So Who's got the Best League?!

I have been getting my fix of futbol lately (gearing up for the World Cup) and have seen some of the best talent put together on individual teams since I started playing and following futbol in the mid-80s. Granted, 'the hand of God' was an imminent scribe to the memory of a young mind back in 1986 and trying to imitate so many players such as Toni Schmacher when I wanted to be a goal keeper, Pele when I wanted to rule the field, and Diego Maradona when I wanted to abuse six players on my way to a goooooooooooooooooooal. And who didn't want to be Roberto Baggio, besides his turmoil in the finals of the '94 World Cup? I was never more upset to know my sister met him at Disney World with his family back in the late 90s...

Sure, there are some amazing players throughout the development of the 'World's Game' since the early parts of the 20th century from Norberto Alonso of Argentina to Franz Beckenbauer of Germany, but to see some of the players today is just unnerving at times! And to be able to get so much talent from around the world to play together regularly is an experience in and of itself, albeit watching on my flat screen at home. Considering that Barcelona FC has four of the top ten players alone, and the best player (as of last week) in Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Real Madrid in La Liga as well, makes for some interesting pitch play. And now that Intra-League play has whittled down to the final 16 in the Champions League, there is no telling who will come out ahead over the coming few months leading up to the World Cup in June. And where in the heck did David Villa and Didier Drogba come from? But mark my words, Drogba is not the only threat coming out of the Ivory Coast when the World Cup kicks off June 12th.

So I ask, which league is the best as we all continue to watch Champions League play? Bayern Munich had a not-so-impressive win last week with Klose's offside hack to net, Rooney gave the United faithful a reason to cheer with two dominating goals and Barcelona pulled out a squeeker against Stuttgart even while dominating the pitch with both players and possession. Who knows? And today even shows a stellar match-up between Inter Milan and Chelsea, with both at the top of their leagues and Inter walking away with a 2-1 winner at home. Once again...who knows?!

Come watch all of the games with us at Mercury Bar East...the best sports and futbol bar in Murray Hill, if not the whole island! We are located on 3rd Ave and 33rd St. Bring your colors and bring your spirit...

So as of this year we became an official bar of the Michigan State Alumni of Greater New York. The MSU alumni have been an absolute joy and we are very proud to host their events. The football game watch parties started off great and grew bigger and better every week. We are super excited about the basketball finals and March Madness! Currently ranked number 11, MSU is looking good for the bracket. If you are a MSU fan who has yet to experience a game watch event with us here at Mercury Bar, take a look through the photos and videos of some of the highlights on our website at www.mercurybareast.com or on our facebook page www.facebook.com/mercurybareast. Here are the MSU alumni exclusive and unbeatable specials:

$4 well drinks

$4 domestic drafts

$8 Specialty cocktails & martinis

$25 domestic beer buckets

$35 domestic mini kegs

$5 Sparit shots

$6 East Lansing Ice Tea

$7 Sparti Bombs

$6 Bacon & cheddar skins, veggie quesadillas, chees nachos, and buffalo wings

$12 El Azteco style Topopo salad

$7 El Azteco style Cheese dip

So what's up with all this Champions League debacle that is going on since it really only started yesterday??! Sure, there were some amazing goals scored but Klose was so far offside to give Bayern Munich the win...going into the next match up in two weeks in Germany. Not to mention the atrocious miscalls in the Porto-Arsenal game that gave the edge to a team that is not quite as deep as the Gunners, even with an injury-plagued roster. And did anyone catch that the same referee (Swiss ref Martin Hansson) that missed the Theirre Henry handball against Ireland in World Cup qualifying call an 'intentional kickback' to the goalie? When the ball was so obviously unintentionally deflected off of defender Sol Campbell's toe?! Seriously, what pro player anywhere uses their toes intentionally? Referee Hansson even went so far as to not even give the Gunners' time to set up before a two-touch goal was slipped in by Porto in seconds. WOW!!! But then again, Henry used to do the same quick setup when he played for Arsenal back in the day, so who am to complain for trying to get a quick goal??!
And what a game to start UEFA Champions League play than two of the best teams in Europe kicking off the whole soiree-AC Milan v ManU? Watching Wayne Rooney make plays that just devistate everyone out there...scoring two goals in the second half and edge a team in AC Milan that made a quick goal three minutes (Brazilian ace Ronaldinho) into the game to take the lead. Don't get me wrong, both teams are fascinating to watch considering both are close to the top of their leagues but it just seems that defenders just don't know how to handle Rooney and his power.
I cannot wait to see how the rest of this UEFA Champions League plays out and who will dominate...or who will squeak past due to another mishap by the referees to get to the final 8. Come by Mercury Bar on 33rd St and 3rd Ave and watch the games with us...

So its Wednesday, February 17th

One month til Paddy's Day!!!!

For those of you who don't know yet, Wednesday night is Ladies night here at the Mercury Bar. Ladies score FREE cosmos, apple martinis, and well drinks from 8-9pm!! and they are 2 for 1 the rest of the night. Now you can't get much better than that. Fellas-you got yourself a cheap date night! Take your lady here and drinks are on us! Really tho, this is one Free Open Bar that we have stuck to for over a year now. Single ladies-we've even thrown in our best eye candy to make the night even better- Dana and Bryan man the ship! Don't worry guys-we've kept in a lady bartender to even things out a bit: Amanda and Maggie got you covered.

Mercurypoisoningthirdavenue

Hi. Welcome to Mercury Poisoning Third Avenue, Mercury Bar East's very first blog.

We have created this blog in order to inform you about all the crazy and amazing activities that occur in our establishment daily. The shenanigans will blow your mind, change your life, leave you breathless and astounded, and have you aching for more...not really, I'm just rambling cuz I'm new at this and I feel like its my first day of kindergarten-but we do have fun here and we would like you to be in on it. Enough small talk...

It's that dreaded day of the year. We call it Black Vday around here. (give us a break, anti-valentines day was over-used). Even when you are in love, isn't the day just a bit over-rated? Seriously, don't spend your money on flowers and candy and jewelery, just come here and spend it on booze. Ok, I'm just bitter-celebrate love if you must...but stop in and have a $5 Love Poison shot either way. (I pull the names out of my you know what-you come up with a better one)

The Winter Olympics are in full effect, and we've got them on our big screens. One of the best parts about watching them with no sound is making up your own commentary. Just today our good buddy Brian noted that whilst the highly competitive and somehow under rated adrenaline pumping sport of ski jumping is an anticipated and skill-requiring event, the American somehow manage to nail it, although his skis, body position, height, and landing appeared to be identical to the athlete before him-according to our untrained average joe eyes. You really have to hear the commentator's banter in a sport like that in order to be involved in understanding the difference between one-one thousanth of a point, but its fun to make up your own reasons anyway.

Don't forget to stop by our Rocky Horror Night tomorrow! A few of the sensational Mercury staff have been known to owe their lives to one Musical Theatre training facility or another, and would like to invite you to join in a night of Mayhem. We are showing the movie starting at 9pm Monday night, but those who do it right come at 8. Most of us are dressing the part, so don't be the only one who doesn't have fish nets! Don't worry if you don't know the audience participation ques-we have skilled instructors who will teach and refine the outrageous, sometimes offensive, but all too necessary cat-calls and gestures that are essential to the Rocky Horror experience.

$4 Red-head sluts and $6 Meatloaf