He's Really Pushing Me To Change My Mind, Huh?

So we have been going to the same place to watch my alma mater's Games for upwards of a decade now.  I'm happy with it because of the familiarity we have built up with the place.  The owner and two of the managers, for example, I think I know and have dealt with since the beginning.  That's a lot of equity, and even though the setup is not ideal -- we could use sound, for instance -- we could do a hell of a lot worse, and so, every season, we come back here ... well, for the most part; there was one time this season we went to another place around the corner because another fan group had its team's Game playing the same time as ours, and their group is way, way larger, so we figured we would go somewhere else.

That might be part of the reason I have felt, for some time, that many of the regulars there are, um, restive about this being our go-to place.  In fact, I remember one time this season that, when we got there, it was busy with no place to watch our Game, and immediately one of the regulars thought we could go to another bar.  That place was packed even more than ours, thank Buddha, and so the insurrection put itself down.  And I mean to use that term; frankly, I don't like the fact that I continue to hear pulses of dissatisfaction with this place.  I remember the four or five places we went to before this bar.  All those places had their drawbacks, and I wouldn't've minded staying in one of them if not for the fact they closed down.  But these guys insist that the grass is greener on the other side, and it's just not.  And frankly, I don't have the energy to try something new, let alone say we're going somewhere else.

That hasn't stopped people, still.  One of my former regulars, who I think no longer goes because he's scared of downtown Minneapolis (he has to stop watching the news), e-mailed me about going to a different sports bar, also in downtown Minneapolis.  I have heard about this place before.  It is bigger, and it also has a program by which proceeds of food and drink can be donated to a scholarship fund for your alma mater.  My ex-regular may have touted this place before.  I have never stepped foot in it, so I can't say for sure it'll be bad, but yes, I am reluctant.  I would be giving up a hell of a lot to go to what is a chain restaurant.  Not only am I, dare I say it, loyal to this bar we've been going to for years, I don't like the idea of taking my business from a mom-and-pop and giving it to a corporation.  Also, I know for a fact that a big alumni group already goes there.  Will there be enough room for us?  Will we get sound?  And what happens if we get harrassed, which might happen because this is college football we're talking about?

To many of them think that we could do much better, and I don't agree at all.  But just to placate him, I'm going to be a bit open and tell him to go there and see how it goes.  I always need a backup plan in case this mom-and-pop bar goes under for some reason.  But I don't think this place is Valhalla.  I'm sure that, if I make the foolhardy decision that we'll watch all our Games here instead, we'll have the same damn problems we face in the place we're at now, and then some.  Then where are we?