Sports Bars

Many Southern California sports bars are bracing for a frightening scene Halloween night: No Lakers on their television sets. The Lakers deliver a jolt of added business for sports bars and restaurants with multiple TVs tuned to their games. But unless a Time Warner Cable contract dispute is soon resolved, the Lakers won't be available to many of them, starting with the Lakers' second game of the season Oct. 31. "We're definitely not happy about it," said Paola Casanova, general manager of Lucky Baldwins Pub in Pasadena.

Super Bowl Sunday is upon us. Maybe it's the only day that you deign to watch football, or maybe it marks the culmination of five months of blood, sweat and beers spent glued to the television out of devotion to your favorite team. Either way, it's the one day of the year that America comes together over a singularly American sports obsession, and as such it's a darn good reason to party. Sports bars and restaurants across the city will throw open their doors in a high-def blitz. Here are a few of our favorite options: -- The Bungalow, 101 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica.

Furious over efforts by the National Football League to "scramble" its telecasts, owners of several San Diego sports bars said Saturday that, collectively, they plan to protest the move through the courts. "I spoke with my attorney for two hours this afternoon and plan to seek an injunction before the first regular-season game (Sept. 9)," said Norman Lebovitz, who owns Sluggo's, with outlets in Hillcrest, La Jolla and University Towne Centre.

This might be the worst sports bar in the world. Traditions, or colloquially, Traddies, resides down four flights of stairs, below Middle-earth, on the cramped but still-sexy-after-all-these-beers USC campus. As sports bars go, the vibe is just OK - neither unpleasant nor pleasant. The service is a bit noncommittal as well: 40 minutes for a beer, an hour for a burger. Guess they weren't expecting such a big crowd for a USC-Notre Dame game. Would somebody horse-collar that waitress?

Hoping the American taste for the curve ball and the drop kick survives longer than it did for singles bars and discos, Marriott Corp. is spreading the sports bar theme at its hotels and resorts. A new licensing agreement with Champions, a sports-oriented restaurant and lounge chain, will bring the chain into as many as 18 Marriott hotels and resorts nationwide in 1988, according to Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott.

Most of us are familiar with the unique olfactory melange--sweet hot scents of malted barley, grilled burgers and steamy warm-up suits--that can only be experienced in a crowded sports bar. March Madness, otherwise known as the NCAA basketball tournament (concluding with games this weekend and Monday), seems as good a time as any to visit either or both of two huge, muscular new examples of this all-American genre: Legends in Costa Mesa and Buena Park's National Sports Grill and Bar.

ATHLETES aren't the only ones pumping up to new levels these days. Sports bars, once neighborhood dives where you gathered in front of one TV to cheer on your local team, have become megalopolises of TV screens. Take Santa Monica's new hotspot, the Parlor, a two-story cornucopia of 50 high-definition TVs of all sizes.

"Last Sunday, you couldn't find a seat," harrumphed Joleen Hart as she slowly filled two beer glasses at Popeye's tavern in Costa Mesa. "It was so crazy in here, four or five times I was almost in tears." Staring up at the fish nets and other neo-nautical ceiling decor, the 29-year-old bartender sighed, "Today it's dead. And it'll be like this until football starts again."

Blair Woodward, UCLA Class of '87, came spilling out the door of Legends Sports Bar on Monday night, slightly hoarse and nearly out of breath. "I'm ecstatic, I'm elated," she croaked just seconds after UCLA defeated Arkansas 89-78 to claim its 11th NCAA basketball title. "We're in! This is better than beating USC in football!" Woodward, of Corona del Mar, was among the raucous Bruin fans who made up the unquestionable majority of the standing-room-only crowd at Legends.

Though it's not quite 10 a.m. on Sunday, at Legends in Long Beach the restaurant-bar is already bustling. By 10:30, nearly every seat is filled, and, with the loud cheers coming from various corners, it feels more like 10:30 on a Saturday night. The patrons -- men and women on their own, couples, families -- aren't here for the huevos rancheros but for the 30 TV screens showing NFL games from around the country.

Many Southern California sports bars are bracing for a frightening scene Halloween night: No Lakers on their television sets. The Lakers deliver a jolt of added business for sports bars and restaurants with multiple TVs tuned to their games. But unless a Time Warner Cable contract dispute is soon resolved, the Lakers won't be available to many of them, starting with the Lakers' second game of the season Oct. 31. "We're definitely not happy about it," said Paola Casanova, general manager of Lucky Baldwins Pub in Pasadena.

In Los Angeles, many Lakers fans have greater concerns than the franchise's quest to tie the Boston Celtics with a 17th championship. The birth of Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes has left approximately two-thirds of the Southern California market without a channel to watch Lakers games in their homes. Time Warner Cable has yet to reach major distribution deals with DirecTV, Dish, Verizon, AT&T, Cox and Charter. The lone agreement in place is with Bright House Networks, little consolation to those hitting sports bars or searching for friends with access for their Lakers fix. It was already a difficult pill to swallow for those without basic cable; Lakers games were no longer a "free" broadcast.  At least in the KCAL era, away games were available on network television.

Game boys (and girls) can belly up to the Cosmopolitan's EA Sports Bar, a popup concept that's part sports bar, part lounge and part arcade. It's set on the casino's ground floor, where fans can tune in to sporting events on a half dozen high-definition TVs while gamers can square off on one of three Sony PlayStations. The 2,500-square-foot space is decked out with leather chairs, sofas and a (low-tech) foosball table. The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas 3708 Las Vegas Blvd. South 877.551.7778 www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com - Jamie Wetherbe, Custom Publishing Writer

A Riverside County sheriff's deputy, who was off-duty when he allegedly shot a man inside a sports bar in Murrieta this week, has been charged with murder. Dayle William Long, a 10-year department veteran, was arraigned Friday afternoon on one count of murder with a special allegation of discharging a firearm, according to the Riverside County district attorney's office. Long, 42, is being held at Riverside County's Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta in lieu of $1-million bail.

In their own modest way, Steve Lieberman and Keith O'Brien are attempting to bridge the cultural gap between New York and Los Angeles -- and create your new favorite neighborhood hangout in the process. Considering that their new bar-restaurant West 4th/Jane is just a block away from the consumer crush and tourist trappings of the Third Street Promenade, it's a formidable endeavor.

Several weeks ago, Rianne Celine Theriault-Odom applied for a job at Babes & Beer, a sports bar in Tarzana that offers full-contact lap dances along with a wide selection of wine and beer. She wasn't hired. On Thursday, Theriault-Odom, 27, and Nathaniel Marquis Petrillo, 22, were being sought by police in connection with an attack on one of the bar's exotic dancers. Authorities say the pair doused her with a flammable liquid and set her on fire, leaving the mother of two in critical condition.

Lowell Ganz may be the essence of the contemporary urban sports fan. A Hollywood screenwriter from New York, he lives in Los Angeles, where, via his home satellite dish, he spends fall Sundays watching his favorite entry in the NFL, the New York Giants. Ganz is passionate about sports and obsessive about certain teams, almost all of which play in New York. He will tell you without apology that, except for the Lakers, he has no interest in local teams. But come Sept.

They were devastated in the fall of 1993 when the NFL didn't award them an expansion team, frustrated last January when the New England Patriots didn't move here and emotionally drained from six exasperating months of negotiations with the Rams. So it's no wonder St. Louis-area football fans cut loose Tuesday night, filling sports bars and restaurants for parties celebrating the deal that is expected to bring the Rams to town next season. But this is not Charlotte, N.C., or Jacksonville, Fla.

It was hard to find a cynic in Southern California on Tuesday. Not downtown, where tears streamed down Alesia Adams' face as President Barack Obama finished reciting the oath of office, projected on 15 massive screens at the new L.A. Live entertainment district. "Thank you, Lord," she whispered, as her husband, James, tightly embraced her and their two daughters.

ATHLETES aren't the only ones pumping up to new levels these days. Sports bars, once neighborhood dives where you gathered in front of one TV to cheer on your local team, have become megalopolises of TV screens. Take Santa Monica's new hotspot, the Parlor, a two-story cornucopia of 50 high-definition TVs of all sizes.