Helsinki City Marathon 2008
Mood:  crushed out
Now Playing: Helsinki City Marathon 2008
Topic: Sport

 

Football in Finland
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Dad's Tapes
Topic: Sport
All about football in Finland, "from a sarcastic yet sympathetic viewpoint"

The Great Finnish Game of Pesis
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Sport

Developed by Lauri 'Tahko' Pihkala between 1920-1930, Pesäpallo, or 'Pesis', is a combination of Amercian Baseball and European softball. It has since grown to be one of the national games of Finland, which makes it interesting to look at how the rules and way of playing are different from other ball-batting games.

"the most important difference between pesis and baseball is the vertical pitching. Hitting the ball, as well as controlling the power and direction of the hit, is much easier. This gives the offensive game much more variety, speed and tactical dimensions than in baseball"

Last year, in the 5th Pesäpallo World Cup 2006 was played for in Germany, where Australia, Germany and Sweden participated.

Finland was victorious; both Men and Women won gold!

 

Northern Ireland Football Team coming to Helsinki?
Mood:  happy
Topic: Sport
With Belgium being tied up in a Euro qualification match (against Kazachstan), Northern Ireland is keen to play Finland in a friendly match in Helsinki on the 16th of August this summer.

Finland already has promised to play Greece in a friendly during august, but this agreement doesn't seem to be carved in stone just yet.

Bahrain brings excitement back to F1
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Trapped
Topic: Sport
This weekend the Formula 1 caroussel started to spin again. After many dissappointments during the Torino Winter Olympics, the Finns now got their belief back in sports and Finnish sportsmanship.

The biggest surprise today was Kimi Raikkonen, who started from the last grid and ended up in third place.

The other driver making the day for Finns is Nico Rosberg, the son of Keke Rosberg, the F1 Champion of 1982.

Though Nico is racing under German flag, Finns still take him as their own guy, and rightfully so. This was Nico's first F1 race and came in 7th, with the quickest lap time under his belt as well!

Thanks to the rule modifications (the tyre-change is back, for example), the excitement is back in the Formula 1 race. The extra taste is added by "mixed up" team members, e.g. Massa is driving in the same team with Michael Schumacher etc. It looks like it will become a really interesting season after a couple of years of lethargy.

The results of Bahrain GP