Peter King from CNNSI and Downtown Coffee

[77danj7]

Quote from Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback after his stay in Jackonsonville last week to visit the Jaguars training camp:

Coffeenerdness: I'm not denigrating Jacksonville or anything, but I stayed at the Omni Hotel downtown late last week and went down to the lobby in the morning, looking to take a walk to get a coffee. "Where's the nearest Starbucks?'' I asked the parking guy in front. He said the nearest one was a little more than two miles away, and there wasn't one in the city's business district downtown. Amazed, I said, "Any other coffee bars downtown?'' None, the guy said, at least to his knowledge.

i. An American inner city, without a Starbucks. Now I've heard it all.

Some of the downtown shops like Chamblins etc may need to make some information available to hotels and other businesses!

[avonjax]

Starbucks downtown from 2 to none.  That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.

[77danj7]

That was my thought was that it was sad that the worker didn't know about Chamblins, etc...
Chamblins is a great place and they should be known!!!

[fsquid]

I read that this morning in his Monday Monrning Quarterback column.   Not a great thing to have in the most read feature on the si.com site after the swimsuit stuff.

He did however, like Intuition


Beernerdness: The Beer of the Week (and trust me, there was a lot of competition, particularly from Intuition Brewery in Jacksonville) is Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale, which made me think I was back in Seattle. Really crisp and wonderful on the palate.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/08/05/mmqb/index.html#ixzz22mVICOz6

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

How much cred can you give a guy when Sweetwater (based in Atlanta, GA) reminds him of Seattle?

Sure it's a west coast pale, but seriously... Seattle?

He gets zero credit and a scathing email from me.  Which is not unlike most weeks after reading MMQB.

[exnewsman]

Starbucks downtown from 2 to none.  That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.

He could have hopped on the Skyway at Centeral Station (right behind the Omni) and got off at Hemming and walked over to Chamblins.

This is just as much of an indictment of the lack of knowledge of the downtown workers as it is not having more choices. If you work in the service industry - and especially at a Downtown hotel - then you need to be able to offer informed suggestions when asked. Come on Omni you can do better.

[exnewsman]

Starbucks downtown from 2 to none.  That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.

He could have hopped on the Skyway at Centeral Station (right behind the Omni) and got off at Hemming and walked over to Chamblins.

This is just as much of an indictment of the lack of knowledge of the downtown workers as it is not having more choices. If you work in the service industry - and especially at a Downtown hotel - then you need to be able to offer informed suggestions when asked. Come on Omni you can do better.

There is literally only one coffeeshop in all of downtown.  The Omni employees didn't cause that to happen.  And the man asked for a Starbucks.

No, the Omni folks didn't cause it -just didn't help it. And I'm sure if someone had pointed him to the "one coffeeshop in all of downtown" then he would have gone - Starbucks or not.

[avonjax]

Starbucks downtown from 2 to none.  That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.

He could have hopped on the Skyway at Centeral Station (right behind the Omni) and got off at Hemming and walked over to Chamblins.

This is just as much of an indictment of the lack of knowledge of the downtown workers as it is not having more choices. If you work in the service industry - and especially at a Downtown hotel - then you need to be able to offer informed suggestions when asked. Come on Omni you can do better.

There is literally only one coffeeshop in all of downtown.  The Omni employees didn't cause that to happen.  And the man asked for a Starbucks.

Good point Stephen, but he did ask for another bar and the guy said he didn't know of one.
But yes it is not his fault.
My point was how little so many people in our city know about our city.
I guess I want to know as much about where I live as I can.

[Traveller]

Starbucks has become like McDonald's to a certain extent.  You don't necessarily go there for the quality, but rather for the predictability.  You can get the same item halfway across the country (if not the world) that you can in your hometown.  A bit of familiarity in an otherwise unfamiliar environment.

[aubureck]

Actually in addition to Chamblins there is the Brick inside the Ed Ball Building (Adams Street side).  They're a pretty good coffee shop as well but they're only open weekdays since the only access to the shop is inside the Ed Ball Building.

[Lucasjj]

He was at O'Brothers Friday night after the scrimamge with Kahn's son. Not sure what he was drinking, but he was doing it responsible as I saw him turn down drinks offered to him. He was real nice with the people around him and seemed to enjoy the place.

[BigGuy219]

There's a trolley stop at the Omni. He could have hopped aboard and been dropped off right at the Starbucks on the corner of Margaret and Riverside. Couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes.

[kells904]

There's a trolley stop at the Omni. He could have hopped aboard and been dropped off right at the Starbucks on the corner of Margaret and Riverside. Couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes.

He could've done lots of things, but the problem is nobody he would've asked would be able to tell him anything of value.  Hotel workers are the first point of contact for visitors.  Shrugging your shoulders should never be an option.

[Gonzo]

He was at O'Brothers Friday night after the scrimamge with Kahn's son. Not sure what he was drinking, but he was doing it responsible as I saw him turn down drinks offered to him. He was real nice with the people around him and seemed to enjoy the place.

Since he gave a shout out to Intuition brews, I would say he had at least one from our boys (and gals) on King Street.  Read the entire quote on my blog at the link below.

http://sprbrewcrew.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/intuition-mentioned-on-sports-illustrated-website/

[KEGreene1]

Business visitors to our city typically stay downtown.  And typically walk to the Landing.  And that is what they think our city is about.  It isn't just a Omni problem, it happens at all the hotels.  I've spoken with someone who was working here for a week and went to the Landing every night.  At least Mr. King ventured out to O'Brothers.