March 28, 2024

The Scoreboard For the Win

Why Ty supports the Scoreboard

It is official, I have a favorite nightly hangout in this town and according to just about everybody I’ve talked to here it’s the one place where I shouldn’t hang out: The Scoreboard. But, every time the Daily News staff has had an outing there, we have had memorable moments.

There was the young woman who forgot she hit on one of my coworkers the week before and proceeded to hit on said coworker the very next week. Another time I had a heart-to-heart talk with a guy in the men’s room line, who was a high school dropout but worked two jobs to take care of his kid.

Another time, I met a veteran who had the most epic James Dean/Fonzi-esque leather jacket I have seen.

And by far our favorite night of the week is Karaoke Thursday’s. Sure the song list hasn’t been updated since 2007 and they lack ‘N Sync’s “Bye, Bye, Bye” which is hand’s the down the best ‘N Sync song, but the “people watching” is amazing.

I’ve seen moms singing depressing songs by Evanesecnce, older gentleman rocking the crowd with Aerosmith and an overzealous Eminem fan deliver a hilariously dark rendition of “Superman.”

I personally took part in a performance of Rick Ross’s “Hustlin” that my coworker Dustin Turner described as “the greatest thing he has ever seen.” As painful as it is to wake up on Friday mornings, the karaoke is worth it.

It’s like a live action version of NBC’s old “Must-See TV” lineup on Thursday. Those performances are like having “Cheers,” “Seinfeld,” “Frasier,” and “Friends” all combined for sometimes humorous, sometimes emotional and always interesting slices of life.

People around town warned me that this place was “seedy” but honestly, I have yet to experience anything negative there. The closest thing was a misunderstanding about the price of a well drink with the bartender.

Other than that, I have seen nothing that has lived up to the reputation that has been bestowed on it.

The customers are fun, the DJ and door guys are friendly and the bartenders manage to keep glasses filled with no problem despite how big or small the crowd is.

And by declaring my affections for The Scoreboard publicly I am not dismissing the other bars downtown. My coworkers and I also frequent The Manhattan, where I have gotten schooled at pool and enjoyed watching Matt Shepard ask the bartender to recreate the most obscure drink and shot recipes.

I am especially looking forward to hanging out on their patio once the weather warms up.

During my internship at the American Jazz Museum, I developed a taste for hearing live jazz and blues music and First Avenue Speakeasy has a done a great job filling that void. Thanks to their partnership with the South Skunk Blues Society, I can almost get the same experience as being in The Blue Room back in Kansas City.

And as I am a frequent concert goer, (I have attended more than 50 shows in the last three years) I love that they have tried different genres of music including last week’s hip hop showcase headlined by Izzy Dunfore.

As I have stated before I love visiting and supporting local small businesses. So as the winter begins to wind down, I am definitely looking forward to warm spring and summer nights spent hopping back and forth to all the various entertainment venues on the square.

I just might spend a little bit more time at The Scoreboard, though.