Rich Thomas waited all year for the Patriots return. So waiting outside Champions Sports Bar at the Marriott Copley Plaza for his friends yesterday wasn’t so bad.
“You have to have your whole party here to be seated,” he said as a line featuring Giants, Bears and Patriots jerseys formed. “It’s been a long offseason. It’s my religion.
It’s the only thing I worship on Sunday.”
With the Red Sox playoff hopes in doubt, sports bars also anxiously awaited football season. Several managers said that business increases as much as 50 percent on NFL Sundays.
“Everybody’s yelling at the TV,” said Amy Dickson of Coolidge Corner Clubhouse in Brookline. “If that’s not fun to you I don’t know what is.”
Many fans, however, prefer watching at home; but the cost of premium cable forces them to find a bar showing their team.
“In a heartbeat, I’d rather be on my couch,” Chicago Bears fan David Dreyfus said at Clerys in the South End.
Football is still a sidebar for some fans.
“Boys, beer and chicken wings,” Kelley Coony said at Champions, adding that moderation is key. “I have to find a balance. I have to find time to ride my bike and do everything else I need to do on Sunday.”
