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Faces of lockout: Bears camp bar owner TJ Don
Good stuff! and when have gone to camp have stopped by there, and got Hester, kreutz and olsen to sign jersies there- A good place to go after the practices end for fans looking to go to camp practices
Faces of lockout: Bears camp bar owner
The NFL lockout has put players and owners in limbo. The ripple effects are also felt by people whose lives or businesses touch their teams. Here are their stories:
Situated across Highway 45/52, and tucked conveniently next to the campus of Olivet Nazarene University -- host of Chicago Bears training camp since 2002 -- T.J. Donlins fills quicker than its bartenders can pour a pint once the sun goes down over Bourbonnais, a town of 19,119 located 50 miles south of Chicago.
Courtesy of T.J. DonlinsBusiness typically more than doubles at T.J. Donlins during training camp.
The bar’s co-owner, Tom Richmond, estimates business picks up 2 1/2 times its normal pace in late July during training camp. But with no end in sight to this NFL lockout, camp is in serious jeopardy.
So is business at T.J. Donlins.
“Business is flat going into [training camp], but that’s normal,” Richmond said. “We do a nice bit during the three weeks they’re here; we love them. Unfortunately, this will affect us directly. Camp is a nice spike that we have come to kind of depend on. Being a small business, it helps quite a bit. So everybody here has their fingers crossed. We hope it happens -- this lockout ends.”
Football fans in the know smartly cram into T.J. Donlins during camp to cool off with beer specials, which begin at $1, and go up to the $2 Killian’s pints on Tuesdays. More appealing than the cheap beer, though, is the sightseeing.
On any given night, a few coaches, players and scouts come in, graciously sign autographs, and mingle with patrons. Some hang out on the back patio deck to team up with locals for games of bag toss.
Richmond said the training-camp traffic results in additional business during the season from travelers who had visited over the summer.
“The Bears have been so good to the fans. The first year or two, it was testy because they were such a novelty,” Richmond said. “People bothered them to the point they couldn’t even sit down. Over the last seven years, it’s been good. They come out en masse sometimes. They’re courteous and will give plenty of autographs.”
Those good vibes could end soon though. Richmond, who opened the bar in 1983, knows business will continue regardless of the lockout’s outcome. Still, he’s hoping to not have to find out what life sans training camp entails.
“Every bar in America has the NFL on their screen on Sundays. So I know there’s a lot of stuff revolving around this for a lot of people, especially us,” Richmond said. “I just hope they all come to a happy agreement.”
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The level of greed goes beyond simply agreeing upon principles of how the money will be allocated and where. This is affecting "Joe the Plumber" (I hope you like my homage to John McCain! LOL) and how merchandisers, stadium workers, front office staff, and of course, restaurant and bar owners operate. But of course, the rich do not care about the average American and how much pro football affects our lives. They just want a bigger piece of the pie.
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Businesses are and will continue to be affected by it all Dags. No way of avoiding it but it circles back to what I said about the NFL needing to establish that continuation of the lockout was in the "publics best interest". Articles like this tend to prove that it's anything but that.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. 
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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Originally Posted by
soulman 
Businesses are and will continue to be affected by it all Dags. No way of avoiding it but it circles back to what I said about the NFL needing to establish that continuation of the lockout was in the "publics best interest". Articles like this tend to prove that it's anything but that.
It is a bunch of horseshit, soulman. I can't believe that we are being fed that line of bullshit by what amounts to a non-elected oligarchy. Having no football does the public no good; in fact, we're seeing with places such as in this article that it, indeed, is very damaging to the economy. At what point does this go before a congressional committee like previous sports anti-trust lawsuits have done in the past?
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Originally Posted by
Dagan81 It is a bunch of horseshit, soulman. I can't believe that we are being fed that line of bullshit by what amounts to a non-elected oligarchy. Having no football does the public no good; in fact, we're seeing with places such as in this article that it, indeed, is very damaging to the economy. At what point does this go before a congressional committee like previous sports anti-trust lawsuits have done in the past?
KEEP CONGRESS AND POLITICS AWAY!!..: ) nothing ever, ever comes from them gtting involved and adding their "self serving agenda's" to a situation tht already has enough self serving agenda's and people dag's...This is amost done, and at the "dead end' of the courts and soon to be hurting wallet's..think the time has come for an agreement
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High Fives / Like - 2 High Fives, 0 Dislikes
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Originally Posted by
dabears54 KEEP CONGRESS AND POLITICS AWAY!!..: ) nothing ever, ever comes from them gtting involved and adding their "self serving agenda's" to a situation tht already has enough self serving agenda's and people dag's...This is amost done, and at the "dead end' of the courts and soon to be hurting wallet's..think the time has come for an agreement
Yes, for God's sake don't get politicians involved with this. The first thing they'd do is form a committee to investigate, then commision a study of the problems, and then after they return from their holiday the committee will take testimony from the parties and the public and after a year or more they may issue some recommendations on some sort of legislation to resolve the problem which won't make it out of another committee until at least the 3rd or 4th rewriting and then in three years they may actually vote on it.
Screw 'em. I want football now and the judges are as close as I want anyone getting to solving the problem for them and even they've created another 30-45 day delay when they granted the stay.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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Originally Posted by
soulman Yes, for God's sake don't get politicians involved with this. The first thing they'd do is form a committee to investigate, then commision a study of the problems, and then after they return from their holiday the committee will take testimony from the parties and the public and after a year or more they may issue some recommendations on some sort of legislation to resolve the problem which won't make it out of another committee until at least the 3rd or 4th rewriting and then in three years they may actually vote on it.
Screw 'em. I want football now and the judges are as close as I want anyone getting to solving the problem for them and even they've created another 30-45 day delay when they granted the stay.
I didn't say that I wanted the politicians involved with it, man! lol. In fact, I'm wanting this to end on an agreement from the two sides without litigation playing a big role in it. That's not going to happen, obviously, but still, a man can wish his life away, can't he? lol
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Originally Posted by
soulman Businesses are and will continue to be affected by it all Dags. No way of avoiding it but it circles back to what I said about the NFL needing to establish that continuation of the lockout was in the "publics best interest". Articles like this tend to prove that it's anything but that.
Agree and disagree with that Soul, take this bar for example. Yes the owner is hurt by bears not being there- but then again, as he pays NOTHING to the bears, rides their coat-tails and makes "above his normal business" on the bears FOR FREE... not sure the arguement of "public interest" or being hurt, when you benefit for free on semthing that enhances your business
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Originally Posted by
dabears54 Agree and disagree with that Soul, take this bar for example. Yes the owner is hurt by bears not being there- but then again, as he pays NOTHING to the bears, rides their coat-tails and makes "above his normal business" on the bears FOR FREE... not sure the arguement of "public interest" or being hurt, when you benefit for free on semthing that enhances your business
I will have to disagree with you on this, DB. The bar and the owner is hurt by the lack of the Bears, but the NFL has a outlying effect on the economy as a whole. Think of it as a domino theory. You tip one domino, which is one sector of the economy, and it begins a chain reaction of knocking over the subsequent dominoes ahead of it, which affects other areas of the economy. Nothing is for free, not even this case with the bar owner. The bar owner is not the only person who is going to suffer. Others will too: retailers/merchandisers, other bars/restaurants like Hooters which I frequent on Sundays to watch games, team employees, etc.
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Originally Posted by
dabears54 Agree and disagree with that Soul, take this bar for example. Yes the owner is hurt by bears not being there- but then again, as he pays NOTHING to the bears, rides their coat-tails and makes "above his normal business" on the bears FOR FREE... not sure the arguement of "public interest" or being hurt, when you benefit for free on semthing that enhances your business
Well the Bears have an agreement with Olivet Nazarene to hold camp there each year so as a normal course of affairs the bar owner has a right to plan for and expect his business to increase during the time the team is there. This delay does have an impact without a doubt but it's probably not something you could sue over.
But despite that this lockout can't be good for his business or dozens of others who plan for and have become dependent on the increase in their businesses during camp. At least some things would have had to have been ordered in advance to accomodate the crowds so the cost of those things has already been spent in advance. In addition fans like you who go to camp may be having a hard time making plans and those who've planned vacations around it may end up disappointed if camp is delayed by the continuation of the lockout.
So the bottom line is that it's impossible to say that the public hasn't been adversely affected in some way or another. That being the case it would be almost impossible to claim to it was in the public's best interest. Clearly it's not.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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