California Dukies!

[huied]

So I've left the land where everyone cares about Duke and Carolina (Durham) and have settled in a place where no one really does (San Francisco). For all you DBR NorCal folk, any good places to watch basketball games? Watching alone isn't quite the same

[cf-62]

Oh huied,

You've asked about one of the primary reasons I haven't made my SF treks permanent.

I spent 3 basketball seasons in the Bay Area - and watching games alone is pretty much a standard.

The first time, DBR's Duke sports bar links helped me find a few places where I wasn't alone, but even those weren't all that crowded.

I recommend you warm up for the Saturday game season with a few football forays - learning how to eat breakfast at a sports bar.

It's the raycom games that will give you the biggest headache.

I found that for the ESPN games, Knuckles at the SFO Hyatt provided the best "watch alone" environment.

There was an Irish Pub on Geary over in Richmond that used to have Duke fans watch games, but last time I went, I couldn't find that bar - ended up at another one with the better half - but that was not a good place.

For all the "active" culture in NorCal, they just don't get basketball. Keep looking and please let us know what you find.

[SilkyJ]

huied,

I'm in SF myself and have been asked this Q a few times on the board. My response is that on weekdays I tend to watch on DVR in my living room. Its tough to get home by tip-off for the 7pm EST (4pm PST) games and sometimes even for the 9pm EST games.

On the weekends, I live in the Marina so I usually head to Blue Light or Bus Stop, both on Union St. Both have satellite feeds for when the game isn't on ESPN or a major network, and I have definitely watched Raycom games at the Bus Stop. Always a good idea to call and make sure they won't have a conflict (i.e. another game going on and that college's alumni association has rented the place out or something...Bus Stop is kinda small. Blue Light on the other hand is much larger and we actually watched the entire NCAA tournament there last year.)

The Brickyard, also on Union, should be another good spot, but it just opened up in the past few months so I haven't gotten to experience it yet.

Other potential good spots depending on where you live are Kezar's pub down near Kezar's stadium in Haight Ashbury and Pete's Tavern down by AT&T park in SOMA. The Duke Club of NorCal organizes a few HoopsWatches throughout the season, usually at Pete's, so that's definitely a place where random Dukies will gravitate. (I also recommend joining the Duke Club of Nor Cal on Facebook, that's an easy way to stay on top of where the hoopswatches are going on...and there's lots of other events like ski trips, volunteering, networking events, etc.)

No matter what you do, cf-62 is right, get used to eating breakfast and watching sports! NFL starts at 10am on Sundays, and college football and sometimes basketball will start at 9am on the weekends. Takes some getting used to, but the real hard part is making sure to pace yourself -- bottomless mimosas are a San Francisco institution, so watch out.

-Silky (Ben)

[cf-62]

Ahhhh Blue Light!

We lived up in JapanTown, so it was a "short" walk to the BlueLight.

One of my best friends from SF played hockey with the staff at the Bluelight. We used to get some sweet treatment in there.

I had forgotten about having to find TWO places, though. One for your normal watching - and one for when the game was at 7 - by the office.

Don't know where you're working, dude, but there is actually a sweet sportsbar near the Google Campus (South side) off Shoreline. It's the place with a beach volleyball court in the back.

[huied]

Thanks for the suggestion guys! I'll be sure to check them out come basketball time. Now if only I could find a job that will let me out for those 7pm EST games...

[dball]

...on such a winter's day. (Sorry, song popped into my mind when I saw the title)

[cf-62]

Thanks for the suggestion guys! I'll be sure to check them out come basketball time. Now if only I could find a job that will let me out for those 7pm EST games...

That is yet another story - and one of the COOL things about living on the Left Coast. IFFFF you can make the game, you're done watching the game at 6 PM. Still time to go out, eat dinner, go shopping, do a movie, hit the bars (like Blue Light), etc.