Power outages and a house fire prelude to Bakersfield Condors game 5 victory in The Clair Show! - By N.L. Belardes
When I arrived at the Bakersfield Condors arena for game 5 of round two of the Kelly Cup playoffs I smelled like a barbecue. No, I hadn’t just cooked up some Falcons vittles. I did have ashes on my shirt as I’d just been at a house fire where I also got a good dose of smoke in my eyes.
Just as we arrived on San Emidio Street.
What an amazing day of power outages, a house fire and a hockey win against pastry boy F. Clair and the rest of the Fresno Falcons. Ohhhh The Clair Show. I was just out the door and on my way to game 5 between the Bakersfield Condors and Fresno Falcons when a fire broke out nearby in the Bakersfield Oleander area. At first I thought the creepy Fritts mansion of my novel had spontaneously burst into flames. Alas it was a house, and a near tragic situation ensued.
Before the fire, traffic got crazy across Bakersfield when a transformer exploded and power went out to 47,000 utility customers. Most of downtown shut their doors for an early workday. But not the Condors. The Rabobank Arena was one of the only downtown buildings with power after the 3:30 pm shut down. I called Patchboy Rossiter of the Condors and he told me the game was on.
No power here!
And the hockey game was on. I thought for sure the game was going to be wrapping up its first period since I was so late from having stood outside a burning home snapping photos of chaos on San Emidio Street.
That wasn’t to be the case. I missed less than two minutes of the game as some of the Condors got stuck in traffic.
The game itself was a one-sided demolishing by the Condors over the Falcons. The crowd was certainly as fired up as the players, especially the ladies next to me who danced and cheered the entire game. They made signs, they screamed at Baby Cal to come and hang out with the cool peeps, and stood on their chairs. I got tired just watching them. But they were into the Condors and you have to love the excitement, especially when pastry boy F. Clair of the Falcons was a whiny baby the entire game.
Sorry Falcon Road Kill Sandwiches
Did I mention I ran into members of the bands Pangolese and Norfolk,
fattening themselves up for the winter?
The Condors won an intense 4-2 battle with myself focusing on a very special photo essay on F. Clair. Why? Because every time I watch him he mocks players, he talks trash, he has a Fresno swagger as if he’s the Brad Pitt of the ECHL. Right now he’s my favorite Fresno, and possibly ECHL hockey player to love to hate.
Now it’s all up to the Condors in Game 6 tomorrow night… if they can win that game, then game 7 for Saturday night in the Highway 99 Rivalry. But it's all in Fresno. And that's Freddie 'Krueger' Falcon's house.
And now for your viewing pleasure… The Clair Show!
Here is F. Clair in a typical pose as he's about to whine
Condors in a victorious non-Clair moment
Devin 'Patchboy' Rossiter sizing up F. Clair on the stats and radio play-by-play
F. Clair gets nervous and bites his fingernails
Even the refs tell F. Clair to shut it! Look at the guy pushing on the glass.
He looks like a mime.
F. Clair about to pull a Mike Tyson and bite the ref's ear
F. Clair sitting in the penalty box where he belongs
F. Clair's grandpa Maurice, dejected after the game
Just as we arrived on San Emidio Street.
What an amazing day of power outages, a house fire and a hockey win against pastry boy F. Clair and the rest of the Fresno Falcons. Ohhhh The Clair Show. I was just out the door and on my way to game 5 between the Bakersfield Condors and Fresno Falcons when a fire broke out nearby in the Bakersfield Oleander area. At first I thought the creepy Fritts mansion of my novel had spontaneously burst into flames. Alas it was a house, and a near tragic situation ensued.
Before the fire, traffic got crazy across Bakersfield when a transformer exploded and power went out to 47,000 utility customers. Most of downtown shut their doors for an early workday. But not the Condors. The Rabobank Arena was one of the only downtown buildings with power after the 3:30 pm shut down. I called Patchboy Rossiter of the Condors and he told me the game was on.
No power here!
And the hockey game was on. I thought for sure the game was going to be wrapping up its first period since I was so late from having stood outside a burning home snapping photos of chaos on San Emidio Street.
That wasn’t to be the case. I missed less than two minutes of the game as some of the Condors got stuck in traffic.
The game itself was a one-sided demolishing by the Condors over the Falcons. The crowd was certainly as fired up as the players, especially the ladies next to me who danced and cheered the entire game. They made signs, they screamed at Baby Cal to come and hang out with the cool peeps, and stood on their chairs. I got tired just watching them. But they were into the Condors and you have to love the excitement, especially when pastry boy F. Clair of the Falcons was a whiny baby the entire game.
Sorry Falcon Road Kill Sandwiches
Did I mention I ran into members of the bands Pangolese and Norfolk,
fattening themselves up for the winter?
The Condors won an intense 4-2 battle with myself focusing on a very special photo essay on F. Clair. Why? Because every time I watch him he mocks players, he talks trash, he has a Fresno swagger as if he’s the Brad Pitt of the ECHL. Right now he’s my favorite Fresno, and possibly ECHL hockey player to love to hate.
Now it’s all up to the Condors in Game 6 tomorrow night… if they can win that game, then game 7 for Saturday night in the Highway 99 Rivalry. But it's all in Fresno. And that's Freddie 'Krueger' Falcon's house.
And now for your viewing pleasure… The Clair Show!
Here is F. Clair in a typical pose as he's about to whine
Condors in a victorious non-Clair moment
Devin 'Patchboy' Rossiter sizing up F. Clair on the stats and radio play-by-play
F. Clair gets nervous and bites his fingernails
Even the refs tell F. Clair to shut it! Look at the guy pushing on the glass.
He looks like a mime.
F. Clair about to pull a Mike Tyson and bite the ref's ear
F. Clair sitting in the penalty box where he belongs
F. Clair's grandpa Maurice, dejected after the game
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Thursday, May 04, 2006.
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That was a great game!
The Fresno Falcons Forum has been alerted to your presence and your Fraser bashing. You're in soooooooo sooo so much trouble now Mr.
How dare you even suggest that I would bash Mr. Pastry.
Talk Trash all you want about our boys, but we will see whos crying on 99 tonight. CONDORS STINK!!! Oh and its not over till our fat lady signs.
I admit, I don't have the utmost faith in the Condors winning game 6. I figured I might as well get in the trash talk while I could, and if the Condors lose, will just tuck my tail between my legs and hide....
Well...well...Clair wasn't whining tonight, no, actually, it was the Condor bench and what's his name...Jacques Cousteau, no maybe it was Stephanie,I mean, it was Leslie, yes it was leslie. The only fire burning last night was the Condorks barbeque at Savemart Center and guess who hosted the dinner: Frasier Clair. I must say I do love a good eclair, it always hits the spot!
The team with the better goalie clearly won. I also wonder exactly how Bakersfield's Border's broke his leg. A tragic night for the Condors, a big night for Clair and Fresno.
So sorry to her about Scotty's injury. But glad to see the falcons and Clair have a tremendous game seven. WooHoo, see you Condors next year!
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