I probably could’ve used a better image than that. Yeap.

Former UNC Asheville Goalkeeper and Finnish trick shot artist Lassi Hurskainen is back with more tricks from his native Finland!

Lassi tells us a little about the Finnish people, the culture, checks-in with Finland’s most famous resident (Santa Claus) and teaches one Finn an important lesson! (via YouTube)

We see a lot of trick shot videos at With Leather, but this one has everything you need: unnecessary cameos (Santa, The Blue Meanie I think), incredible displays of accuracy (those goal post shots) and even more incredible displays of ridiculously unnecessary accuracy. Seriously, who knows how to kick food into a grocery cart? More importantly, who LEARNS to do that? And what grocery store says, “sure, just kick our food until you get it right”?

Regardless, it’s a great video littered with adorable English and affirmations of Finnish politeness, so check it out.

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Over the weekend, 135 of the world’s top athletes gathered in Heinola, Finland to compete in the World Sauna Championships. Hold on, let’s start this over. On Saturday, 135 dudes showed up in Heinola to sit in a sauna until they couldn’t take it anymore, and when the schvitz settled, local Finnish hero and defending champion Timo Kaukonen was declared the winner. Because his opponent in the finals died.

After six minutes in a 110-degree Celsius (that’s 230 degrees Fahrenheit to us Yanks) sauna with Kaukonen, Russia’s Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy wasn’t looking so hot, for lack of a better term. Event officials opened the doors to the sauna and both competitors collapsed. Kaukonen had successfully defended his title thanks to his signature move – having a pulse. Ladyzhenskiy’s death put an immediate end to the final round, certainly disappointing fans of watching people die in a sweaty box.

Is it hot in here or is it just me, Associated Foreign Press:

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This is a VW Passat that has been modied (obviously) for Snowpocalypse conditions. I like the part where he drove all over the snow like it was no big deal. The poster of the video has some other clips of this mighty mod on his YouTube account, along with this Google-translated Finnish-language comment:

put the tractor pre kummid below!

Couldn’t agree more. If they did this with a Toyota, they could rule all of Helsinki. Video after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

The US and Finland are playing for the right to go to the gold medal game in men’s hockey today, but this one’s already over. The first period just ended, but the Americans already are up 6-0. I guess they missed the extra point.

Mikka Kiprusoff, the Finnish goalie that obviously was doing well for himself in these games, gave up four goals on the first seven shots that he faced, and then took himself out of the game. The first American goal came after Kiprusoff failed to clear a puck that he had to chase out of his own net, and Zach Ryan Malone fired a quick wrister to the goal before he could recover.

Not to be a jinx, but America’s road to the gold medal game looks rather unobstructed right now. Your move, Canada.

If you think figure skating is stupid now, you should have been around during the early days of the sport. In fact, the first half of the “competition” involved skaters literally tracing “figures” laid out on the ice, and then all the judges would waddle out there and see how close they came. It was pointless and boring, and in 1973 the figures component was thrown out entirely for what we now call the short program. Coincidentally, any time you’d be fortunate to spend with Finnish figure skater Kiira Korpi would also be…a short program. At least now you have a reason to watch the Winter Olympics. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to Finnish in my pants. BIG ups to Janie for the heads-up.

After this Finnish league hockey game, goalie Matti Höylä decides to get a little bit of his freak on and recreate some of the choreography from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” It speaks volumes about the universal language of dance. But holy mother, look at all those empty seats. Where are the Finns playing these games, Yankee Stadium? – Puck Daddy, via Ramblings of the Unmotivated.