Black Wednesday

Black Wednesday is here. According to statistics tonight is the busiest bar night of the year. I am here to confirm that. I have gone out on a lot of these days and everytime each bar I visited was always jam packed. This year will be different for me. I plan to spend it on my couch with my wife watching a movie. I know it sounds boring, but I’ve done my share and I don’t need to apologize for wanting to avoid this night.

The reason most cited as tonight being the busiest bar night is that college kids are home for the holiday and haven’t seen their friends back home since August. So, what better way to catch up then to go out and grab a drink. I can personally attest to the fact as each time a Mike Dell or a Kevin Conway came home for the holiday we were out at a bar grabbing a cold one.

I have a lot of memories from this night but none of them are that significant. There was the time Wally and I foolishly decided to drive downtown to work that day and thought we could beat the traffic home. Let’s just say we were wrong. That may go down as the longest commute home in my life. Then the next year, we arrived on Metra late and we were forced to sit on the stairs the whole way as the train was packed.

One year we went and saw my friend Kevin’s band play at O’Malley’s in Alsip. The place was wall to wall people. I was ordering two beers at a time to avoid having to wait in line. It was a free for all. One year we hit B.J. McMahon’s in Oak Lawn. Usually the bar has a small sized crowd and we figured we would be okay there. We weren’t as we cold not get a table and were forced to the very corner of the bar.

The main reason I have hung up my beer mug on this night is that it is full of amatures. As a seasoned drinker I lose my patience when I am dealing with rookies and tonight you encounter a lot of inexperienced kids that don’t know how to handle their booze. I’ve been through it a million times and have no need to have to wait in a ten minute line to take a piss because some stupid frat boy couldn’t handle his Jagerbombs and is throwing up in the stall.

I will admit I was tested when my friend Wally sent out an e-mail stating that Howard and the White Boys were playing at Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn tonight. I have seen Howard over fifty times and my favorite place to see him is at Fitzgerald’s. The place is one of my favorite bars to see live music, period. But, knowing that I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow which includes three stops, I thought better of it. I have done this trek in the past with a hangover, and let me just say it is not fun.

So, I feel no shame in staying at home with Joyce and popping in are latest rental from Netflix and getting a good night’s rest. I will admit that I have not come to this point without some hesitation. I have always been the kind of person who likes to be out having fun. I remember as a teenager, if I was stuck at home, thinking somewhere somebody is out having fun and I am missing it. Maybe I am just getting too old to be rubbing elbows with college kids. Or maybe I just like spending time with my wife now. Whatever it is I feel no regret. As far as I am concerned I won’t be missing anything.