Well, they lost, but at least they gave us a good time!

Yesterday was the Super Bowl... and especially considering that the city's own BEARS were playing, I made it a point to celebrate in style. The day began at 10:45 AM, when I met my friend Ian. We grabbed a quick coffee, spiced it up with a little "special" (read: Bailey's) to keep us warm, and headed over to Take Five on Southport to wait in line for the bar to open. Ian's friend Amanda had been there since 9 AM (she's a REAL fan!), and we couldn't believe it because we nearly froze all of our appendages off waiting the 15 minutes until we got in.

Take Five is a charming little sports bar on the north end of the Southport strip, just past the Music Box theater. It's called Take Five because all the food on the menu costs $5 -- a novel, yet totally successful concept, as the food's quality and portion size truly deliver. I found it to be kind of like a mini-Joe's -- boasting "an appliance store's worth of TVs", and coming through with way more than a (reportedly) 150-person-capacity's worth of energy and fun. The square bar in the middle of the place kept the beer flowing on four sides all day, and the kitchen kept serving up freshly fried bar fare all day long.

So we rolled in when the place opened at 11am, and threw down a cool $20 for three hours of buffet and open bar. Mmm, nothing like a cold beer and a burger at 11:15 am!
As the day wore on, we passed the time playing cards and trying to pace ourselves on the cheap beer vessled by these 32oz "Big Game Big Cup" cups.









After the buffet was over, we moved on to more traditional bar fare: wings, fries, and tater tots, with cheese on the side. Mmmm.

Two minutes later:

The bar kept us entertained by showing a GREAT selection of alt rock & random 80s music videos all day, interspersed with rowdy versions of the Bears' fight song and the 1985 Bears' Super Bowl Shuffle, which these guys were attempting to re-enact:

Once kickoff finally came around, we were READY... and after Devin Hester's historic kickoff return (which was greeted with cacaphonous mayhem and a small beer shower), it seemed the Bears could do no wrong. Of course they would go on to give the game away... but not due to a lack of love and support from those in attendance at Take Five Sunday night. We left a little sad, but thankful for the good time we had, both that day, and through the Bear's stellar season. Truth be told, it was a great ride. And when next season rolls around... we'll be waiting patiently, READY ... to do it all over again.