Lost Post 3: Pesis

Pesäpallo: From Kesä10 - lost postcards

What is the national sport of Finland?

First thoughts go to ice hockey, followed shortly by jääpallo (ice hockey with a ball), mäkihyppy (ski jumping), and rally driving (although maybe that's just a mode of transport to the match).

But apparently some claim it is pesäpallo or pesis. Well maybe in the summer. If you live in what Konna disparagingly refers to as 'middle-finland' - Helsinki doesn't even have a pesäpallo stadium these days...

This meant that to see the Itä-Lansi (East v West) game held in Helsinki this year we had to go to the Finnair stadium next to the Olympic stadium, in the blazing sunshine and 30°C heat on the 4th of July. Any Americans turning up for an Independance day baseball match will have been somewhat confused...

Despite it's superficial similarity to baseball, softball or rounders I can report that it is actually more like the complete opposite (while retaining the hitting a small sphere with a stick and running). One almost suspects that Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala looked at those games in the 20's and deliberately decided to make the rules as different as possible. (Eg. If you hit the ball out of the ground it is not a home run, you are out. If the ball is caught you are not out unless tagged). Anyway Itä destroyed the west team, by the way. Apparently the teams were so unbalanced it was a boring game, as strategy is usually a key part of it. 
Not that I could tell...