Football season is nearly here again - more importantly, fantasy football season is almost back! Before the draft, you'll need to pick your fantasy football team's name.
People all over the country prepare for the Fourth of July with flag-colored napkins, hot dogs, and fireworks. Blue Line is no different - we love to celebrate America. In honor of our fabulous melting pot country, we’ve compiled the most American things according to our owner, Scott.
The Bean Bag Leauge is just about to begin at BlueLine. Find more information about out leauge and learn how to make the perfect toss in our blog.
Summer has arrived, and Blue Line has rearranged our tap beers to change with the season. Switch your brew of choice to something more appropriate with help from our latest blog.
Spring has spring and baseball season is underway! Check out our latest blog for a preview of the 2017 baseball seson.
There’s nothing better than watching the NCAA Tournament during March Madness. To celebrate the best sports month of the year, Blue Line Sports Bar and Grill is going to offer up some predictions for the favorites to win this year’s tournament.
We encourage you to enter our annual Bracket Challenge. We’re excited to give away some great prizes again this year. The first-place winner will receive a $100 Blue Line gift card, second place will get a Blue Line hoodie or flannel and third place will get a $25 Blue Line gift card.
To help you with your bracket, let’s take a look at some of the favorites and dark horses entering the tournament.
Our Favorites
Villanova, the defending national champion, is the big favorite to repeat this year. The Wildcats were the No. 2 ranked team in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll behind No. 1 Kansas. Both should easily get No. 1 seeds after Selection Sunday.
If they both advance past the first two rounds, they will most likely play close to home for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. Villanova will most likely play at Madison Square Garden, which is only a two-hour drive from its campus. Kansas would most likely play at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, which is only a 45-minute drive from its campus. Those venues will be home away from homes for the Wildcats and Jayhawks.
The Wildcats won the Big East regular-season championship and are led by senior stars Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins. They’ve defeated stalwarts like Purdue, Notre Dame, and Virginia this season.
The Jayhawks may have the best 1-2 punch in the country in guard Frank Mason III and guard/forward Josh Jackson. Mason is a strong player of the year candidate and Jackson could be a high pick in the NBA draft in June.
Some of the other top 10 teams that could receive No. 1 seeds include Gonzaga, North Carolina, Oregon, UCLA, Arizona, Kentucky, and Louisville.
North Carolina might be a cut above the other teams because it has the experience of getting to the championship game last season where they lost on a game-winning three-pointer to Villanova. The Tar Heels have four upperclassmen starters and have more experience than those other squads.
Dark Horses
Some dark horses include two Big Ten teams in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Blue Line owners, Scott and Esther Widor, are diehard Badger fans. The Badgers are led by Bronson Koenig (14.2 points per game) Nigel Hayes (13.5 points a game) and Ethan Happ (13.9 points per game). With that type of firepower, Scott and Esther’s picks for a champion on their brackets should be pretty easy to figure out.
As for the Golden Gophers, they’ve made a big jump from only winning eight games a year ago. Head coach Richard Pitino was named the Big Ten coach of the year, guard Nate Mason was a first team All-Conference selection and Reggie Lynch was named the conference’s defensive player of the year.
After the Big Ten Tournament ends, the Badgers and Gophers could be anywhere from a fourth to sixth seed in the tournament.
Some other dark horse contenders include SMU, Purdue, Duke, Cincinnati, Florida, Florida State, Wichita State, Butler, and St. Mary’s.
The Blue Line hopes everyone has a good time watching the tournament this year. And be sure to get out of the house and visit us during March Madness. Remember, we’re more than just a sports bar!
Oh, if the walls at BlueLine could talk, the stories they would tell! As it is Valentine's Day and February is the month of love, it seems they decided to share a few love stories with us.
New year, new sports champions. Discover our predictions for the 2017 seasons for just about every professional American Sport. And Stop by Blue Line to see if they come true!
Looking to make 2017 your best year yet? Start off right with free beer from Blue Line!
Calling all beer lovers: the New Year has officially arrived! With the beginning of a new year comes all sorts of resolutions; most of which many people won’t follow through with past February. Most people resolve to lose weight or make better spending choices. At Blue Line, we’d like to offer you a resolution that you will certainly keep all year long: stop paying for beer!
2016 was a great year for Blue Line. We met some new friends, visited with old favorites, and had many, many great times. It’s hard to narrow down our favorite, but we thought we’d give it a try. Here are (arguably) the top 10 moments of 2016:
1. Our Sartell location’s 10-year anniversary. We really can’t believe this one and are very proud of this milestone!
2. Our South St. Cloud location’s 4-year anniversary.
3. The many, many charitable organizations that the Blue Line helps to support. Over the last year, they have been vast; from national organizations to local sports teams.
4. The continuing business partnerships that we have established with our local partners.
5. Leslie and Chris’ wedding. We catering their receptions and fed over 450 people at their house! It was an awesome day!
6. Esther’s 50th birthday party–now that was a humdinger!
7. The tenure of our teammates. We celebrated a 12-year anniversary, a 10-year anniversary and many other multi-year anniversaries.
8. The many personal relationships that were started at the Blue Line. I know of two weddings this past year and three engagements!
9. Being nominated yet again for the Business of the Year in Sartell.
10. The Boy Scouts presenting us a flag for Blue Line South. That was incredibly humbling.
But overall the ultimate highlight is that people continue to support us at the Blue Line. If it wasn’t for our guests, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. So thank you to everyone who has supported us in 2016, we are looking forward to serving you in 2017!