World Cup action around Ballard

Geeky Swedes Ballard

The World Cup is officially underway and several Ballard establishments are making the most of it. Here are a few of the local places showing the games and having World Cup specials.

  • The newly opened Market Arms (2401 NW Market St) has a full schedule of soccer action that will be shown on their five big screens, including one out front for this weekend’s sunny weather.
  • Conor Byrne (5140 Ballard Ave NW) will open at 10 a.m. on Saturday to broadcast the US v England game. They will have “take a dive” drink specials – a new special will be announced every time a player takes a dive or claims an injury. The game will be broadcast over a projector or on a new flat screen, whichever gets hooked up first.
  • The Stepping Stone (5903 24th Avenue NW) will be playing every game during the World Cup on their projection screen in the back as well as the HD plasma monitor. The bar will open early at 11am on Friday and Saturday and playing the rest of the games at 5, 7, and 9pm each night.
  • The Ballard Loft (5105 Ballard Avenue NW) coins itself as “Your World Cup Headquarters.” They will be open at 7 a.m. for all World Cup matches with happy hour from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. with $3 Bloody Marys, well drinks & draught beers.
  • The Dray (708 NW 65th St) will be open for all the live games, including the 4:30 a.m. matches. They’ll serve breakfast food, $2 coffee and beer starting at 6 a.m. For Saturday’s USA V England game (11:30 a.m.), they’ll have a mimosa tent set up out back. Masquerade Wines will be serving fresh squeezed juice and their sparkling wine. They’ll also have a few of their other wines on hand.
  • Zayda Buddy’s (5405 Leary Ave NW) will be showing all World Cup matches during regular business hours and will open early for all U.S.A. and Britain matches. Match requests are gladly accepted. Wash down your game-time grub with specials on Lienenkugel and team-themed drink specials as the World Cup tournament plays on.

    • If you know of other local bars that will be showing the games, let us know in comments. We’ll be updating this post throughout the day.

    Geeky Swedes

    The founders of My Ballard

    55 thoughts to “World Cup action around Ballard”

    2. I don’t know what the Loft’s viewing schedule is, but they have all 32 nation/s flags up on the facade of their building, in group order A-H left to right, and pot order 1-4 top to bottom.. So I’d say SOMEONE is quite into it there.

    6. Jesse: They are open for all 7am games and I assume that means they’ll be open for all but the 4am starts. Decent crowd in there today.

    7. Actually, the Market Arms is not due to open until…right about now, 9:30am, per the link, if you had bothered to look.

    8. saw south africa play mexico this morning…on my computer, where I will probably be watching most of the games.

      I’ve also decided to treat myself to some ‘specials’ as well found around the house.

      for instance, I’m sitting on my wife’s silk eye pillow while getting ready for Uruguay v. France

    9. why is the loft not on this list? kinda bugs me thats its not! they are the best sports bar in ballard. might not be an English bar but im sure the games will be on full time there.

    11. Disregard my semi sanctimonious post above, 9:30 is what time the MA is showing the game not what time they’re open. I apparently have issues with reading.

    12. Better add The Dray as well. They’re definitely a soccer bar and I believe showing all the games.

      Not sure what Barfly’s problem is. How are Seattlites “desperately trying to feel foreign” when there is a local soccer team and the US qualified for the World Cup?

    13. Thanks all – we’ve added The Ballard Loft and The Dray to the line-up of places to watch the World Cup.

      The Dray seems the most hard core, opening at 4:30 a.m. to show the early games live.

    15. Yawn. Why is it these are all bars. Is it becauses one needs a drink to watch this boring event? It is rather funny though to see my silly neighbor getting cable TV, again, just for soccer, then he cancels. DOH. I still feel worldly without soccer. and w/out a drink.

    16. yeah, because watching testosterone-happy football (aka throwball) players run a few yards and then call for the oxygen mask, along with half-naked chicks bobbing around in unison + beer commerical after beer commercial after truck commerical, reminding us of what it means to be a man, is SO much better. NOT. i’ll take the most popular sport in the world, football (aka SOCCER) any day of the week.

    18. Norwegian, you make no sense. “Why are these all bars?”

      Because bars buy big screen TVs and subscribe to satellite TV packages. duh.

      I’d go to a library and watch the World Cup if it was a fun atmosphere to spend time watch sports, but alas, people like to read quietly there. Go figure.

    19. Seattleites love footie because it fits in with their politics: the unqualified, weaker team can, out pure, dumb, s**t luck, still win.

    26. Why Soccer Sucks
      The ever-growing list of reasons why soccer sucks.

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      Soccer participants actually fellate one another.

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      Soccer participants are walking advertisements.

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      France is successful at participating at soccer. That should say something, especially to the British.

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      The “World” Cup is not the a World’s Cup, but a competition among 32 countries, disproportionately allotted to European countries.

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      Soccer hooligans.

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      Soccer is boring. Soccer is absurdly slow. I’ve had soccer apologists say with false pride how the average soccer participant “runs” 4 miles in a game. Newsflash: that means they are jogging less than 3 miles per hour. Translation: they are mostly standing around. BORING.

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      Soccer participants act like they’ve been shot – what pussies. Meanwhile, real athletes like Donovan McNabb or Bobby Baun play on broken legs.

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      Soccer is too simple an activity.

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      Penalty kicks. You are determining a winner by a random event that has no relevance to the rest of the game. It would be as stupid as replacing extra innings with batting practice.

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      Fruity penalty cards. How stupid is it to flash up some card to indicate the severity of a penalty? Richard Simmons was inspired to use them in his diet system. Are all penalties the same? Again, the inability to use the upper torso hampers soccer participants. Use hand signals, you troglodytes.

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      Psychotic fans. The South Korean loser who set himself on fire is one example. The mental stability of the murderer who killed that one player because he sucked (free clue: all soccer participants suck) is another.

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      Ties: 55% of games are ties. Ties suck.

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      Why not use your hands? Or your brain?

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      Soccer participants do not bathe.

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      Soccer hairdos.

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      Pompous pseudo-intellectual Europeans who become soccer fans in order to convince the populace of their link to the common man.

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      Soccer participants with one name. I can understand why your parents would disown any soccer participant, but they should take at least any last name.

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      Soccer hilites concentrate on what almost happens. When ESPN has the poor sense to show soccer hilites, they show missed shots, missed passes, etc. Any real sport shows things that actually contribute to the result. Soccer participants do not care about the result.

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      Soccer fans justify the activity based entirely on its popularity. Not only are the reasons why soccer is popular an argument against soccer, but it really shows how pathetic said activity is when that is the only argument soccer fans come up with.

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      The correct term for 0 is zero, not nil. Take a math class.

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      Buy a freaking cup, you pansies.

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      Soccer is not objective. There is no play clock. The game doesn’t end after the clock has run down. This adds bias, subjectivism and appeals to lower intellects, and it destroys the drama from last second victories. Contrast such clumsy timekeeping (shame on the Swiss, who should know better) and the lack of any discernable strategy with the strategic precision of the two-minute drill in football.

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      Soccer is not objective, part two. The lack of offensive chances leads to ties, which, as we know, suck. Soccer’s “solution?” Let’s randomize the result (in those cases where a tie suddenly becomes an affront, the “World” Cup) by having penalty kicks.

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      Soccer participants on the same team have different jerseys. The obviously higher intelligence of hockey (goaltender) or football (offensive linemen) fans and referees is evident, since we don’t need a different uniform to indicate a different privilege in the rule book.

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      Soccer is Third World inexpensive. Ordinarily, this would not be a problem. Most people don’t consider buying hockey or football equipment expensive in civilized countries, but in the context of the rest of the world, it is expensive. On the other hand, soccer is dirt cheap – and by dirt cheap, I mean slum kids in Brazil rolling up balls of dirt to kick around.

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      Soccer apologists say the reason it is not popular in the US is because it wasn’t invented in the US. First, soccer originated from the North American game called pasuckuakohowog several hundred years before the British played something resembling it. Second, basketball was the creation of a Canadian, yet is very popular in the US. Third, football was the creation of a Canadian, yet is very popular in the US.

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      Soccer apologists say the reason it is not popular in the US is because the US is not any good at that activity. The US soccer team won the World Cup in 1991 and 1999. Better find another reason.

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      Soccer apologists say soccer is an athletic activity. Using the Olympics as a barometer, it is pretty obvious that those countries that lack athletic prowess (Britain, France) are successful at soccer. Interesting to note, despite the inclusion of activities like soccer and walking in the Olympics (and the wrongful exclusion of football and rodeo), how those countries where soccer is not popular outperform those countries where soccer is popular athletically.

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      Soccer apologists steal terms from real sports. Hint: a pitch is something an option QB does. A draw is a running play designed to counter a strong pass rush. Football is a real sport that involves athletes in pads and helmets, not sissies playing kickball.

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      Soccer has no honor. There are codes of behavior in sports like hockey, baseball, football and basketball. There is no code of behavior in the activity of soccer: the penis biting should make this fairly obvious.

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      Soccer markets to Nazis – even today. Umbro markets Zyklon, a type of shoe, to soccer participants. Zyklon was the name of the gas used to kill Jews in WWII.

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      Soccer uses witch doctors. The same simplistic mentality that avails itself to soccer avails itself to primal mysticism.

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      Soccer idiots overexaggerate everything. Yeah, soccer deserves a Nobel Prize. Better load up on the security for that award presentation, because soccer deserves it less than terrorists like Arafat. Yeah, a soccer game is a wondrous event in your nation’s history. Granted, these nations still have to master indoor plumbing, but please – stop the hallucinogenics, now.

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      Soccer fans actually set themselves on fire. That’s a pretty good barometer judging the mentality of soccer fans.

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      Soccer cheering has no point. Football fans successfully cause opposing teams’ offenses to call timeouts, use up the play clock, screw up audibles or cause procedure penalties. Ask Burt Hooton whether baseball fans affect an opponent’s performance. Soccer? They sing songs – which all sound the same – regardless of outcome. It doesn’t celebrate performance. It doesn’t serve to intimidate. It has no purpose.

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      Soccer counts time up. Soccer games count the time that has elapsed, rather than the time remaining. This is stupid for a number of reasons. First, soccer games don’t refer to time anyway, so why even keep it? Second, why the concern on the past? The score already reflects all important information of what has already happened in the game. In soccer, this is most likely irrelevant anyway, since the score is most likely 0-0, er, nil, nil. The focus should be on the result – which depends on the future. Thus, time should count down. Can you imagine NASA counting up (from, say, when JFK made his speech about landing on the moon in a decade)? How stupid would that be?

    29. how can anybody stand to watch these games with that incredibly annoying horn/swarm of bees sound throughout??

      it’s awful – i walk away & can still hear the buzzing in my ears.

    30. B, wrong (sort of)
      The 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup was the first ever edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. It was held in China and won by the United States

      The 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup was held in the United States and won by the host team.

    32. For someone who thinks soccer sucks, you sure seem to care enough to have given that thought, or are you so un-original on the soccer sux bandwagon that you copied that drivel from somewhere else?

    36. There have been a couple of incarnations of teh Seattle Sounders – NASL, USL, and now MLS.

      That local bandwagon started back 1974.

    37. Soccersux, you forgot, it’s sooo working class which is why Seattle’s middle class, professional, white liberals, desperately seeking authenticity, love it.

      FYI to all your foots lovers: I grew up playing the sport.

      Another reason I hate footie?

      The Dutch.

    38. Barfly, heres another well written quote on the appeal of soccer to the working class:

      Soccer appeals to Joe Sixpack, since soccer doesn’t require athletic talent or advanced motor skills. Soccer appeals to the average and to the below average. Thus, it has an instant constituency for its popularity. Too weak or slow to play football? Participate in soccer. Too short or slow to play basketball? Participate in soccer. Lack the hand-eye coordination necessary to hit a baseball or the agility to stickhandle thru traffic? Participate in soccer. Lack basic motor skills? Participate in soccer.

    39. I, for one, am very excited that we have so many options to watch world cup matches in public. I’m going to go to every one of these bars, and drink at least one of everything they’ve got. Then I’m going over to Barfly’s house to explain to him why Seattle is awesome, and if he doesn’t like it he can move to someplace filled with as much holier than thou scorn as he has. After that, maybe I’ll fall asleep on his lawn to re-ignite the homelessness debate, just for fun.

    46. To soccersux and Barfly:

      Ahem…

      “The average [American football] game has just 10 minutes and 43 seconds of actual playing time.”

      [courtesy the Wall Street Journal]

      That was too easy.

    47. “That was too easy.”

      That’s what the cheerleaders are for.

      What do you watch during the breaks in a footie match (you know, when you touch one player and falls down screaming like a girl, hoping for an Oscar)? Did you watch the opposing fans trying to break out of their cages to kill you?

    48. “The average [American football] game has just 10 minutes and 43 seconds of actual playing time.”

      Yes, because in footie, passing a ball back and forth, back and forth, then back to the goalie, then back out, and back and forth and back and forth….oo!….no, back to the goalie…. back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forthback and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forthback and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forthback and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

      The only action is the bottle throwing, racist taunts, displays of cro-magnon nationalism and threats of death from the stands: always great fun for the whole family.

    49. The problem with USA football fans is they have none of the visceral, historical hatreds of other countries that traditional football nations do. All your ‘hatreds’ are fake, pseudo. One of the blessings of being American is NOT being burdened by history. When we play Germany we don’t think ‘Dunkirk’.

      So without real hatreds, we manufacture them. Hence football in the USA will never succeed because we’re not saddled by knowing our history like most of the world. We’re too earnest, too middle class, to nice to go rampaging through the streets of Brussels, Prague, Rome etc. after being defeated.

      The day I see USA fans rioting in Seattle, smashing up Mexican restaurants after a defeat to the Mexicans, then I’ll believe the ‘Beautiful Sport’ will have a chance on these shores.

    50. Let’s see…

      10 minutes and 43 seconds per game…
      times a whopping 16 games per season…

      equals 2 hours and 52 minutes of “work” per year (if a player plays every single moment of the season).

      For which they get paid millions.

      And get excused from frequent lawbreaking.

      And who are the prima donnas again?

    52. If you want football to be popular in the US, make it popular among lower class racists and xenophobes. As long as it’s only popular with earnest, upper middle white college grads, it’ll always be a marginal sport in the US.

    54. Interesting comments by soccersux. Most angry people are those that themselves suck at something so they have to make themselves feel better by criticizing those that participate or able to succeed at such sport or activity. I have played all the sports you mentioned in addition to playing soccer. I would pit any pro soccer team against your aforementioned beloved baseball, football or basketball teams in a neutral skilled sport and they would hold their own if not kick their arse. I don’t particularly care to watch the Mariner’s or the Seahawks, however I love they are in town and represent the city of Seattle. Fans are fans and are not one-dimensional. Saying that soccer or any sport is watched by only one class of people is in itself not an educated remark.

    55. “Saying that soccer or any sport is watched by only one class of people is in itself not an educated remark.”

      please, I’ve been to Sounders games….it’s 95% white and middle class.

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