Letter to a fallen sports bar

[WilliamPitt]

Some of you may be familiar with the Cask & Flagon in Boston, on the corner of Brookline and Landsdowne, right under the shadow of the Green Monster. Since the late 60s, it was a terrible divey dump and also THE best sports bar in the city. After the '04 World Series win, they shuttered for the winter, gutted the place, and made it look like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise...and it was even better. I and a great group of friends absolutely lived there during football and hockey seasons, became great friends with all the bartenders and everyone else who worked there...and it was paradise.

Two years ago, the owners opened a second Cask in Marshfield, which is down on the way to Cape Cod. They called it a "sports bar" too, but really, it was basically an Applebee's clone, which is what you get for restaurants out in the sub-suburbs. The place did great right off the bat; all the people who go to one or two games a year and have a beer at the Fenway Cask now had their own Cask in their back yard. It wasn't anything like the Fenway Cask experience, but it did really well nonetheless.

...so last year, the owners decided to recreate the Fenway Cask using the Marshfield model, and at the beginning of this year's Sox season, they brought the Marshfield managers into Fenway, chased off or fired every single bartender and server there, and went about making the best sports bar in Boston into an Applebee's clone...right under the shadow of the Monster.

It has been, by all reports, a comprehensive disaster. Total cluster. A stupid idea come to bloom.

All my friends who were fired or quit found new jobs, because they are the varsity of the service industry in Boston...but it still galls me and them to this day. I'll never set foot in the place again, and there is an element of personal tragedy to that, because it was so much fun, we had such good times there, and I have so many wonderful memories.

So. The Sox won the AL East last night. I penned this little note to the Cask on Facebook. It made me feel a little better, and if the reaction I'm getting on FB from the former Cask crew is any indication, it made them feel better, too.

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Dear Cask & Flagon:

I don't know if you could hear the yelling from that giant green building across the street from you, but the Red Sox clinched the AL East last night. From worst to first for the first time in franchise history. The sports fans in Boston are pretty stoked, and as usual, they're also pretty thirsty.

It was pretty sharp timing for you guys to de-emphasize the sports bar aspect of your establishment this year. Firing or chasing off your best bartenders - you know, those "sports bar" guys and gals you decided were obsolete - was equally a stroke of genius.

I'm sure your vision of turning the best and most cherished sports bar in Boston into an Applebee's clone will prove to be the crowning achievement of your business careers, especially in light of the events of last night.

You numb pack of fuckwits.

Sincerely Yours,

A Former Regular Who Wouldn't Walk Into That Place Now If His Balls Were On Fire And You Were Giving Away Free Fire Extinguishers

[trumad]

1. You got me drunk there a couple of years back...

and I've been there several times since.

I can't believe the stupidity of the corporate idiots.

Oh well...at least you had a good farewell there when you moved.