At Jolene Jolene, Dream fans celebrate their team and something larger

“Are you still watching?”

The message popped up across the battery of televisions encircling the room at Jolene Jolene, the newish sports bar for women’s sports in Atlanta’s Kirkwood neighborhood.

It is a common prompt from streaming services when the programming has remained unchanged for an extended period of time.

Somehow, as patrons packed the building in the middle of the workday, it felt like something more.

Dream fans cheered, answering affirmatively. One shouted, “Yes, I am watching!”

The Dream and their supporters are undeniably having a moment in the pursuit of their first WNBA championship. Sellout crowds at State Farm Arena and historic TV audiences testify to the reality of this breakthrough in popularity and buy-in.

Midday Thursday, so did the dozens and dozens of Dream fans who put aside work – and, it appeared in the cases of at least a couple guests, elementary school – to join their community in imbibing, feasting on chicken wings and supporting their team for Game 6 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm, about five miles to the west.

“It’s amazing,” Nidal Karim said. “I love that we have a sports bar that’s just for women’s sports.”

Opened in June, the bar is the fulfillment of a dream of owner Chelsea Fishman, who envisioned a sports bar where “people could come and feel comfortable and welcome” and where women’s sports weren’t an afterthought for what went on the screens.

Business has been great, Fishman reported Thursday. For Monday night’s Game 5 in San Francisco, more than 300 guests filled Jolene Jolene inside and out for a Nike-sponsored watch party. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens was among the throng.

“It was like a block party,” said Fishman, draped in an Allisha Gray jersey. “It was awesome.”

Thursday, patrons filled the bar with energy, cheering each Dream basket and Valkyries miss and groaning when Dream players were off the mark. The space was so full that one patron had to take a seat in the photo booth.

The bar leaned perhaps 90% female. Someone holding the notion that women don’t really care about sports would have been well served to have partaken of the experience.

Days before Election Day, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff made a visit to the bar just before tipoff, shaking hands, chatting and posing for photos as he circled the room. His presence created a buzz, but only to a point. As tipoff approached, the TV screens regained the room’s attention.

As he visited with a woman who appeared to be a friend, the senator made the smart move to get out of the line of sight between guests and the televisions.

With the Dream reversing course from their punchless Game 5 by throttling the Valkyries, the bar toggled between consistently loud and upbeat to occasionally up for grabs.

A couple times, the room broke out in that most prideful and slightly vulgar chant, “ATL Hoe.”

Maybe my favorite moment was in the second quarter. It might have been when Gray scored on a layup to make the score 39-17. The place was losing its collective mind, though not completely.

“Get back on defense!” a woman shouted at the screen.

I sat at a table with my colleague Tyler Estep – I recommend the lemon pepper chicken wings – and felt quite at home.

A woman at the next table hugged and did a bro handshake with Tyler when victory was finally at hand late in the fourth quarter.

After the final buzzer, “WTF GOIN” by Belly Gang Kushington pumped from the sound system – a reference to online trash talk between Dream star Angel Reese and the New York Liberty, the Dream’s semifinals opponent – and fans got up to sing, dance and exult.

“It’s an all-women’s (sports) bar, but at the same time, everybody was having a good time,” said April Holder, who took a break from her work to watch the game. “The vibe is approachable, comfortable, fun. I made, like, 10 new friends.”

For a game scheduled at an inconvenient hour, the full and noisy bar was a victory for the Dream, their fans and a certain woman in an Allisha Gray jersey.

“It feels great, of course,” said Fishman, the bar owner. “It just shows that these people have always been there. All I did was find a place for it, but it’s always been there.”

At a sports bar on Hosea L. Williams Drive, they were most certainly still watching.