HOLTY’S BLOG: Manhunting

First off, thank you to all the men and women who risked (and gave) their lives to catch two terrorists just outside of Boston last Friday. Anyone who followed me on Twitter or anyone from the Boston area on Friday probably saw a lot of tweets with the #Manhunting. It came from people listening to police scanners and other sources as the thousands of officers searched the area. While it was certainly the worst of situations, it some strange way, social media provided an outlet for all to follow along and discuss events in real time. That and as @KevinBartl mentioned, I had the suspect captured a solid 5 minutes before Anderson Cooper on CNN. Thanks Barts!

Now for the blog…

Thanks to good friend of the blog and all around good guy @WillHoenike for the idea of the best “manhunts” in the ECHL. The more I thought about it, the more it became clear that I’ve been manhunting things for the better part of the last two years. There are five things that jumped right out at me, but @KevinBartl is sick of me manhunting, so I didn’t have time to order them.

Again, I’ll remind you, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want….But, we all have bosses.

San Francisco, Cow Palace, The Locker Room – This manhunt began on opening night 2012. Safe to say, I was the first person to go on this hunt. The locker room is located UPSTAIRS, making it the only ECHL-WC rink where players WALK DOWN to get to the ice. Once you’re in the locker room, there are 4-5 smaller rooms in an office building style. It’s like playing Let’s Make a Deal figuring out who is behind door number 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I’m just looking to tape a pre-game interview here people!

Las Vegas, Orleans Arena, The Internet – Who’s been to Las Vegas? You may be able to get a free buffet, but free Wifi? Not a chance. Same thing for Orleans Arena. Although they put a separate WiFi in this year at some point, for the majority of my trips to the Orleans, you have to manhunt the internet. This involves walking through the casino, getting a coffee at the Java Vegas, logging on to the free Wifi in the shop, closing the computer (but not locking it), and then walking all the way back to the arena where a loophole allows you to stay on the internet. Follow that? Yeah, me either.

Ontario, Citizens Business Bank Arena, Game Notes – This is a funny one. Normally game notes are located in some sort of press box or your broadcast location. However, in Ontario (until recently) these were put down in the locker room. Never put anything in the locker room! It’s like an abyss. Thankfully, our guys this year, aside from Fast and Freeman, very rarely grabbed notes and ran off with them to look at the stats.

Boise, CenturyLink Arena, Will’s Bucks- Most think that the play here is “sneaking” food out of the season ticket holder room right behind the press box. It’s not. The play in Boise is to manhunt Will, get “Will’s Bucks”, and use them to comp your concession stand purchases. Great concession stands in Boise. Some of the best around. I wonder if @TheJesseLiebman has done this manhunt this week.

Loveland, Budweiser Events Center, The Coach’s Table – Colorado has many nice things. One thing it does not have is a separate coach’s room. Being the good guy that I am, I manhunt a table which is then set up in the hallway with a curtain for a de facto coach’s “office.” Rookie manhunters, the play here is to find Tony D, equipment manager for the Eagles, and he’ll find it.

That’s it for now. Enjoy the Stanley Cup Playoffs everyone!

Until next time Condorstown…

Ryan Holt a.k.a. Holty, is the voice of the Condors and just wrapped up year two in Condorstown. He does not know who the next head coach of the Condors will be, although can be bribed to find out. Have a #HoltysBlog idea? Follow him on Twitter @BroadcastHolt or shoot him an email with ideas to rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com