Using your ManCaveMancave for double sports watching

Growing up in Los Angeles I am a Dodger/Laker/Ram fan. My cave does not reflect my teams, I don’t have flags and banners hanging in the rafters. I prefer watching them play. Last night was an interesting opportunity. The Dodgers and Rams were on at the same time. My television setup has a 50” on a beam facing North and a desk mounted 40” UHD facing South with comfy chairs. There is enough room to stand in the middle and see both games turning left and right.

I put the Dodger game on the beam and the Rams on the 40”. The decision of sound comes up, you only can listen to one at a time or your head blows up. If you put the same game on both TV’s, for me the timing is off by about 20 seconds. I was listening to the wrong feed and knew everything before it happened. 

Everybody who is a sports fan wants their team to win. Watching the 2017 Dodgers as a Dodger fan is ridiculously joyous. They are winning at an amazing pace coming back to win games like the Warriors. Winning  is usual, losing is rare. This is the best Dodger team I can ever remember. Watching them play a game is exactly the opposite of watching the news. The game is focused on blue not orange. 

The Ram game was a different story. It’s the first practice game, not a lot on the line. The blue and white helmets looked great. I had one as a kid. They are banking on Goff to be great. I hope so. Hopefully he has learned where the sun sets. Last year I went to the Coliseum by train and saw the Rams/Cowboys. Sean Mannion and Nelson Spruce tore them up for a win. Today, all the talk is about Kupp with Spruce rarely mentioned. He caught a few balls yesterday, I hope he makes the squad. 

I haven’t ordered my $500 Baller Brand shoes yet. I hope I have the opportunity to watch all 3 teams simultaneously. I can stream the NFL game, watch the Dodgers on cable and catch the Lakers on ESPN,

all while working and reading the news. 

A Neon Light is a necessary item for an official Mancave

Every dessert needs a cherry on top. When I designed my MancaveMancave the planned final addition when I finished, was to hang a neon sign. I was originally thinking cheap beer. Keystone, Pabst Blur Ribbon, Coors, Rolling Rock, Bud Light, Strohs, Old Milwaukee, Miller, Game Day. Nothing against cheap beer, but I rarely drink. Being an artist, I decided to explore making my own design. My logo, BigRedShoes has two clown shoes that I believed would make a nice light.  I did some research and found JantecNeon. Wow, nice surprise. You can design your own or buy a neon light they already have on their site.

First I simplified my logo realizing it would end up a tube. I sent them a file, they got back to me suggesting that the text should be a cut out rather than neon. I was blown away with the quality. They send it to you perfectly packed with a guarantee that it’s not broken. They want you to save the packaging in case it needs to come back. I had a spot saved above the couch. I mounted a couple of hooks and put it on a timer. 

Everyday I get a reminder when the light turns on at 6:30. It goes out at 10:30 reminding me that you can’t work all night. 

How much TV can you fit in a Mancave?

When you are planning a Mancave, video is a big question. How big a TV can you fit in your space?

First you have to deal with code. Old garages had wood beams in an “X” brace pattern. When you re-build, current code requires an “H” pattern which creates a perfect mount for a big screen TV.  

Doing the math, a garage is generally 200’X200’. We have two eyeballs. Therefore we should buy 400 square feet of television, 200’ for each eye. My original thought was to get a TV so big it would be the garage door. After recovering from my delirium I started making plans that were actually possible. 

I am an artist. For many years I have had a television within view while working. It’s like having people around but they don’t bother you. In my Mancave design my desk is in the back facing out giving me command of the room. Fung Shui requires a few adjustments. 

• Clear Clutter

• Desk Position (to see as much of the room as possible)

• Hang Positive Images

• Balance (incorporate wood, earth, metal, fire and water)

• Choose Colors (soft yellow, pale gold, blue green earth tones,  white for clarity

• Use Stress Relievers (running water, mist or oils, no harsh lighting

That’s enough new age B.S., lets get back to televisions. I paid a visit to Best Buy. Walking around I saw some giant screens on the wall. There was a 65” demo TV that they would sell me for $600. I decided to give it a try. It wouldn’t fit in my car, I had to come back with the van. Being this was not the latest model it was fairly heavy compared to the newer TV’s. After some wrestling I mounted the big moose on the beam. Tough, heavy. The idea was to be able to look over the computer monitors on my desk and see the TV at a glance from about 8’ away. 

We turned on the set where I immediately discovered that you CAN have too much TV. Holy Moly!  I flipped the channels ending up on CNN. I could count Wolf Blitzer’s nose hairs...gross. My girlfriend walked in and started laughing. Back to Best Buy. 

I came home with a 50” and I am still happy. Of course, I want a better TV already, but what do you do with the old one? That’s for another article.

The picture with this blog post is taken from about 2’ behind the desk. That’s a 27” on the left, 23” on the right and a 50” on the beam.  I found this a tolerable setup visually, and it works well for creating. I mainly work on the 27”, use the 23” for extra space. I glance up at the 50” for entertainment.

Everyone has different taste, for me this works. If I was going to change anything I’d move up to a 55” UHD.