“That’s why we’re here,” said John McCorkell, a Tower Grove East resident w ho said he wouldn’t mind avoiding the most watched sporting event in the country. “I think we’re all still bitter.”

Sure, Crone admitted, the Tick Tock isn’t really a sports bar, per se. But he feels strongly about his city and didn’t appreciate the division the NFL episode created within the region. He wanted to make clear that the Tick Tock won’t be supporting an institution that he feels didn’t treat St. Louis fairly.

“The league has shown itself to be not a very good partner for this city,” Crone said. “It just seems disingenuous for us to show (NFL) games. Even that real tacit, passive way of supporting it, why do it?”

Instead, customers Sunday night would be treated to jazz from the Gaslight Squares. There were also board games and coloring books (coloring books are in for adults now) to entertain patrons in between sips of beer.

A few customers were admittedly not big NFL fans to begin with, but that didn’t mean they didn’t appreciate the Tick Tock’s stance. “I’m totally behind the boycott,” said Hazel Rickard, a Dogtown resident who said she came for the music.