Fear of a Finnish Planet
Cleaned out part of the garage and found an old box of Zip Disks.
Remember Zip Disks? Ah, 100 huge mega-bytes of storage. Shortages of disks. Clicks of death. Good times.
Anyways, digging through them for old files. Found mostly very old, very awful writings. Then I found a great photo.
The year was 2002. Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. We were outside the E Center, waiting to get through security to watch Team USA take on Team Finland in Men's Ice Hockey. There was a huge buzz over the crowd - it was Team USA's first game with their huge home-ice advantage.
Then the Finns showed up.
It was a big group of Finns, all wearing red coats, all waving Finnish flags, all chanting at the top of their lungs, "SU-O-MI! SU-O-MI!" Needless to say, it was awesome. And surprisingly intimidating.
So the Finns stood in line waiting to get through security - and I thought I had to get a great picture. So I grabbed a tiny American flag, walked up alongside the enormous group, and made a sheepish expression on my face as I waved my tiny little flag. My friends tried to take the picture, but it didn't come out. So they motioned at me to stay there and they'd take another picture.
Then the Finns spotted me.
I couldn't keep a straight face and cracked up laughing, as the Finns directed their Su-o-mi chants at me. You can't even see the tiny American flag I'm holding because the Finn behind me is draping a Finnish flag over me.
Alas, the first pic that didn't come out would've been funnier. But at least the second pic came out, so I now have proof positive what it's like to be intimidated by the Finns.
Oh sure - to you the Finns may seem like nice people. But as for me? I fear the Finns...
Remember Zip Disks? Ah, 100 huge mega-bytes of storage. Shortages of disks. Clicks of death. Good times.
Anyways, digging through them for old files. Found mostly very old, very awful writings. Then I found a great photo.
The year was 2002. Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. We were outside the E Center, waiting to get through security to watch Team USA take on Team Finland in Men's Ice Hockey. There was a huge buzz over the crowd - it was Team USA's first game with their huge home-ice advantage.
Then the Finns showed up.
It was a big group of Finns, all wearing red coats, all waving Finnish flags, all chanting at the top of their lungs, "SU-O-MI! SU-O-MI!" Needless to say, it was awesome. And surprisingly intimidating.
So the Finns stood in line waiting to get through security - and I thought I had to get a great picture. So I grabbed a tiny American flag, walked up alongside the enormous group, and made a sheepish expression on my face as I waved my tiny little flag. My friends tried to take the picture, but it didn't come out. So they motioned at me to stay there and they'd take another picture.
Then the Finns spotted me.
I couldn't keep a straight face and cracked up laughing, as the Finns directed their Su-o-mi chants at me. You can't even see the tiny American flag I'm holding because the Finn behind me is draping a Finnish flag over me.
Alas, the first pic that didn't come out would've been funnier. But at least the second pic came out, so I now have proof positive what it's like to be intimidated by the Finns.
Oh sure - to you the Finns may seem like nice people. But as for me? I fear the Finns...
posted by Eugene at 1:19 AM
5 Comments:
Fun read and good times.... Just what I needed after a stressful day making beer. -Jon
My au pair was finnish, and she is still the most gentle, sweet, amazing woman in Suomi. It's funny to think that there's an aggressive Suomi contingent- hee!
Were you going to an ice hockey game?
Jon-
Yeah, yeah. Rub it in!
Anonymous-
Not so much aggressive, as boisterous and loud.
Yeah, in 2002, a bunch of us did the road trip to Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympics. I'll tell that story at some point.
This post has been removed by the author.
I think that I took that picture! It's so funny because I was just thinking about it this week. We were recalling flags of various countries and I remember the Finnish flag by recalling that picture.
Good times!
Steph
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