The summer doldrums (a.k.a. the summertime blues) have set in.
But if you feel like doing something this Monday besides cranking the AC and sitting on the couch in your underwear, Pat Largo of 97X has your answer.
Largo hosts a Free Pool Party at Peabody's Billiards and Games from 9 to 11 p.m. every Monday night.
Sponsored by 97X (WSUN-97.1 FM), the event features free pool and one-on-one single-elimination pool and dart tournaments. Winners receive things like concert tickets and theme park passes, and everyone who shows up is bound to go home with some 97X schwag.
"We get about 1,200 people out there each week," Largo says in his swaggering rock jock voice. "That's an exaggeration," he admits with a laugh. "But you can print it."
While the head count may not be astounding, Peabody's 15 billiards tables do fill up quickly. The tables are open on a first come, first dibs basis, and a waiting list invariably begins.
Peabody's is tucked away in the Palm Lake Shopping Center in New Tampa. The sports bar and restaurant is upscale, but not upscale as in funky paint, ornate furnishings and overpriced liquor. It's just clean and well equipped. The billiard tables dominate the floor space, with a wall of electronic dartboards to one side and a small bar to the other. Fifty TVs are mounted all around to ensure you're entertained while you wait your turn to shoot.
"They put on bowling," Largo says. "So you know it's a good place."
Among the night's specials: 25-cent wings, 97-cent slices of pizza, $1.97 drafts and buckets of beer for $9.97.
Seriously, have you got anything better to do this Monday? Monday Night Football doesn't start for a couple more months. And that's really prime time for sitting on the couch in your underwear.
Peabody's Billiards and Games is located at 15333 Amberly Drive, Tampa. 813-972-1724.
