NFL Speakeasy Stories: A Connivance

Upstairs at Studio 54, Manhattan. 2:47 am, June 26th, 1999 "Paul, I'm going to be straight with you. I just simply don't see the numbers adding up. It seemed like a lot of optimistic assumptions when you first requested bids and, quite frankly, my opinion about the NFL's rosy outlook of the apparel

NFL Speakeasy Stories: 400 gon

When there is nowhere else to go.... Angel’s Share, East Village. 2:47 am, January 4th, 2016 The reverberation of the celebratory fireworks subsided 45 minutes ago. The final revelers exited 30 minutes ago. And the house lights would shut themselves down in 3...2... "One...And click." His voice echoed. Tonight would be the same as every since

NFL Speakeasy Stories: Looper

Angel’s Share, East Village. 2:47 am, November 13th, 2015 In the after-hours of a typical Thursday night, and to the displeasure of the one-women closing staff, two parties seem interested in staying past closing time. The first, an early-30s couple who had been camped at the high top near the window since the after dinner

NFL Speakeasy Stories: True Inspiration

A Nondescript Contemporary Hotel Bar, 3rd Level. 2:47 am, October 19, 2015. A ginger-haired Princeton man sits at the bar on the corner stool nursing a Perrier and cucumber. He takes a sip and is jerked up straight, sucking on his tongue and drawing back his lips with a grimace. He does not typically bastardize the taste of his

NFL Speakeasy Stories: History Repeating

Wilson & Wilson, The Tenderloin. 2:47 am, September 30, 2015. A man sits alone in the center booth of the bar-within-a-bar, waiting patiently for his appointment. From the Bayou to the Bay, it had been less that 17 hours since his colleague (well, former colleague these days, he supposed) called and asked that

NFL Speakeasy Stories: In The Blue

The Noble Experiment, San Diego's East Village. 2:47 am, September 11th, 2015 A man sits in a corner booth where, other than his initial order, "Dealer's Choice", he has not spoken a word since arriving at 9:00 pm. Whatever the choice was that the waitress brought him -- and has continued

NFL Speakeasy Stories: The Future of Fred

Angel's Share, East Village. 2:47 am, September 1st, 2015 A man sits in a corner booth with a Microsoft Surface™ Tablet. He has been seated in the shadows -- though many might define even the lightest sections of this establishment as a shadow, so what does that make the man's corner? --