Oh, you silly sausage! To put this in context, it's akin to an American accidentally booking a trip to England and missing his team's appearance in the NFC or AFC championship game -- only worse! To quote Wikipedia: "The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world, commencing in 1872. As such, its prestige as the sport's premier domestic cup competition is without par around the world." And this reader's club (West Ham) hasn't won the trophy since 1980, so he's put himself in a bad spot.
But fear not, for the venerable Crown & Anchor pub (1350 E. Tropicana Ave.), a long-established refuge of British ex-pats and visitors, shows all the big games and will definitely be showing the FA cup semis and final (we phoned to check). Plan on paying a $20 cover charge. At the time of calling, their large-screen TV was in the repair shop, but they're confident it will be back in working order in time for these games and if not, they'll still have a decent-sized screen. And while you watch, you can feast on such classic English delicacies as fish and chips, Lancashire hot pot, bangers and mash, or a Cornish pastie (that's a kind of hand-held meat pie, not an accessory for showgirls), all washed down with a (warm) pint of Tetley's or a (nicely chilled) Boddington's. Visit their Web site at www.crownandanchorlv.com/soccerschedule.html for a full schedule of upcoming football (i.e., "soccer") matches they'll be televising and for any additional information call the bar on 702/739-0281.
While we know the C&A is a safe bet for catching English football matches, it's not necessarily your only option in Las Vegas. The Fox Sports Web site has a useful listing by state of pubs and bars that are Fox Soccer Channel subscribers, of which there are an additional five venues listed in Las Vegas (but one—Carraba's Italian Grill—said they show whatever their customers request, which is unlikely to be an English soccer match, and they never show pay-per-view events). We called the other four and here's what we were told:
* We contacted DIRECTV and were told that the Chelsea vs. Liverpool semi-final is available PPV live from 12:15-3:45 pm (EST) on 04/22 on channels 121 and 580. The cost is $15.95 residential (we couldn't get the public broadcast rate from anyone, so we’re not sure what pubs and bars have to pay). The replay will be broadcast from 4:15-7:45 pm. They didn't get back to us with details of the West Ham vs. Middlesbrough game and don't list pay-per-view soccer matches on their Web site, but we know it kicks off at 16:00 BST, so we're guessing it'll be live on DIRECTV from 11 am EST on 04/23.
