Saturday, March 28, 2015

Hyvä Blues, Hyvä Honka, Hyvä Honka!

Yep, I'm still alive even if my words have not found this site.

The Blues
My home town sports flagship teams in the sports I'm interested in are all in interesting situation. Blues in ice hockey, Honka in basketball and Honka in football (soccer for some of you). Let's bite them one by one...

Unfortunately the Blues are now out from this year's playoffs. JYP from Jyväskylä beat them 4-0 in quarter finals hence no excuses, better team won.

Now the players like Bracken Kearns can focus on their family & kids. I happen to know this morning he was rolling on the floor with his about 2 years old daughter. He apparently was more on top of the situation than Tuomo Ruutu last summer when he lost his kid for a while at Hoplop indoor adventure park in Espoo...

I'm glad I went to the first playoff home game as the 2nd one I missed for a different culture reason, Ystävän Risti concert at church of Espoonlahti, lead by a local music industry 2nd generation legend Ile Vainio.

Tapiolan Honka
My basketball club Tapiolan Honka with long and glorious history has been back in the top league for the 2nd season after a visit at the 2nd highest level. The drop was due to bad financial situation of the separated league team. Now the team is on the last place in the league and the last team is supposed to drop one level down.

But what does the Finnish Basketball Association do?
They decide to expand the league from 11 to 12 teams. It has not yet been (at least not published) how the extra spot will be filled, while my best quess is they will keep Honka up and rise the winner of the 2nd level.

Why to keep Honka even if they should be dropped?
Well, it is the biggest basketball club in Finland with 1000+ juniors and 1 of the 2 teams in the capital area in the league. The other team, Helsinki Seagulls, does not have such junior operations... This is why I'd put my money on Honka playing the league also next year!

FC Honka
Another great club FC Honka with sad stories around the flagship team that has been separated from the main club running the junior operations. The league team lost its place in the league and now they are kicking off a fresh start from the 3rd highest level with new background team (you can follow them at Twitter). The team with mainly young talents completed with some experienced guys willing to take the challenge to boost the club back into the spotlights.

To make a one-man-statement, I will most probably get a season ticket for the upcoming season. The price also should be at the level that I don't mind if I miss half of the games...

So... 3 sports, 3 clubs, 2 names, 3 different situations. I love sports!!!

Now I'm off to watch FC Honka juniors game, missing an overlapping Tapiolan Honka juniors game - which will be covered by another one tomorrow.

Have a sporty weekend!