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The Globe Pub, Chicago’s Soccer Bar!

By Cassandra Bowman, Andrew Fleury and Jillian Wolande

Roaring fans sit at the front while cheering on the Blackhawks as they sip their Carlsberg beer surrounded by the sound of five other televisions playing a soccer game from half way across the world. This is a typical scenario at The Globe Pub, a soccer bar located at 1934 W. Irving Park Road.

The Globe Pub can have people that live two blocks away and someone who lives 1,000 miles away sitting at its bar.

The Globe Pub regulars are both American and from various countries, according to Aubrey Miller, The Globe Pub manager.

“You can see the whole crowd speaking different languages,” Patrick Stanton said, a Globe Pub employee.

While the pub caters to soccer fans, it also televises American sports. The Globe Pub makes sure it plays most, if not all, soccer games from around the world.

It was the only bar to play the African Cup Nations, according to Stuart Johnston, The Globe Pub owner. The bar not only supports global soccer, but it also is the official bar of the Chicago Fire.

When The Globe Pub opened its doors in September 2004, it was a one-room bar with four televisions that had only one window that measured 3 ft. by 6 ft. Stuart Johnston, The Globe Pub’s owner, recalled the night before opening the bar before a major a soccer game, the kick-off of the English league.

“We were up all night wiring the TVs and finished a half-hour before kick-off,” Johnston said. “People were coming in and there were still ladders up.”

Johnston, a former accountant born in the west coast of Scotland, always knew he wanted to open a bar or a dive shop.
“So the retirement plan is a bar or a dive shop in the Caribbean somewhere,” Johnston said.

1934 Irving Park Rd. soccer Pub By Cassandra Bowman

Johnston wanted a neighborhood bar feel and wanted his employees to make people feel at home. He looked for happy bartenders and waitresses to fill his pub. Johnston also knew the bar’s niche was going to be a soccer bar.

“Although soccer is niche, you can’t survive on one thing alone,” Johnston said.

It was tough the first year for Johnston to create new ideas for the pub, Johnston explained, but he learned and experimented with new ideas.

Johnston experimented with different theme nights for the week. The first experiment was doing a quiz night that was run by one of its regulars. It was voted best pub quiz in the city in 2007 and 2008 by Chicago Magazine.

Today, The Globe Pub has theme nights every week that include Comedy Night, open-mic acoustic night, live bands on Fridays, and a DJ on Saturday. “Stinky Fingers”, Rolling Stones cover band plays there most often.

Chris Costello, a Globe regular, hosts Wednesday’s acoustic night. Costello lives just two blocks away from The Globe Pub and hosted his 40th birthday there.

The pub is separated into two sections. The front part of the bar has windows that open up to a patio. The Globe Pub added a back bar, new booths, and 25 new televisions. It added a new martini list as well that is all Globe Pub themed. The pub also offers 20 beers on draft and at least 200 bottled beers from around the world. The Globe Pub was the #1 seller of Carlsberg beer in the world.

The Globe Pub has generated fans from across the world including, David Beckham and Rod Stewart. It was voted best Soccer bar in 2008 by USSoccer.com according to Johnston.

Fans donated the scarves that cover the wall from front to back over the years Johnston recalled. Before the scarves there were mirrors and beer signs.

Since The Globe Pub is the official bar to the Chicago Fire, it makes sure its fans can get to the game. For every home game, the Globe has at least one bus that takes Fire fans to the games there and back for $20 a ride that includes free beer. The Globe had the owner in last month for a live Q&A session.

Patrick Stanton, a recent DePaul graduate, hasn’t missed a Chicago Fire game in five years. After Stanton lost his job, Stuart offered him a job at The Globe in October 2009 and he still works there today.

Stanton believes The Globe Pub has been instrumental in helping fill the Chicago Fire’s Toyota Park stadium. When Toyota Park opened, there was that big question on how they were going to get there he recalled.

The Globe Pub started off using school buses to the games, and now it has upgraded to coach buses. At least half the fans that started going on the bus four years ago still go to every game recalled Stanton. The rides are boisterous, loud, and passionate he recalled. The Chicago Fire fans who can’t make it to the game often go to The Globe.

“Gets just as passionate as if you were there,” Stanton said.

The main event at The Globe Pub this summer is the World Cup. The Globe staff was very excited about the World cup that goes on for one month starting June 11. This year will be RSVP only because The Globe Pub wants to be able to have all their regulars here. Aubrey Miller, The Globe Pub for four years, expects the bar to be over capacity at 11 a.m., the first game starts at 1:45 p.m. the first day.

The Globe Pub staff created a special food menu so it will be easy for people to eat standing up because of the large crowd. The pub will be airing every single game on its 25 screens throughout the bar.

“The World Cup is going to be a zoo,” Johnston said.

The Globe Pub has a book launch that will kickoff the night before the World Cup on June 10. It is a coffee table book of photographs of different soccer fans from The Globe Pub.

Stuart Johnston, The Globe Pub's owner (middle), with regulars at his bar By Cassandra Bowman

Most of The Globe Pub’s patrons are its regular customers, or “the regulars”. There are a lot of very loyal customers according to Miller.

“It’s the regulars that make this place,” Johnston said.

There are people that come to The Globe three to five times a week.
“They are like The Globe family, like our extended family,” Miller said, “They are the heart of the bar.”

The Globe Pub Website

Tags: bar, Chicago Fire, Soccer, Stuart Johnston, The Globe Pub

Your Future in Convergent Journalism

The journalism field today wants the person who not only knows how to use the new technology for journalism, but also wants someone who knows how to tell a story with real facts.

“Employers still want the basics: people who can report the facts accurately and quickly and who can tell a clear story”, according to the authors of Principles of Convergent Journalism.

Not only does new media allow journalists to use other resources besides a pen and paper but it creates new jobs for journalists. Journalists can paid to write a blog. Pay per post blog and get paid.

The public has many options of where to get their news, so journalists need to keep their audience’s attention.

“Therefore, a key to keeping and building your audience reflects the age-old formula: Give them what they want, when they want it”, according to the authors of Principles of Convergent Journalism.

Journalists should prepare themselves before they go to an interview because of the competition. Being a multi-skilled journalist will give you a shove past some of the competition.

Your skills and qualities are not the only thing the employer will look at. It is important to look presentable as well. In this job climate we are in it is important to cover all aspects of a good interview.

A part of getting a job offer is to keep yourself up to date.

“Your work doesn’t end once you get the job offer- as the field evolves, you must keep up with the latest techniques, trends, and technologies in journalism”, according to the authors Principles of Convergent Journalism.

Being in various well respected journalist organizations will also help you connect with other journalists and learn new techniques.

The most important thing is to do what makes you happy, good luck!

Tags: interview, jobs, journalist, techniques

Converging with Other Emerging Media

New technology seems to be forming and introduced everyday. The key to writing a great story with multimedia is to use the right medium to highlight it.

“The important thing is to look a the dimensions of each story and how the story can best be communicated through each medium,” according to the authors of Principles of Convergent Journalism, pg. 187.

Some technologies have allowed news stories to be seen quicker and more frequently involve one of the greatest news medium, the Internet. A RSS feed allows readers to see new information, and it also drives traffic to the website, according to the authors.

Major websites use RSS feeds to drive traffic to their website. Cnn RSS feed is an example.

Another Internet medium that has helped news stories become more noticed, is e-mail. E-mail alerts of headlines have helped news organizations drive traffic to their websites. E-mail is better for delivering headlines and breaking news according to the authors. E-mail alerts

The main problem with e-mail is that users can pick to unsubscribe to the news organizations alerts.

Text messaging is a quick way to get news alerts to readers. Text messages are best for sending out news alerts because of limited space you can send in a text. It is an easy and fast way to get your headline out there. Text messages also must be used for priority headlines because they interrupt daily activities, according to the authors. Weather text alerts

Billboards are an older form of a news medium, but with new interactive billboards they are good way to get viewers attention. Billboards need to be placed strategically with a eye catching line to get the audience’s attention. Interactive billboards

“Technology allows delivery of pictures and video as well as text using billboards,” according to the authors of Principles of Convergent Journalism pg. 199.

News organizations have many choices, but they must pick wisely to attract an audience.

Tags: CNN RSS LINK, converging media

From Broadcast to Internet: Repurposing Content

The convenience of news is more prevalent than ever. The Internet is constantly updating and the news is always there to find again later. Television stations saw this change coming and made the adequate decision.

“Rather than create all new stories for the Web, stations have found it as effective to repurpose the stories created for air”, according to the authors in Principles of Convergent Journalism pg. 76.

Television stations attract viewers this way by transforming into more than one medium. Television stations update their content on their Web site often because they want their viewers to keep coming back even after their live broadcast is over.

In all mediums of journalism they all have the same basic purpose, to provide the news. Radio had more of challenge because of their inability to provide images. Radio can use the Internet to put images to their broadcasts.

“In smaller towns, the radio station’s Web site may be one of the primary news sources for the area”, according to the authors in Principles of Convergent Journalism pg. 78.

Although the Web stories are very similar to the broadcast stories, they have to be written differently. Broadcast scripts wouldn’t sound right, because of the way it needs to be enunciated on air.

Certain sections of the broadcast are updated differently on the Web site. For weather, the Web site needs to be updated immediately because if people miss the broadcast that is the first place they will go. Sports newscasts maybe short, but they can expand to more images and details on their Website.

A lot of  television stations have made the right decision in using the Internet to their advantage. They can post more news and be competitive in various markets.

“The amount of content that can be posted on the Web is not limited in terms of time or space as opposed to newscasts”, according to the authors pg. 90.

Tags: Broadcast to Internet

Response to Basics of Broadcasting

The way journalists report is constantly changing, but the roots of reporting will always remain. According to the authors, pg. 109 in Principles of Convergent Journalism, “The basics of good reporting remain the same, even as certain tasks and techniques differ across media.” The basic principles of journalism that are constant are accuracy, attention to detail, compelling information, correct attribution, correct grammar, spelling, word usage, and punctuation, according to the authors pg. 110. These are the main aspects that are constant through all areas of journalism.

There are however differences throughout the mediums in journalism. Television is one medium that must emphasize key aspects in reporting. Television is about showing the viewer what they are seeing through live footage. They have to be visually stimulating to the viewers. This is perhaps why television newsrooms are often times much larger than other mediums in journalism. The reporter not only has to present her or himself well, but hey have to make sure their voice and speech will appeal to their viewers.

Not all stories may be meant for television, there are certain places for each different kind of story in journalism. “This underscores the notion that one medium is not necessarily better than another but that some stories are best told in a specific medium”, according to the authors on pg. 115. Television visuals also help with writing the story itself as you can relate to the visuals you have captured. Writing the story for broadcast is a little different from writing for print because it has to be easier to read. “Broadcast style differs from print primarily in the need to make the copy easier to read, say, and understand”, according to the authors pg. 123.

Broadcast reporting takes a certain skill, and the reporter is a key component, but not all stories can be told in that way. Each story has its own niche.

Tags: Basics of Broadcasting

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