Exercise your drinking arm...

By Jonathan Trew

Details Sports Cafe  292 Sauchiehall St  Glasgow          0141 332 8000 If we ignore George Best, it is hard to think of two things that go together better than sport and beer. In fact, for the dedicated armchair athletes among us, beer is a vital part of the training regime. A pint held in the left hand is the perfect balance for the remote control in the right and a little lager lubrication is essential for shouting at the telly. For those of us who like the horses, but couldn't back a winner in a one-horse race, a pint glass also provides something to cry into when our fancy bites the turf one out from the finish. So it's a big Mexican wave for the Sports Cafe, which has opened in the old ABC cinema site on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. Like all good sports stories, the opening of the Cafe is jam-packed with stats. Over two floors, it has five bars, 150 TV screens and 16 pool tables. It's part of a chain that started in Toronto and has since spread all over the world. There are even branches in Beirut, which might prove a handy training ground for staff working the Glasgow bar on Old Firm derby days. Then again, perhaps the staff uniforms wlll distract any potential hotheads. The sports theme extends to the costumes, where cheerleader outfits seem to be the order of the day for the female waiting staff. Thankfully, the male staff are exempt from the short skirts. No sports bar would be complete without a collection of sporting memorabilia and the Sports Café has assorted curios, from Jenson Button's Formula One car to the skates Torvill and Deans wore when they won their Olympic gold. Strangest of all is Mike Tyson's signed prison shirt. What sport Tyson played in chokey doesn't bear thinking about. However, it seems a safe bet there was no queue to join him in the after-match showers. Presumably fewer still asked him to wash behind their ears. Moving on swiftly, the Sports Cafe is huge. You would have to be match fit just to jog from one end of it to another while holding a tray of beer. The pool tables are on the upper floor, along with a lounge that overlooks Sauchiehall Street. That should prove handy if the sport on the screens is dull. Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night never fails to come up with some sort of sporting action, although it may be a while before kebab-hurling and the 100-metre ned dash are recognised by the Olympics. The upper floor also has a VIP area called the Team Room. This is a cut above the rest of the place, with wood-panelling and, on the night we were in, a quieter atmosphere. Downstairs is a bar where customers can reserve booths with their own TVs, so they can watch whatever they like. As the night wears on, though, the main attraction is likely to be the dance floor. Obviously, it's not just men who are interested in sport, but women are perhaps less likely to want to watch it for 12 hours at a time. Faced with the choice of curling from Canada or a skate-boarding nerd knockout championship, most women would prefer a boogie. The bar is open until 3am seven nights a week and the dance floor is in action every night. Just to help encourage the girls through the doors, Friday nights are an after-work special where the ladies can have a manicure and head massage while the boys are busy drooling over Beckham's silky ball skills. The Sports Cafe is not the place for a quiet chat, but when Euro 2004 kicks off, the place will be packed. Open: noon-3am, seven days Drinks: pint of Carlsberg £2.50, glass of wine £2.50, vodka and coke £2.80, bottle of VK £2.90, On Mon/Tue Carlsberg £1.20; vodka and coke £1.50; bottle of VK £1.50 Rating: Three out of five

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