Things I’ve Only Done in #Condorstown (Holty’s Blog)

I had never been to California until September of 2011. Bartl said you’re hired, pack a bag, and get out here. So I flew cross-country and haven’t looked back since.

In the roughly ten months since I’ve been in #Condorstown, I’ve done and seen things that I hadn’t witnessed in my 23 years of existence prior to the West Coast living. I figured I would share some with you and why #Condorstown is great. In exchange for me boring you with some things that I’ve done, I’ll drop a spoiler alert as to who is coming back to play in 2012-13. It will be announced next week. His name is in this blog. Keep calm and read on.

These four things are in no particular order. Why not five? Again, as I remind you every week, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want.

1. Enjoyed a tri-tip sub – I lived in Corpus Christi, Texas for a year. I’d like to think that I had covered the whole BBQ spectrum while down there. I hadn’t. Tri-tip is apparently a Central California thing and lets just say that it has been one of the hidden benefits of #Condorstown. We got it for media room food one night (thanks Champs!) and I was hooked ever since. Do me a favor. Go to Champs today for lunch and get a tri-tip. It’s on Merle Haggard, or is that 7th Standard Rd? You could probably get there by hopping on the 99 at California Ave. – wait I mean New Stine Rd. – wait no, I definitely mean Stine Rd! Oh, all those roads are the same street? #Condorstown is awesome!

2. Complained about the weather – You’re thinking, Holty you’ve definitely complained about the weather before. You would be right. But, I’ve done some different “complaining” this year. When it dropped to a daytime low of say 45 degrees (that’s Fahrenheit for my Canadian friends of the blog) in January, I complained that, wow, IT IS COLD. I complained that there was a little frost on my car in the winter. This is coming from a guy who wouldn’t be surprised to see some snow when I go home in two weeks. I’ve become a wuss with weather. If it’s 105 out back home, it’s too hot. But, in #Condorstown – no sweat (literally), I’ll take it.

3. Had never seen a mayor wear a seer sucker suit – The mayor of Boston can’t figure out what players play for which hometown team (which cracks me up), but I have to admit, Harvey Hall is becoming my favorite United States mayor. He rocks outrageous suits, has neon dress shoes, wears suspenders and stands out wherever he goes. His seer sucker suit (wore it to the AMGEN Tour of California) takes the cake for me though. I can’t pull it off, but he can. There’s a reason why he ran unopposed in the recent election. We thought about running Colonel Claw’d against him, but it would have been a futile attempt.  You can’t top that. He oozes the, “we’re Bakersfield and we don’t care what you think” mentality. If he changes the city name to Condorstown, he would become my favorite person in the world. Just a thought, mayor.

4. Listened to Country – Although I lived in South Texas last year, I never really got into country. I resisted it. Only went to a Jason Aldean concert, because it was free. However, when you come to #Condorstown and the highest station on the FM dial (hint for those that move to different cities, this typically will tell you what type of city you’re living in) is country, I figured I have to give it a shot. Turns out, it’s not bad. Zac Brown, Aldean, and Darius Rucker – I mean Hootie – were pretty popular choices on Pandora for those bus trips to LAX or to a division rival. Who else likes country? Well, Tyler Helfrich (@helfy15) and Chris Kushneriuk (@StoneColdKush) for sure and I’m fairly certain Ryan Annesley (twitterless) enjoys it too. Boom. That’s all you’re getting. Unless of course you want to give me $100. Then, I’ll gladly give up who we’re announcing next week. I’ve already let O’Dette know that I’m soft and can be bought. Come one, come all.

Just as an aside, Scott Freeman won’t be coming back. He signed in Europe for a team in Slovenia along with Idaho G Jerry Kuhn and Stockton F Chris D’Alvise. It’s the same league that former Condors Head Coach Marty Raymond coaches in. Best of luck to Scott.

Until next Thursday #Condorstown.

Have an idea for #HoltysBlog? Tweet him @BroadcastHolt or e-mail rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com

Ryan Holt a.k.a. ‘Holty,’ is the younger half of the Condors broadcast duo, and recently completed his first season in #Condorstown. He’ll be going to the ECHL League Meetings next week where there will be a collection of some of the finest radio voices AA-hockey has ever heard. He’ll probably live tweet during the meetings, when he should be paying attention and learning something. Follow him on Twitter @BroadcastHolt for random stuff confined to 140 characters.