Arbor Brewing Company: Soccer, Stouts and Advanced Communication Theory

Last week, I had the pleasure to assist in the coverage of the events surrounding the much anticipated Real Madrid – Manchester Unitedmatch at Michigan Stadium.

Arbor Brewing Co. is located at 114 E. Washington St.

And when I say covering events, I mean holy sh## every story we’ve written his week has something to do with soccer. Not that I’m complaining. I love soccer, I love talking about soccer, I look at complex life questions and put them in contents that relate to soccer (seriously, if you can’t solve a problem in 90 minutes—plus stoppage time, just admit defeat and move on).

I had a late night on Friday—leaving the office around 10 p.m.-- and went downtown to check out the scene at the street party that I wrote a story about hours before. Because nothing beats going to a party to write about it.

The streets were packed and the atmosphere was great. And after seeing the attractions for about an hour, I made my way to Arbor BrewingCompany, just a hop, skip and throw from my office.

The place was packed and when I got my Michael Faricy’s Irish Stout, I could only find a spot at the standing bar located by the window.

Next to me was a group of Manchester United supporters looking at the chalkboard menu and trying to figure out what they would like. I didn’t think to start a conversation with them—there is something about it being OK to start conversations with people you don’t know while they are sitting, but once they’re standing, it’s hands off.

The group decided to go with some English Pale Ales—staying true to stereotypes, I like it—and proceeded to comment on how nice a town Ann Arbor is in their charming accents.

The Brits had a generally positive view of the town and said that Michigan was a ‘remarkable’ state. While I don’t people from elsewhere making positive remarks about my home state, I kept thinking about the communication/social concept ‘face’.

A quick rundown of what ‘face’ is, or at least what I remember from college. ‘Face’ is the act or mood that you put on for a given place or setting. It is not necessarily who you are, but more or less what you want others to think who you are—got it, no.

OK, try this. Face is the act you put on when you meet a hey-I-know-you-but-not-really friend, and you put on a short act to get you through the five-minute conversation of awkwardness.

Back to the pub, I was wondering if it was fair to judge Ann Arbor based this one experience. Ann Arbor seems to have a festival every week—I would know, I cover them. But is that the fair look of what AA is, are all of these events merely Ann Arbor’s face that it puts on for the summer. Questions for the philosophers.

Either way, the Brits did seem to have a positive opinion of American craft beer, noting it was better than the Coors Light they were drinking earlier; I could write a Coors Light joke here, but why bother?

Eventually, a spot near the corner of the bar did open up next to a 20-year-old something wearing a Bayern Munchen jersey. I took a seat and ordered an Bavarian Bliss and turned to him and say, “Geht Bayern.”

The dude turned to me and said he had no idea what I was talking about. Why I was busy looking embarrassed he explained to me his girlfriend got him the shirt, and he knows next to nothing about the sport. Now, I do know there is never a good time to say your “girlfriend should be with me instead”, but if there ever was one…..

The rest of the night was filled with Ann Arbor natives and out-of-towners packing the bar, getting a sample of Arbor Brewery’s  fine selection. I laid off the food menu to give the bar backs a break, plus I feel I would have received the death stare had I even tried.

Among those in the bar were a group of Man U supporters and a group of Real Madrid supporter. For as much of a bad rap European soccer fans get, by and large they were the friendliest people you will meet. Perhaps they were playing the ‘face’ card as well, who knows I was three-pints deep at that moment.

It was then I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I turned and found the hand belong to a women in her 30s that that either has visited the tanner too much or is part lizard.

She asked me which beers to select. Now I’m not a big believer in the ‘personal bubble’, there is short list of people who should touch me: People that I know, and people that want to be punched.

With that and mind I just suggested the brewer’s generic pale ale and hope she would be on her way—it didn’t work. She called her other friend over and pointed out that I was good at making selections; oh God, I made it worse.

Seeing it was half-past midnight and I was meeting up with my friends the next morning—which turned out to be noon-ish—I called for my tab and headed out the door.

Ann Arbor’s streets were still alive as I was making my way back to the car. The thought going through my mind was the search for the Golden Mean in crowds. Yes, you do want to meet new people. But no, it’s never good when the only conversation you can have is in your head about communication theory terms in your head (trust me, that sounded just as lame writing it as it will when you read it).

I guess the middle ground is all the way to go. Sure you want players on the field, but if you don’t have room to move around, nothing good will come of it. I then strolled past the Bank of American clock and noticed it was 12:30 a.m.---tomorrow’s going to be a long day.

Hey, it’s 12:30: 90 minutes is all you need.