Third and Long, a Sports Bar with the Murray Hill Crowd

There are more than 6,000 bars in New York City. About 200 of them get regular press. This column is about the other ones. Robert Simonson, a journalist and blogger of the drinking life, and the originator of the "A Beer At..." column, takes a peek inside Gotham’s more anonymous watering holes, one by one.

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"Ohio State!" bellowed the young man in the dark blue suit and loosened tie as he strode through the double saloon doors and into Third and Long. Then he smirked. It was trivia night. The question asked by the beleaguered host had been: "What school had the most players selected in the draft in 1963?" The guy in the tie didn't really think the answer was Ohio State. He was just messing around. But everyone was messing with the host, who was undoubtedly the man in the bar having the worst time. "PLEASE, don't shout out the answers," he said before each question. Then someone would shout out the answer. And murder would flash across the trivia man's eyes.

Third and Long is a sports bar. (Duh.) On Third Avenue. (Duh.) It's in Murray Hill and gets a Murray Hill crowd. Also Miami Dolphins fans, who have chosen it as there home away from home. (In fact, it's the "Official Miami Dolphins New York Bar" and you get a $1 off stuff if you wear the nauseating color combination of aqua and orange.) It was founded in 1991 by "two Irish Catholic brothers," which makes it sort of old, sort of a local institution. Sort of. They've got 15 beers on tap, more in bottle and Six Point cans, which have been spreading like a flash flood through the bar world since they were introduced a little while ago. You can get dollar drafts on Mondays and Tuesday. Sure, it's Bud. But $1! Which is about what Bud is worth.

The trivia man asked his final question. "Do not even TRY to cheat," he said, and looked pretty serious about it. What is the longest running Broadway show to have have opened in the 21st century? No one shouted out the answer this time. Not this crowd. Theatre? Not their bailiwick. Still, more shots were ordered and poured. I didn't really understand the rules, but participants seemed to take shots whether or not they knew the answer. Which was "Mamma Mia!"
—Robert Simonson