The subgenius charm of Bob Dobbs bar

From: smellypoontang@fastmail.fm (Karl Marx)
Date: Sat, Apr 3, 2004

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/ent_index/14379.php

By Anthony Broadman
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
March 19, 2004

Bob Dobbs Bar & Grill has been carefully tailored to the month of
March.

So if you drink to make basketball interesting, the tavern, at North
Tucson Boulevard and East Sixth Street, will welcome you with
graffiti-splashed walls, beer specials and its mysterious namesake.

J.R. "Bob" Dobbs is the mysterious, pipe-smoking pseudo-deity of the
Church of the SubGenius - a "religion" with a keen sense of irony.
Take these church slogans for instance: "Too much is always better
than not enough"; "Pull the wool over your own eyes"; "You'll pay to
know what you really think"; and "Give me slack, or give me food, or
kill me." (Learn more about this tongue-in-cheek wackiness at
subgenius.com).

If he ever existed, the messiah of slack would likely approve of the
bar and its hoops-loving patrons.

Last week, during the University of Arizona's 9:45 p.m.-game against
USC in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament, groups of fans
gathered at the inconspicuous corner spot.

"For those of us who don't buy cable, this is what neighborhood bars
are all about," Lee Shainen, 49, said during a timeout. "I don't want
to pay for TV."

"We met up for the game," said Mark Hansen, 46. "It's past all of our
bedtimes."

Yes, every time a man chooses to follow his inner slack, Bob Dobbs
smiles.

Popular among the rugby crowd and slumming bigwigs - Anaheim Angels
owner Arte Moreno and UA football coach Mike Stoops were sighted
recently - Bob Dobbs has a menu to suit your NCAA-tourney appetite.
The Bob burger ($6.25) is two Worcestershire-soaked patties worthy of
elbows-on-the-bar dining. Daily dinner specials offer meals more
suited to the pub's stout tables.

The writing is on all the walls at Bob Dobbs, but some of the most
insightful and idiotic privy wall-banter can be found in its
bathrooms. From head-tennis ("look right," "look left") to the
National Football League to politics, the too-free speech found near
the pot stretches out into the bar's main room in more audible forms.

Barroom coaching and beer-lubed commentary run quick and heavy about
the bar-in-the-round. When a UA player turned the ball over, grown men
pleaded with the five indoor TV sets, which is somehow more sane if
you're doing it in public. When Mustafa Shakur drained a three at the
buzzer to give Arizona the win, the bar imploded in joy in a moment
ripped from the TV, as UA players tackled the freshman point guard.

The bar emptied quickly. It's a Thursday night, after all.

"I think I yell louder when there's more people around," Shainen said,
leaving the bar. "At home I seldom get hoarse."

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