HOLTY’S BLOG: A FESTIVUS MIRACLE

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“It’s the most, wonderful time of the year” as the song goes. But, with four games in eight days and basically 48 hours off for the holidays, this is the annual (have I done this before?!) Festivus Airing of Grievances blog! “I got a lot of problems with you people, and now you’re going to hear about it.”

It’s time to get the pole out of the crawl space and as I’ll remind you, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want.

Now for the blog…

– Grievance #1: There should be a blackout on games for two days before and two days after Christmas. Or, since Christmas is on a Monday this year, one day before and three days after. Let’s recharge the batteries a bit.

– Grievance #2: Texas, who the Condors see on Saturday, are in second place in the Pacific Division. Good for them. However, they’re 10-2-0 against the Central Division and 7-8-2 against the Pacific Division. In the words of Cris Carter “C’mon man!” Yes, I know the counterpoint to this is “hey California teams & Tucson, you should play eight more games,” but the Stars haven’t even played the best team in the Central Division, Manitoba, this season.

– Grievance #3: Televisions on the bench. Watching the Flyers – Red Wings last night and the whole “let’s look at our feet and the TV’s in the floor to see if we should challenge” after goals is pretty dumb. You shouldn’t get the benefit of having to look down at a TV before having to make a decision.

– Grievance #4: This one goes along with video coach Derik Johnson who tweeted out the other night that Buffalo is on NBCSN way too often. Couldn’t agree more. Can we get some different teams on the national games? Perhaps the two best teams in the league, Tampa and Vegas … wait what did I just say? … played a heck of a game the other night and nearly nobody got to watch.

– Grievance #5: The AHL vet rule. Well this isn’t really a grievance because it’s a fair rule, but I needed a way to work this note in and well, this is what I came up with. All the best to Mark Fayne who was reassigned to Springfield in the AHL largely due to the fact that the Condors have six veterans and can only dress five on a given night. He’s a stand-up guy who was a great person to have around the room.

– Grievance #6: Always like to finish the grievance portion of the blog with my annual “banging on the glass is stupid” line. Don’t do it. It’s dumb. Saw a fan in San Jose bang on the glass as the puck was tied up in the corner as if he was impacting the play.

– My old boss Eric Lindquist used to have a section at the end of his weekly release called “Fries at the bottom of the bag.” So, to steal that, here you go:

– Good write up on Ty Rattie in The Bakersfield Californian today on settling into Condorstown this season after a tumultuous 2016-17 season.

– Three keys for tonight’s game against San Jose? 1 – as I mentioned last night on Insider, if the Condors are going to make a push, Nick Ellis has to be the best player on the ice. Might as well start tonight. 2 – capitalize on the power play. San Jose doesn’t give up many opportunities and feature one of the best PK’s in the league. 3 – score first. Both these teams have struggled offensively and the Condors are 7-3-3 scoring first. San Jose has a -8 goal differential in the first period. Win the first period and win the game.

– Ryan Mantha got engaged this week. Congrats to him.

– Players spent their time making phone calls to season ticket members and bell ringing for the Salvation Army this week.

– Hockey Talk w/ Holty is Saturday from 5:45 – 6:15 p.m. in the Bank Room. We’ve had some good participation the last two Hockey Talks so let’s make this one even better! If you have grievances, bring them!

– LOCK OF THE WEEK? Let’s go five NFL games, straight up. Five winners. New Orleans over Atlanta, Los Angeles (the one at the Coliseum) over Tennessee, Dallas over Seattle, Philadelphia over Oakland, and the *upset special of the week* San Francisco with a Christmas Miracle over Jacksonville.

– And I’ve shared this video before, but I watch it often and since I got on him in grievance 3 for looking at the TV on the bench, I figure I’d share. It’s a good reminder to earn things every day and from what I take out of it, be thankful for what you have.


Until next time Condorstown. Merry Christmas ya filthy animals.

Ryan Holt aka Holty is the Voice of the Condors and is in his 7th season. His favorite Christmas movie is A Christmas Story. Follow him on Twitter @CondorsHolty for more nonsense or shoot him an e-mail to RHolt@bakersfieldcondors.com with questions, comments, or blog ideas.