The crowd went wild; the five highs abounding, the drinks tinkling and ringing loud and low. It was the final seconds of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, and the Boston Celtics had defeated the Golden State Warriors 116-100. In an instant, the bar’s soundtrack — in San Francisco, everywhere — drowned out customers. First, a banjo sounded. Then came the accordion. The mighty drum beats came.
Oh my god. Oh no. It was time for Dropkick Murphy.
It is safe to say that fans of the Celtics at Connecticut Yankee, a Boston sports bar located in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, collectively lost their shit on “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.” You won’t be surprised to learn that they had an equally euphoric reaction to “Sweet Caroline” after Mahcas Smaht and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown sank the Dubs.
I visited the Connecticut Yankee on Wednesday to enjoy the sights and sounds of a popular sports bar for New Englanders-cum-San Franciscans, many of whom turn out to be very fond of the Warriors, except when they play a Final before unlikely against Da Celts. It was … everything you would expect. And in fact quite funny.
The Boston Celtics fans prepare for Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors at the Connecticut Yankee in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
Kevin Kelleher / SFGATE Special
The bar is owned by Tony Cooney, who also owns Tempest Bar & Box Kitchen, The Showdown and Louie’s. He admits he’s not a big sports fan, not even one from New England, but when he bought the property in 2015 from Fritz Frisbie, a big Boston sports fan, he promised to keep it intact. Fritz bought the bar in the ’80s and“ made it what it is today, ”Cooney told me. “Our style is to save these great little gems from the city, keeping them as they are. Fritz was willing to pass it on, but he didn’t want it to change from what it was.”
Indeed, the most popular beverage option remains Southie’s special: Sam Adams and a $ 11 Jameson hit. The walls are still adorned with memories that the people of New England love, and everyone else, eh, no. Larry Bird drowning Julius Erving? Check. Does Tom touch the ground behind the bar? Definitely, boy. A Coors Light LED sign featuring the Patriots logo? I have to have it.
A Celtics banner with numbers of retired players, including the great Bill Russell, No. 6, from the local University of San Francisco, hangs in the main hall of The Connecticut Yankee along with a variety of New England college sports and memorabilia. . The bar is a haven for Boston fans to watch great games like the current 2022 NBA Finals series against the Golden State Warriors.
Kevin Kelleher / SFGATE Special
A Boston Celtics / New England Patriors fan will applaud during the first minute of the 3rd game of the NBA Finals against the Warriors on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
Kevin Kelleher / SFGATE Special
A Celtics fan sees the start of the 3rd game against The Connecticut Yankee in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco on June 8, 2022.
Kevin Kelleher / SFGATE Special
A photo framed on the walls of The Connecticut Yankee depicts the legendary fight between NBA Hall of Fame members Larry Bird on the right and Julius Erving. The Portrero Hill Bar is a haven for Boston sports fans who have moved to San Francisco.
Kevin Kelleher / SFGATE Special
Scenes – and memories of the Celtics – of Connecticut Yankee during the 3rd game of the NBA Finals, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Kevin Kelleher / Special for SFGATE) Scenes – and memories of the Celtics – of Connecticut Yankee during the 3rd game of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Kevin Kelleher / SFGATE Special)
But there are also some San Francisco sports trinkets plastered on the walls, reflecting the fact that this is, as you know, a bar in the Bay Area. A large screen TV in the back (this place is huge, by the way, with tons of space both inside and out) is adorned on each side by a Celtics banner and a Warriors banner.
Hence the unexpected situation we have at our disposal: no one in Connecticut Yankee really thought that this specific scenario, Dubs vs. C’s for all balls, would be developed in San Francisco. And it is an exaggeration to say that the series has opened a real rivalry.
On Wednesday, Celtics fans at the bar far outnumbered Warriors fans, but the latter group was able to coexist in enemy territory within enemy territory. The only real vitriol I spotted was towards Draymond Green, who, to be fair, is a heel for every other NBA fan. Otherwise, the Celtics fans were mostly resigned to accepting the stellar game of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, who had 31 and 25 points, respectively.
Conner Brown of Norfolk, Massachusetts, reacted to a play during the first minutes of Game 3 at the Connecticut Yankee on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
Kevin Kelleher / SFGATE Special
“I’m still Boston at heart, but this is my home now,” a Celtic fan named Ani told me. She says she likes the Warriors very much. Anthony Mejias, a waiter in a Celtics shirt, said: “There were times when I took root in the Warriors, but I would never say I was a fan.”
Kelly Howe, another Connecticut Yankee waitress, was just as diplomatic. “I respect them, they are a great team,” he said of Golden State. “It’s great for our business. But as a Celtics fan, I want them to win.”
Howe was placed in a front row seat, wearing a green hat, of course. He wasn’t really working, he injured his kneecap and limped, but he wanted to be there anyway, mostly out of superstition. He left the bar early during Game 2 because he was in too much pain, and what happened? The Celtics lost.
Left-handed bartender Kelly Howe, currently on the injured list of Connecticut Yankees, reacts with Celtics fans at the famous San Francisco Boston bar during the final seconds of the Celtics’ victory over the Warriors on June 8, 2022 .
Kevin Kelleher / SFGATE Special
Kelly Valerie, the manager of the guard bar, is from New Jersey, but her fiancé Tyler Hayden took over the Boston sport, which …