By Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Jan 10, 2011 at 10:53 AM

The headline says it all: Happy New Year, tavern owners.

If they were stung at all by the smoking ban last summer, area bar owners must be loving life right now. New Year's Eve is always a big night at taverns. This year, it was followed by New Year's Day -- a Saturday -- with the Badgers playing TCU in the Rose Bowl.

For a lot of folks, that was "destination drinking."

And, it was just a warm-up for this Saturday.

With the Packers slated to face Atlanta in a playoff game Saturday night at the Georgia Dome, bar owners can expect brisk sales on beer and chicken wings. It's almost as if the NFL schedule-maker was trying to help boost sales of Miller Lite.

Playoff football is always good for the bar business. If the Packers prevail on Saturday and the ride continues, things will only get better.

While some sectors of the economy continue to sag, sales of suds in local establishments have got to brisk, don't you think?

Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.