beer, $20 dollars for a burger - Seriously, who wants to pay those type of prices for something that can be watched at home in most cases?
Sports bars were bound to die off because people's viewing habits have changed with the advent of Streaming and DVR's. Millennials and Gen-Zers would rather spend their extra cash on Amazon and Starbucks, not on beers and burgers in a sports bar.
JFC.
~10+ years ago in KC, I'd guess it was around $30-40/person to spend 3-4 hours at a Buffalo Wild Wings. I thought it was a pretty good deal and a nice alternative to seeing games live, especially when everyone in the restaurant is tuned into a game. It was a fun atmosphere.
But... yeah, if there was any kind of parking/cover cost and then stadium-priced food, I'd just stay home.
And being out of state now, I'd much rather get food delivered (worldwide pandemic or not) and watch at home with far better beer. [Reply]
Originally Posted by notorious:
I worked in a sports bar for 10 years. I wouldn’t buy a good one for cheap back then, and I wouldn’t take one for free now.
Drinking habits have changed immensely from the age 30 on down, and I saw it happen until the joint I worked at shut down long ago.
People used to go to bars to pick up girls and talk sports. You can do both now without getting off the couch.
~10+ years ago in KC, I'd guess it was around $30-40/person to spend 3-4 hours at a Buffalo Wild Wings. I thought it was a pretty good deal and a nice alternative to seeing games live, especially when everyone in the restaurant is tuned into a game. It was a fun atmosphere.
I remember back to when I first arrived in Hollywood back in 1993, about a month before the Montana trade. I was soooooooooo stoked to watch the first Chiefs game of the season, yet I couldn't find a single bar in Hollywood or the Valley that was showing the Chiefs game! I ended up driving all the way to Santa Monica to watch the game at Yankee Doodles on the Promenade, which was the only "Sports Bar" in which I could see the Chiefs.
It was $10 dollars parking, beers were $8 dollars and I got stuck watching the game on an old 19" TV that was obscured by a joist! They had a $20 dollar minimum spend in order to even stand and watch a TV so by the end of the day, I was out more than $50 dollars at a time when I was broke AF.
A sports bar opened in Hollywood a year or two later but they catered specifically to the East Coast crowd, so it was always jammed packed with Eagles, Jets and Giants fans and again, I'd be relegated to the smallest TV over in a corner by myself.
One of the very first things I did when I bought my home in 2003 was to purchase a 55" HDTV and Direct TV's Sunday Ticket. I've been to a few sports bars since, generally after the Chiefs game has aired and after each and every time, I've been thankful for the fact that I no longer have to get up at 7:00am on Sunday, shower, drive, park and look for a table so I can watch the Chiefs on a tiny, blurry TV screen. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
Large corporations have deep pockets. Small businesses contribute to the local economy but they don't contribute to money that changes hands in Washington DC.
I'm sure this will end up getting sent to DC but so be it.
Corporations run our elections, pay our representatives, and enforce "laws" that could never be enforced in the public sphere, like limiting freedom of speech because you might offend someone.
This, right here, is your "deep state" folks. They are adept at taking everything they can and leaving their victims to blame others, often minorities and other less empowered groups. [Reply]
What's next, the extinction of soda fountains? The day I can't walk up to a soda jerk and order an egg cream or a soda phosphate for a nickel will be a sad day indeed. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RubberSponge:
In most cases now, even pre-covid, if you are in a bar and over 30 you're a overt/covert drunk. And all the 20 something's just think you are the old weird guy that had so many problems that not even the old crazy bar skank wanted to hang with you more than a night.
Come on dude, X-Factor hangs out at Neighbors every weekend, and he's as cool as they come. [Reply]
Originally Posted by AdolfOliverBush:
What's next, the extinction of soda fountains? The day I can't walk up to a soda jerk and order an egg cream or a soda phosphate for a nickel will be a sad day indeed.
The talkies will ruin motion pictures I say! [Reply]
