CNY pub owner fulfills dream to see his team in the World Series. He has a cool idea to ‘pay it back’

Joey Kalil

Joey Kalil, owner of the Home Team Pub sports bar in Liverpool, arrives this week at Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves. He plans to donate a portion of the revenues at his pub during Friday's World Series game to a local charity.

Liverpool, N.Y. — Joey Kalil has waited 22 years to see his favorite team, the Atlanta Braves, play in the World Series. He’ll be at the ballpark in Atlanta Friday night to see them take on the Houston Astros in Game 3.

And now the owner of Liverpool’s Home Team Pub sports bar wants to celebrate in style and show his appreciation for the moment.

So he has an offer: If the Fox Sports broadcast crew shows him in the stands during Friday’s game, he’ll offer a 15% discount on food and beverages to anyone in his sports bar back home.

He’s also planning to make a matching donation to local charity, whether he makes it on TV or not. That will amount to 15% of his sales receipts at the bar during the broadcast.

“We like to give back to the community when we can,” said Kalil, who opened the Home Team Pub at 7990 Oswego Road (Route 57) in 2018. “We have a lot of charitable groups we support. So this just a new way to pay it back.”

Kalil has been a Braves fan since he was a kid. He was 12 in 1995 when the team last won the World Series and 16 in 1999 when the Braves made their last Fall Classic appearance (losing to the New York Yankees).

“I appreciate that a lot of my customers are fans of the Yankees or the Mets, or the Giants or Bills, but I’ve always been different as a fan,” Kalil said. It helped, he said, that the Braves were a national cable TV fixture on TBS.

So going to a Braves World Series game was something that was on Kalil’s “bucket list.” He got his chance when the Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series last week.

He posted on Facebook that he owes the trip to his wife, Sarah, and his brother-in-law Paul Gangarossa among others.

“My bro in law Paul Gangarossa came up with this great idea ! What you all think?,” Kalil posted. “If FOX finds ME in the stands and puts ME on camera, (I’ll) give a 15% discount for Home Team Pub customers on Friday Night Game 3 and I’ll match all discounts with a donation to a local charity! ... Start the hashtag #showJOEforFOXsake.”

The Kalils, including his son who is also a Braves fan, arrived in Atlanta Tuesday. They planned to watch the first two games of the World Series, played in Houston, from the big watch party at Truist Park, the Braves home stadium. (The Braves won Game 1 on Tuesday night).

Friday’s game in Atlanta starts at 8 p.m.

So how likely is it that Kalil will make it on the broadcast? Camera crews often try to find interesting fans to focus on during game breaks.

He and his crew will be along the first base side, about 15 rows up. Kalil will be wearing an orange Braves shirt and an orange Home Team Pub hat. He’s planning to make some signs drawing attention to his group.

“I’ll probably buy some beers for the people near us because I like to do that,” he said. “That way they’re less worried about how crazy we are.”

Kalil already has some notoriety in the Atlanta area. When he arrived there this week, a local news crew spotted his shirt — which read “Home Team Pub, Liverpool N.Y.” — and recorded an interview.

“They were looking for people coming from out of town for the World Series,” he said.

Kalil plans to keep promoting his offer this week on his social media accounts and those for the Home Team Pub. He’s going to ask local charitable groups to respond, and he’ll pick the one he’ll donate to on Friday.

“That’s always the hardest part,” he said. “There’s a lot of worthy groups out there, and they all deserve our support.”

Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.

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