I'll be the first to admit that the extent of my sports knowledge is that I can identify the team I'm watching by the color of their uniforms. So for me, walking into Shooters Sports Bar & Grill, in the Fairport Road space formerly occupied by Baird Road Pub, was sort of like being the only guy in a tuxedo at a pool party. That's why I brought back up.

Shooters is tucked away behind an unassuming building at the corner of 31F and Baird Road. The place has new owners, a completely renovated interior, and all new staff, says General Manager Nichole Kelly.

Upon our first visit on a sunny Sunday afternoon I was surprised to see the shades drawn and the lighting kept rather dim. Oddly enough, this sort of atmosphere worked for a sports bar - the last thing fans need is a glare from the sun covering the TV screen while watching their favorite team play. The walls at Shooters are thankfully not hosed down with sports memorabilia, just subtle reminders that this is a sports bar. There is a wall lined with dartboards, and close by is a Golden Tee video game with a large screen (to give the golfers something to do on those rainy days). The dark wood interior gives the place a warm and comfortable feeling, like an aged leather chair. This is the kind of bar where, in another time, you might have expected to see a bunch of guys escaping the shackles of home life for the night by playing poker in the corner of a room filled with cigar smoke.

The place wasn't packed on that Sunday, but there was a nice crowd of mostly 20somethings enjoying cold beverages and an afternoon game. Most of the patrons sat at the bar, but there were some football groupies scattered around the room huddled in front of one of the three large projector screens mounted through out the bar area. Shooters has several smaller screens, which were playing anything from golf to hockey. My drinking pal for the day and I ordered our beers from the large selection on tap (Guinness for him, Bass for me) then made our way to the spacious fenced-in patio area off the side of the building. This place covers all of its bases, with speakers around the patio so you don't have to miss a minute of the game while enjoying a sunny day.

With a gang of sports aficionados in tow to camouflage my ignorance, I returned to Shooters to take in "Monday Night Football." It was a slightly older crowd - remember those runaway husbands I referred to earlier? Found them! Our server proceeded to tell us about the Monday night $ 2.50 domestic pint special, although Shooters also has an alternative drink menu that caters to the non-traditional sports fan with such items as Pears Hilton, French Kiss and X-rated Sex on the Beach.

Shooters offers standard bar food, such as chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, and fries with cheese and bacon. There's also a full dinner menu for something a little more substantial during the game, with nightly specials such as haddock French and homemade gnocchi.

For the most part service at Shooters was good, a bit slow perhaps. The only real downside to my experience was that not all of the speakers were turned on at the start of the game, and we had to ask our server to turn on the sound. But all in all Shooters offers a relaxed environment for people to sit back to enjoy whatever sporting event they're keen on watching.

Shooters Sports Bar & Grill is located at 1226 Fairport Road, and is open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m.-2 a.m., Sunday noon-midnight. For more information call 385-9777 or visit shooterssportsbarrochester.com.