Best Sports Bar, Downtown Phoenix 2009 | Coach & Willie's | Bars & Clubs
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Best Sports Bar, Downtown Phoenix

Coach & Willie's

Stationed less than a block's walk from both US Airways Center and Chase Field, Coach & Willie's is so close to the big-league fun that you can practically smell the locker-room funk. Sports nuts, clad in their snazziest team shop gear, usually make pit stops here either before the game (carbo-loading on moderately priced upscale comfort grub) or afterwards to partake in a snifter or two. When the squads are on the road, the Suns and D-Backs faithful lounge on the gorgeous patio (complete with bubbling waterfall) or congregate at the horseshoe-shaped bar to holler at the bums on TV and provide their own personal play-by-play. These barstool quarterbacks might even get the chance to spit their vitriol at a particular superstar athlete face-to-face (if they've got the sack, that is), as Steve Nash, Shaquille O'Neal, and several other ballplayers and coaching staffers have stopped by now and again for a bite.

Best Sports Bar, Central Phoenix

Hazelwood's First Place Sports Grill

The moniker of this CenPho player's paradise is as dead-on as a Dan Haren fastball, considering it ranks far above any other sports bar in the vicinity. It boasts a relaxed, low-key feel and homey décor that could double as some suburbanite's den (albeit one with more hi-def TVs than a Best Buy store, a swank pool table, a long-ass shuffleboard game, and 16 imports and domestics on tap). Hometown heroes are big (evidenced by the logos of Arizona's various college and pro squads covering the wall tiles in the bathrooms), but all manner of ballgames are broadcast here, from rugby to soccer. But if you can't find any up-to-the-minute highlights of your favorite team, try logging onto the Interweb via the bar's free Wi-Fi access. Suffice it to say, there's no shortage of sports at Hazelwood's.

Best Sports Bar, West Valley

Lighthouse Sports Bar

It's a safe bet that Phoenix sports fans probably need a drink or two (no, make that several . . . dozen) to help forget all those underwhelming performances by multimillion-dollar buffoo . .  . er, athletes during 2009. Aside from the Arizona Cardinals' miraculous berth in the Super Bowl, it hasn't exactly been a banner year for our city's sports squads. Steve Nash and the rest of the Phoenix Suns crashed and burned (thus missing what would have been their first playoffs since 2005), the cellar-dwelling Diamondbacks just wrapped up one of their most vile seasons ever, and don't even get us started on that whole Coyotes debacle. The good news is that the Lighthouse's barkeeps can pour 'em long and strong, regardless of which mind eraser you'd prefer, whether it's a Long Island iced tea, Red Bull vodka, or any other $4 well drink. Their $3 shot specials and $4.25 pitchers of Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, other domestic drafts can also help scramble memories of Eric Byrnes' tantrums or Shaquille O'Neal's entire tenure with the suns. Drink up, hard drinkers, and remember that eternal mantra about how there's always next year.

Best Sports Bar, Glendale

Max's Sports Restaurant

Having opened way back in 1979, Max's is definitely old school, just like us. We've got golden memories of watching some of Phoenix's biggest ballgames from within the darkened confines of this West Valley sports institution. (Like when our voice went hoarse cheering on Sir Charles and the Phoenix Suns as they beat the dreaded Chicago Bulls in triple overtime during game three of the 1993 NBA Finals.) Sure, a host of bigger and flashier jock joints, like McDuffy's and Marc's Sports Grill, have sprung up nearby over the past three decades. We consider Max's the antithesis of those jacked-up, high-adrenaline establishments. At Max's, you can stay abreast of the latest sports action on almost 100 TVs, check out the collection of more than 250 football helmets on display, or head over to the off-track betting area to make a wager. It beats having some tatted-up, Ed Hardy-clad bro yelling in your ear while the game's on.

Best Sports Bar, Southeast Valley

Teakwood's Gilbert

There's a lot to like about Teakwood's Tavern and Grill in Gilbert — great food, plentiful TVs, friendly staff — but we have to admit what we like best about it, sports bar-wise, is the way they allow you to re-create the experience of being at the game by tossing your peanut shells on the floor. That's right, even though this is a pretty nice place — not some juke joint on the outskirts of town — you're welcome to crack, eat, and discard. On the downside, anyone with a severe peanut allergy could probably die just driving by this place, but on the plus side, it's as close to Chase Field as you can get in the flatlands of the San Tan area.

Best Sports Bar, Mesa

Diamond's Sports Grille

We know what you're thinking: How could we not name Sluggo's the best Mesa sports bar? Well, we are (sorta) because the legendary Sluggo's is now Diamond's Sports Grille. The bar was opened by former Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray and his partner in the booth, Steve Stone, and it's gone through a few names en route to its current one. The ties to the Cubs, who are immortalized in murals on the walls of this bar near the Cubs' spring training site north of downtown Mesa, are still strong, though. We hope they get a less generic name paying tribute to the spot's history — "Holy Cow's," maybe, or "Something Funny Will Farrell Said in That SNL Sketch" — but even if it that never happens, Diamond's is still the best sports bar in Mesa.

Best Sports Bar, Tempe

Doc & Eddy's

Tempe probably has five of the 10 best sports bars in the Valley, so picking just one spot is a challenge. Luckily, Doc & Eddy's has a little bit of everything, making it easy to justify our choice here. It's just dive-y enough to feel homey, but with clean and plentiful restrooms, varied seating options, good service, and great food. It always seems to be just busy enough — never dead or overcrowded — and we enjoy the fact that the pool hall and game area doesn't feel segregated from the rest of the restaurant, making it a fun place to hang out with a big group of rowdy fans, some who prefer to take in the game while shooting some pool.

Best Sports Bar, Scottsdale

American Junkie

Seeing this place on a Saturday night, you'd never know that this hip club is actually a fantastic sports bar during the day — even better than perennial favorite Duke's. The high-end modern furniture looks a little fancy for watching the big game, but it turns out it feels just like a Laz-Y-Boy. Your ass won't know the difference. Trust us. Toss in a nice collection of well-placed screens, great drinks, and a decent menu, and you've got a place Scottsdale types can watch the game without feeling too déclassé. The name is the biggest drawback. (How are you going to tell your buddies to meet up at "American Junkie" to watch football?) But once you get past the name, it's clear this place is doing a lot more than making their food-to-liquor ratios by serving food during daylight hours.

Best Family Sports Bar

Mac's Broiler and Tap

We'll admit it: We aren't as young as we used to be. Heck, some of us even have kids now. But in spite of that fact, we want to get out of the house every now and again, go someplace low-key, eat greasy bar food, and watch the game. It's times like these that we're thankful for Mac's. This quaint little sports bar has everything a fan could want: good beer, good food, multiple TVs, and an atmosphere that is good for the whole family. In fact, the food and drinks are so good that we've even considered stopping by during the off-season. Why not? You're only young once.

Best Place to See Real Football Fans

Harold's Cave Creek Corral

Sara Weber

You probably remember watching the Arizona Cardinals suffer a narrow defeat in the Super Bowl, after officiating that made Tim Donaghy's showing at those Phoenix Suns playoffs games look professional. Would you like to relive the humiliation of that beating? Just head up north to Cave Creek, that little outlaw hamlet that's housed rapper DMX and Hell's Angels founder Sonny Barger. Up there, you'll find a bar called Harold's that caters exclusively to dirtbag Steelers fans. And those fans — every single one of them, up and down the bar — are louder, tougher, and more dedicated than any Cardinals fan in Phoenix. This bar is a little piece of Pittsburgh, readily showcasing what you'd find in a real NFL city, from wall-to-wall memorabilia to ridiculously fatty food and whiskey on tap. They may be "White Trash America's Team," but the Steelers also have a fan base Arizona should envy in every way. Go up for the game, but leave your red and white at home.

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