Jenny Nguyen and about a dozen of her friends wanted to watch the NCAA women’s basketball championship game, which didn’t seem like much to ask for at a sports bar with 32 televisions.
“None of them played that game,” Nguyen recalled, “which is shocking to me.”
Not a problem. Server agreed to switch one of the televisions to the big game. Granted, it was the smallest screen in place, on top of a corner, where they didn’t even bother to turn on the sound.
Nguyen was just thrilled to get an idea of one of the great games in the history of the NCAA Tournament: Notre Dame rally to beat Mississippi State on a 3-pointer with ten seconds left.
“I remember jumping up and down,” she said, “and then I looked around the restaurant and realized we were the only ones watching this game.”
Team flags for Oregon State, Seattle Storm and University of Portland hang on the wall of The Sports Bra, a bar and restaurant dedicated to women’s sports, on Monday, Feb. 22, 2022. (Vickie Connor/The Oregonian via AP)
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Stickers and business cards sit at the entryway of The Sports Bra, a bar and restaurant dedicated to women’s sports, on Monday, Feb. 22, 2022. (Vickie Connor/The Oregonian via AP)
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Banners previewing the opening of The Sports Bra, a bar and restaurant dedicated to women’s sports, hang in the window at 2512 NE Broadway in Portland on Monday, Feb. 22, 2022. (Vickie Connor/The Oregonian via AP)
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On the way out, one of Nguyen’s friends made an even more poignant observation.
“It would have been so much better if the sound had been turned on,” she said.
Then and there, a revolutionary idea was born.
Since that epiphany four years ago, Nguyen has fulfilled her dream of launching a bar dedicated solely to women’s sports.
It opened on April 1 in Portland, Oregon, where every talk about The Sports Bra was nothing more than a joke (given, its double-meaning mantra is “We Support Women’s Sports”) quickly wiped out by the crowds. large lined up outside. the door every day.
“One thing I wanted to be intent on with The Sports Bra is that we’re not reinventing the bike as far as sports bars go,” Nguyen said. “It simply came to our notice then. There is a way about them that is very bad and that has that comfortable feeling. ”
Of course, this is not just any other sports bar.
This is evident from much more what he is showing on the five televisions, which are exclusively dedicated to women’s sports (and a bit of coed).
The walls are lined with memorabilia dedicated to female athletes and teams. Beverage and food menus are largely compiled by women-owned businesses, breweries and distilleries. Both bathrooms are gender neutral. Nguyen makes sure to provide gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options, all with the goal of being as inclusive as possible for its guests.
That doesn’t mean one won’t find some of the more traditional sports bar offerings.
“We have burgers and nachos and tater tots,” Nguyen remarked.
Robin DiPietro, a college professor at the University of South Carolina, stopped at The Sports Bra for the first time this week while on a West Coast vacation.
“I think every city needs a women’s sports bar,” DiPietro said. “It simply came to our notice then. We don’t have enough places to go to see women’s sports. “
As this week marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, it was natural that much attention was placed on major advances made by female athletes in the light of historic legislation, fought by how much more they want to go to achieve true equality with their male counterparts.
But let’s not forget smaller gestures that help advance the cause.
One bar dedicated to women’s sports may not sound like much, but it can be the catalyst for something much bigger. Nguyen is well aware that its mission goes beyond good food, tasty beverages and to ensure that televisions are turned to the WNBA or the NCAA softball league or a football game that includes the hometown of Portland Thorns.
The communal nature of fandom has always been a big factor in the success of men’s sports. There’s no reason it shouldn’t be so for women’s games.
“When I first thought about The Sports Bra, when I first started doing it, I had no idea what it would be like,” Nguyen said. “But now I see it as part of the movement, dominoes in a wave of dominoes.
“It’s good business to invest in women,” she added. “It’s only a matter of time before people get caught up in this and see that when a community is moving towards equity, everyone wins. Not just women. Equality is good for everyone. ”
Nguyen, a first-generation American whose parents emigrated to Portland during the Vietnam War, is especially passionate about basketball. She started the sport around the age of 5 and was ready to play in a community college when her knee exploded a week before her first game.
This was also around the time she came out as a lesbian, so she was dealing with a lot of conflicting feelings. Lonely and depressed, Nguyen decided for a completely new start at Western Washington University.
There she discovered a passion as great as basketball.
“I realized I was completely spoiled by my mother’s cooking,” Nguyen recalled. “When I got to college, I found it quite difficult to get good food. That’s when I started cooking. ”
She took the same feeling in a kitchen she found on a basketball court. A calm. Peace.
After graduating from Western Washington, she enrolled in culinary school and launched her life in a new direction.
Then, during the tumultuous summer of 2020, when the country was facing a devastating pandemic and racial awakening, Nguyen decided she had to do something to make the world a better place. She knew it had to involve cooking. Her girlfriend reminded her of their idea for The Sports Bra.
Despite the obvious struggles in launching a new business – especially in an industry that has taken a hit from COVID-19 – Nguyen has written a business plan, cleaned up her savings account and borrowed some money from the family and -friends.
She still didn’t have enough to get out of a sports bar, so she launched a fundraising effort on Kickstarter. She set a goal of $ 48,000. Within 30 days, she had raised about $ 105,000.
The business has been fast since opening The Sports Bra, with Nguyen estimating that roughly a quarter of the clientele is men.
“It turns out that when a person, any person, is watching sports, they honestly don’t care who they’re playing for,” she said. “They love sports, they love watching sports.”
The strong success of The Sports Bra persuaded Nguyen that her idea could work in other cities. When she wrote her first business plan, she mentioned franchising and estimated that perhaps a dozen other cities will support a women’s sports bar.
Now, she believes the target was too low. On the 50th anniversary of Title IX on Thursday, she posted the #channelchangechallenge on Instagram, urging people to ask their favorite sports bar to switch to TV once a day for a women’s sporting event.
“If one bar changes channel,” she said, “and two women or two men or anyone seems to watch, that’s a win for everyone.”
Paul Newberry is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him on pnewberry (at) ap.org or on https://twitter.com/pnewberry1963
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Où trouver le numéro de déclaration BAFA ?
You can find the number by searching the BAFA / BAFD website before logging in to your account when you have selected the region.
What is the #1 sport in the world?
Football is the most popular sport in the world. It is played by more than 20 million people in more than 140 countries. U.S.
What is the number 1 sport in the world? While it may not be evident in the United States, association football – also known as soccer – is the most popular sport in the world by a large margin. Football is king in almost all of Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Central America, and Asia.
What is the best sport in the world 2021?
The Top 10 Most Popular Sports in the World in 2021
- 1 1. Football / Soccer.
- 2 2. Cricket.
- 3 3. Basketball.
- 4 4. Hockey (Field Ice)
- 5 5. Tennis.
- 6 6. Volleyball.
- 7 7. Table Tennis.
- 8 8. Baseball.
What is a four letter sport that starts with t?
Are you looking for a sport with 4 letters starting with T? The answer, of course, is golf. It contains four letters and starts with a T (golf tee). As you can see there are many more T Sports.
Which sports have four letters?
What are sports that start with T?
T
- Table tennis.
- Taekwondo.
- Tennis.
- Triathlon.
What sport is played around the world and begins with T?
The sport of “Golf” begins with a T, has four letters, and is played around the world. The question posed is an interesting riddle in which we must think logically.
