Best sports bar
Back when we were young and our parents drove us into Boston, the first indication that we were nearing the city was the sign for the Sports Depot looming over the Mass Pike. The place remains a landmark of sorts. Boston pats itself on its collective shoulder for being one of the best sports towns around - the Red Sox restore our faith, the Pats make us soar, the Celtics make us cheer - and the best place to catch the games, according to Phoenix readers, is at this Allston establishment. With more than 50 flat-screen televisions showing all the games, it's a veritable sports-gasm, a temple to athletics, teams, and most important, the city's ardent fans. The Depot left us for a year or so, but it's back now, and better than ever.

Off the highway, over in Somerville, the Good Time Emporium, a first-time winner in the sports-bar category, is an agora of all kinds of pleasures and pastimes: basketball, boozing, gaming, gambling. In the sports-bar section alone, the 12-foot television screens number more than 40, and the seven satellite dishes ensure that any game, match, or tournament you want is available. And when you get tired of watching games, you can play them: there are pool tables, batting cages, Ping-Pong tables, and three-on-three indoor basketball courts. Good Time is located in Assembly Square, the gritty adopted brother of Somerville's more gentrified squares. Check the place out before revitalization begins and IKEA sets up shop.

Sports Depot, 353 Cambridge Street, Allston, (617) 783-2300; 30 Assembly Square Drive, Somerville, (617) 628-5559, www.goodtimeemporium.com.