Bringing Denver and Seattle to New York

Two East Side bars that cater to Broncos and Seahawks fans prep for the big game

We know - the Giants flopped this season and the Jets didn't do much better.

Even though the Super Bowl is being held at the Meadowlands, it's hard for New Yorkers to get pumped about it.

But at the very least, a local Super Bowl is worth a beer and a few minutes of television. So, where to watch the game?

Butterfield 8 at 38th Street and 5th Avenue is the only Broncos bar in the city. Bartender Gavin Cunningham said they expect over a hundred people to pack into the front bar, in which case they'll open up the back bar for the loyal dressed in orange.

On most days, Butterfield's is a classy - even refined - establishment, with shimmering chandeliers and white linen tablecloths. But on Sundays, Cunningham said, the Broncos schwag - which they get directly from the team - goes up on the wall and all bets are off.

"It gets pretty rowdy," said Cunningham. "This past week we were fully packed."

Butterfield is doing a $50 unlimited Bud, Bud Light and wings special for the duration of the game - for $15 more you can get unlimited well drinks on top. For the Seahawks faithful, no bar in the city beats Carlow East on Lexington Avenue and 85th Street - if you can get in the door, that is. Owner Sean Spratt said they're selling $100 tickets via PayPal for an all-you-can-eat-and-drink-6 p.m.-to-midnight-bonanza, with the first tickets being offered to a core group of Seattle transplants that have been coming to to Carlow East every Sunday for years. Don't despair though, the bar is teaming up with McSwiggan's at 2nd Avenue and 23rd Street to handle the overflow. The two together are temporarily changing their names on Super Bowl Sunday to the Hawk's Nest East and the Hawk's Nest South.

Spratt said about six years ago, a group of Seattle fans reached out to the bartenders at Carlow East looking for a place to call home.

"We embraced them, and it's been a Seattle-New York love affair ever since," said Spratt.

For Alan Murphy, a regular at Carlow East going back 15 years, the atmosphere is unbeatable.

"Seahawks fans are great, they've really done Seattle proud," said Murphy, who's become a bit of a Seahawks fan himself in the past year, setting off a minor scandal among his peers. "It's going to be hard for me to go back to Big Blue next year."

Murphy, who owns Salon V on East 7th Street, is even offering a gameday $20 Seahawks coloring job for the hardcore fans who don't have a job.

So from our point of view, you can either cry into your beer at your usual hole on Super Bowl Sunday, or you can become a Broncos/Seahawks fan for a day and chalk it up as a win - because there's always next year.