adventures: May 2011 Archives
I am not really much of a sports fan. And certainly not a rabid sports fan. But last night I was surrounded by a lot of Finns frothing at the mouth with major hockey rabies.
The world hockey championships have been going on for the past few weeks, and it's been impossible NOT to be aware of what's been going on. It's all anyone talks about. The streets go empty when Finland's games are on because everyone is at home or at the bar watching on TV.
I actually watched a few games, voluntarily. And in one of those games, I saw one of the Finnish players completely defy all laws of physics to make this absolutely retarded sick goal against Russia. HE BALANCED THE F'IN PUCK ON THE BLADE/EDGE OF HIS STICK AND FLUNG IT INTO THE GOAL LIKE THIS, HOLY SHIT:
I'm still not sure if the Russian goalie knows what happened.
Finland ended up making it to the finals. And to add some bonus excitement, so did Sweden. Finland and Sweden are arch-rivals in everything, but most especially in hockey. And Finland has only won one world championship back in 1995, and has had the championship stolen by the Swedes a few times over the years since. Vince McMahon himself couldn't have scripted a better grudge match.
Last night I met a group of friends at the bar to watch the game. We had to arrive three hours early to make sure we had a place to sit, and within minutes after arriving, out of nowhere I suddenly found myself wearing a Suomi Lions hockey jersey and caring deeply about the game. The game itself was nerve-wracking, especially after Sweden scored the first goal. There was no reaction whatsoever from the crowd at the bar after that first goal, no moaning or cussing, just lots of very worried faces. Until Finland scored their first goal. Then it was nuts: screaming, hugging, kissing, kicking over beers, and...tears! People were so happy for that one goal that they got teary-eyed!
Then towards the end of the game, suddenly Finland was firing off goal after goal and the whole thing ended 6-1. !!! When the buzzer sounded around midnight-ish, that bar (and the rest of the city) went b-o-n-k-e-r-s:
- Strangers were hugging each other, which is absolutely unheard of in Finland.
- Everyone was singing and climbing on furniture.
- Some were literally hanging from the rafters at the bar.
- Outside, most of the people who had been in the bars were then in the street, and it was full-scale mayhem.
- Every single person was shouting or singing.
- Almost every single car was honking (I wanted to ask my taxi driver to honk, but I was afraid he'd charge me extra).
- People were driving down the street close the sidewalk holding their arm out the car window, high-fiving all the people they drove by.
- One guy was being pushed around in a shopping cart because he was too drunk to walk.
- Several others were so excited they would have to stop and vomit.
- And a few others had gotten nekkid and were running wild in the streets.
- And others jumped in the super-cold fountain in city center.
- Inexplicably, at the bar across the street from my place there was a ... drum jam?
Things died down a little bit today. But the boys were put on a chartered Finnair flight back to the celebrations in Helsinki this evening, and just when you thought it couldn't get better or more stereotypically crazy and Finnish, this happened:
