Friday, April 28, 2006

Where to Watch Soccer in P-Town, Part One

The other day I promised a review of the Marathon as a soccer-viewing venue. We shall leave aside the question of why it took the writers of a pretty move so long to shuffle on down Burnside to assess the delights of this amiable dive bar (speculation might include suggestions such as: we are slow on the uptake and only recently realized they show soccer there; we don't get out much; we are unforgivably lazy).

Anyway, the Marathon proved to be everything the Barfly review promised. Friendly service, fantastic widescreen televisions, other footie fans (for atmosphere and camaraderie), and our late-morning breakfast of coffee, eggs, bacon, and toast for two came to a whopping $5.50 (and it would have been only $5, except we splurged on some half-and-half because the packets of CoffeeMate depressed us). As far as I know, the only channel they don't get is ESPN Deportes. Also, they are very sweet on the telephone when you ring them up to inquire about upcoming matches. a pretty move gives the Marathon a thumbs up, a seal of approval, a satisfied smooch. We'll definitely be back.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for this tip; i'm new to town and desperately seeking a good venue to watch soccer. seems like a lot of places get some games and even have FSN, but do you know of any that subscribe to MLS direct kick? i grew up in columbus and had season tickets for their first 8 seasons before moving. any help would be most excellent! keep the reviews of places to watch coming!

lynda said...

I was hoping it would end up being a useful feature. Obviously we haven't gotten round to doing another one but we're hoping to get out to some places during World Cup as much as our work schedules allow. As for MLS Direct Kick--that's a great question, because since we all tend to follow the USL for our homegrown soccer fix and only keep a perfunctory eye on MLS I hadn't even thought about it. You might try phoning the Marathon just to check if they get it; you could also post an inquiry over on the MLS board at the Timber Mill.

Regardless, we'll keep an eye out for it from here on out, though.

Oh, and do check out a Portland Timbers game. Seems some people may be inclined to turn up their nose, sight-unseen, at the idea of an inferior level of play, but there's some real talent on the pitch and the atmosphere can't be beat.