The Forum: Our Old Home Away From Home (2002-2004)

There are some places that just live on in your heart forever even after they are no more. Places that have enough character to call one of your friends. Places that you would buy to keep running if you had the money. Well, there once was a place like this for 5A and me. On Ridgewood Road in Jackson, MS there stands a club called Headliners (it recently closed). It's a huge nightclub that was expanded into four different bars and a giant dancefloor. They have a restaurant, and many concerts have also held there. The place is nice and all, but upon opening it they commited a very dirty act, indeed. They closed down the greatest sports bar of our time, known as "The Forum". Hence, a piece of Pigott's and my heart were ripped out along with it. This was not just any old sports bar, mind you. This was man's sports bar. It is something that every male alive should be able to experience at least once before they die. I remember the first Sunday I walked into the place for some NFL football like it was yesterday. As the automatic sliding doors opened, I saw a huge room with a 50 foot ceiling and more square feet than the average middle-class house. Next, I looked up to notice two MASSIVE projection screens on opposite sides of the room along with T.V screens lined side by side going across the entire wall. Every, I repeat EVERY NFL game was playing! A chill went down my spine as I quoted the famous Field of Dreams line, "Is this heaven?" A strand of drool crashed to the floor as I snapped out of it and realized I was still in Jackson. I walked across the room to see Pigott waiting on me at one of the hundreds of tables that were scattered across the bar. He had a big fat burger and some fries in front of him as he gave me his vintage military salute and said "You better be glad you got here, because I wasn't gonna wait on your ass to eat." It didn't get any better than this. When you combine 5A, 5-Jay, NFL football, Burgers, and ice cold Miller Lite, you might as well forget about doing anything else for the rest of the day. I turned my cell phone off, as I knew nothing could be more important than this. This was the start of a tradition with Pigott and me that went on every Sunday after church that we were both in town at the same time. So the rest of this post will be kind of cliche for us, because it was a recurring thing. After we finished our meals, we always made sure that we were seated in a position that we could see 5A's Saints and my Packers and the same time. Something that I think added to the atmosphere, was the fact that most of the regulars were either redneck Cowboys/Nascar fans or ghetto Steelers fans. They were a joy to watch while our teams were on commercial breaks. The rest of the time, all you saw and heard was 5A beating his head and pounding his fists into the table screaming "WHY AM I A SAINTS FAN?????", or me declaring that the Packers would win and that Brett Favre had everything under control (even if I knew the game was out of reach), or 5A saying "Torry Holt......FROM?". The Miller Lite was definitely a key cog for my sanity at The Forum....it always came through in the clutch. Not only was it the official beer of the Green Bay Packers, but it always seemed to be the colder there than any other place. On a few special occasions, we were even able to share a cold one with our buddy, John Lassiter (also a Saints fan). There was never a dull moment with this guy. I loved to listen to him compare himself to the wide receivers and "the way he and they both knew to come back to the ball." But the greatest moment at The Forum with Lassiter had to be the time that Pigott and I met him to watch the playoff game between the Packers and Seahawks. I believe that we made the biggest fools of ourselves that day. After screaming profanity for three hours in front of Lassiter's parents, 5A and I ran laps around the bar farting with joy after Al Harris intercepted Matt Hasselbeck's pass in OT and ran it into the endzone to seal the victory for the Cheeseheads. Might I add, Matt Hasselbeck is FROM Boston College and is a flaming homosexual. Anyway, this is basically what our Sundays at The Forum consisted of. Once I heard the sad news that they were closing, football season was over and Pigott wasn't in Jackson much anymore. I'm ashamed to say it, but I spent some of my spare time in the middle of the week at the The Forum sitting at the bar myself and proclaiming my love to the place in its final hours. I always knew the memories would never die, but why did they have to take such a great place from us? DAMMIT. In closing, I know I can speak for myself and 5A when I say "Hats the SHIT off to The Forum.....we'll always miss ya."