Game day bars

8/23/2018

Here are the best game day bars in Athens

Jonny Palermo / For The Post

Few things in life are more fun than watching a game while guzzling alcohol with your buds. Luckily for OU students, Athens boasts one of the best college bar scenes in Ohio, so there’s no shortage of places to catch a game. With nearly 20 bars on and around Court Street, you’re bound to find a favorite game day locale:

Marcus Pavilonis | ILLUSTRATION

There’s nothing like a classic, run-of-the-mill sports bar. They’re not particularly original or exciting, but they’re reliable and consistent. Broneys and Pigskin will provide all of your gameday necessities — a casual atmosphere that’s full but not crowded, baskets of ubiquitous deep-fried appetizers that you’ll probably regret eating, and an endless supply of sweet, sweet beer. These are the “marathon” bars — you arrive at noon, watch games all day, and leave at midnight. Pull up a chair, order a pitcher and stay awhile.

If you enjoy watching games surrounded by rambunctious fans, you might want to consider these “regional” bars. Each caters to people from a specific Midwestern city. Courtside is widely considered to be the Cleveland bar on Court Street. On Sundays, it’s not uncommon to see Browns fans drinking themselves into oblivion as their team endures another loss. Cincinnati fans typically flock to J Bar for drink specials during Reds and Bengals games. Make sure you check J Bar’s Twitter: Occasionally, they’ll have hot dogs on gameday. If you hail from PA, Lucky’s is your best bet to watch Pittsburgh sports. If the Pirates are playing on a Wednesday, though, you might want to find another bar. Otherwise, you’ll have to deal with obnoxiously drunk people at liquor pitchers.

When you think about watching games on Court Street, these places don’t immediately come to mind. They may not be as popular as other bars on this list, but they’re still enjoyable spots for game day shenanigans. During the week, many students wouldn’t be caught dead at Red Brick, but it’s a surprisingly fun spot for NFL games. “Brick Break” lasts all day on Sundays, so it’s a cheap way to get tanked. Union Street’s newest bar, Cat’s Corner, might be a little out of the way, but they’ve recently introduced a “Beat the Clock” promotion that’s sure to be a hit with students. Every Sunday, the bar starts serving pitchers of beer at 2 p.m. for $2 each. Every hour, the price for a pitcher increases by $1. How bad could it be?

Development by: Megan Knapp / Digital Production Editor