Sports Bars Of The Week

Andy Lynes offers a few ideas for some big-screen action

Can't get a ticket for the final, but still want to get close to the sporting action? Drop into one of these sports bars where you will find plenty of atmosphere.

With 20 screens showing Nascar, the World Series and Superbowl, Average Joe's Sports Bar, 518 5 Street South, Lethbridge, Alberta (00 1 403 394 9337) is Canada's best sports bar, according to viewers of the Sportsnet cable TV channel.

Get your sporting kicks at Barney's Beanery, 8447 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, Los Angeles (00 1 323 654 2287; barneysbeanery.com). The 200 beers, pool tables and pinball machines have attracted the likes of Quentin Tarantino who allegedly wrote most of Pulp Fiction there.

After watching your team on the big screen from the comfort of your leather tub chair at Oneworld Sport, 295 Church Street, Parramatta, Sydney (00 61 2 9633 2600; oneworldsport.com.au), you can celebrate by dancing at the venue's Arena bar.

If you prefer sake to beer then head for the Orblight Café, 1F Ikejiri Bldg, 3-21-28 Shin Nihon, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo (00 81 3 5481 0099; cafe.o-bit.co.jp) where the extended happy hours are as popular as the televised bouts of the ancient martial art of bushido.

Catch all the major sporting events on five plasma screens at Pulse, 23 Somerset Rd, Green Point, Cape Town (00 27 21 4254010; pulsebar.co.za).