We have to go to a sports bar to watch our team play. Do you?
We do like to watch our football team play. A problem we often have is it's not shown where we live. Part of that problem is we live in a non-urban area and often the local stations show only one game instead of the morning game and afternoon game. If you're on the east coast that seems weird, but due to being in the Pacific Time Zone, football games start at 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM. The night games start at 5:30 PM.
Any time the Oakland Raiders play, that's what we get to watch on TV if it's on at the same time as our team. We also get the 49ers games, but they are on another station due to being in the NFC and not the AFC.
I don't know about you, but I really don't enjoy watching the Raiders play much because, lets face it, they simply suck. I don't mean that as an opinion, I mean it literally. They have been a terrible team for a decade now. Lets look at their standings for the past 10 years shall we? I say it's dismal. This year the Raiders have started the season 0-2 and have looked really bad.
We don't have DirectTV, which shows NFL games and so we go to our local sports bar. Once upon a time our local sports bar was a 45 minute drive away. We drove down to Chico and then out to the Sacramento River to Scotty's Landing, which was primarily a boat launch for hunters and fishermen. John Scott is also famous for saving many people from dying on the river. He's a real rescuer who gets to people in trouble usually before any rescue units do.
John Scott at the boat launch at Scotty's Landing
The Sacramento River used to go right past Scotty's Landing but a huge storm one winter totally changed it's course so it no longer does. Instead there is an inlet from the new course of the river to Scotty's Landing. There also used to be a huge yearly Labor Day inner tubing event that Chico State college students were famous for attending. It was a really big local deal and known as Beer Float California. The kids would tube down the river consuming beer and pot. Typically more than 20,000 kids would show up every year. The tradition was to get out at Scotty's Landing to then party with live bands, beer and food all day and night.
Beer Float California in it's heyday
Eventually out of the area folks started coming and, of course, ruined it as violence, rapes and murders started occurring. Local Law Enforcement decided to clamp down.
No alcohol was allowed on the river and they choked down the number of places kids could enter the river so that where they can park is no where near where they can enter the river. Every single person is patted down and has every thing they have thoroughly searched. Let's just say this all kills a party atmosphere. Plus law enforcement now lines the river and keeps their binoculars on everyone. No fun no more.
Three years ago 10,000 showed up. Last year 3000 showed up. This year 300 showed up and were far outnumbered by police officers and sheriffs. Unfortunately this has really hurt John Scott financially. Labor Day Weekend was when he made most of his yearly income. I like him a lot and am sorry it has come to this. Isn't it always the way that a handful of bad people ruin things for the multitudes?
Two of the very few who tubed the river this Labor Day
Scotty's Landing also had satellites to bring in all the NFL games before there was football on DirectTV. Football season was a good source of income for John Scott as well but we stopped going down there years ago. It's just got to be too much to spend 1 1/2 total hours driving to watch our games. Eventually there were some sports bars that opened in Chico. I used to go with a buddy named Darryl to one but I must admit it was a tough place. Fights always broke out between football fans. For some reason Raiders fans liked to fight Cowboys fans. One day the place was burned to the ground by someone who wasn't happy.
Finally we have our own little sports bar in Paradise. It's called the Cantina. Everyone has always been nice and behaved. That may be due to the fact the crowd is a lot older than you'd find in the college town of Chico. I've never had any problem talking with folks right around me no matter what team they root for. Yesterday we were seated at a table next to Kansas City fans and had a grand time. It's definitely got a small town feel about it.
The food and drinks are cheap. All the food is homemade including their hamburger patties which are really something. We each had lunch. I drank 4 beers. That's how I do it. Four beers spread over the 3 1/2 hours of the game with a big meal is how I pace myself. I leave happy and completely legal to drive home without question plus the drive is less than 7 minutes. Smileycreek had three drinks during that entire time. Our bill was less than $27 for the drinks. The food was 12 bucks.
Below is a picture I took of the back of a shirt a guy was wearing. He had no idea what it meant. Smileycreek explained it to him. She told him about "chi" in Chinese medicine and Tai Chi. He still had no idea what that meant and told her he'd ask the guy that gave it too him what it meant (not the brightest bulb).
The shirt says, "Mun Chi's...Chinese Hemp Chips"
At the bottom is says, "Dude we totally forgot our slogan"
What do you want to Kibitz about tonight?
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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