I’ve raised a toast with Roger Moore on Muhammad Ali’s birthday and sung God Save the Queen.
The sentence would fit Maikkarin On the moon– program where two statements are true and one is false.
The best athletes of 2000 were awarded in January 2001 at the global Athlete of the Year gala in London. Ali, who was the guest of honor, turned 59, which was celebrated at a charity gala at the Hilton Hotel.
Moore, who hosted the event, began with a line: “One of the most famous names in the world is Bond, James Bond, but it’s fiction. Let’s welcome the real hero Muhammad Ali.”
Then the toasts were raised and a perhaps somewhat surprising congratulatory song was sung.
The glamorous award ceremony was held the following evening at the Royal Albert Hall.
Among others, Michael Schumacher and Tiger Woods were awarded as the best in their series. Bryan Adams was responsible for the music, whose band included Damon Hill and John McEnroe.
Roger Moore hosted Muhammad Ali’s birthday party and the world’s best athletes award gala. JARNO JUTI
I started working as a sports reporter in the spring of 1980 as a Rauman assistant for Satakunta Kansan. One of the first pieces of advice I received was that readers are interested in what happened and why – not how the story came to be.
The work of a journalist has its own challenges, as in all professions. There’s no point in bothering the readers, but this time I’m making an exception at the request of Markku Saarinen, the boss of sports editorial.
I moved to Iltalehti from Turku Sanomat in the fall of ’89, and I’ve had a lot of trouble along the way, especially when traveling. Saarinen wanted me to remember them on my last day of work.
In this context, the important desk work that is part of editorial work only gets this mention.
Monica Seles drawn by father Karol Seles. Vesa Parviainen
The Nokia Masters was a WTA invitational tournament played in Essen. In the fall of ’91, its stars were world number one Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova, as well as Mary Joe Fernandez, whom Seles defeated in Sunday’s final.
Saturday night was the tennis tournament banquet. At the same table sat a Serbian man older than me, who turned out to be not only an excellent storyteller, but also Monica Seles’ father.
He made a caricature of his daughter in my notebook and told me that he had coached her when she was younger with the help of drawings.
I managed to get my own interview with Monica on Sunday. Three stern-looking managers or agents also stammered into the small room, who immediately made it clear that there would be no questions about the Yugoslav state of war.
Well, you got a decent story about it after all, when the illustration was brought to life by a funny drawing by Karol Seles.
Keijo Säilynoja and Teemu Selänne raced on the auto track. Vesa Parviainen
During the Albertville Winter Olympics -92, I lived with my colleague Pekka Jalonen in a small alpine village, where all the ice hockey teams also stayed and where there was nothing to do in my spare time.
The working days are long in value competitions, but back then – before the internet – you still had time to take a little time off. We didn’t have a TV in the hostel, so naturally we bought a car track.
The actual rally started when the news about it spread among the players.
It just so happened that I found myself with Tre Kronor stars Håkan Loob and Thomas Rundqvist in the back seat of a French police car.
The nearest bar was half an hour’s drive away in Courchevel. When I tried to get a taxi back at night, none of the drivers agreed to drive because the serpentine road was covered in ice. Of course, there was no available room, so the situation quickly began to turn into a crisis.
The Swedes were stuck in the same situation. Finally they stopped a police car with better tires and explained their case. I got on board with them, and we gave small tips to the constables there.
There was no more time for another bar trip, and after this adventure, no more enthusiasm.
Cell phones were still rare in the early 90s, and I was in no hurry to ask about one. Then I got stuck in the press box of Hakametsä hall.
The other reporters had left, and the door had slammed shut. It could only be opened from the outside. No one anywhere. All I could do was wait.
The press booth was right at the ceiling of the hall. I was like a cuckoo in a clock and started spreading rumors in case anyone happened to hear.
Finally, two groundskeepers walked onto the ice, but they had no intention of letting me off. The older one started to go. Finally, the younger man struggled to open the door. I thanked and apologized. He must have worked overtime.
After this, my laptop stopped working at Globen in Stockholm.
I borrowed an electric typewriter the size of an airline bag from the hotel locker and carried it in my arms to the hall. At the entrance to the media, the vaksi was a little surprised.
Next to the press room was the hall’s office, which I could use to send my stories to be delivered by fax. By the time I had sent the last one, they had all disappeared. So also the entire staff.
That’s not it, but the outer doors of the hall were locked electronically and they couldn’t be opened from the inside either. There was a telephone in the office, but no directory.
I was already looking for a place to sleep in the changing rooms until I noticed that there is a back door at the end of the changing room corridor and a button next to it: “Stockholms Vaktbolag”, came the rustling answer.
Half an hour later, the guard center’s dog patrol car pulled up to the scene. I still had to explain why I carry the big typewriter out of the hall in the middle of the night.
The lions celebrate the World Cup gold in -95 at the Sergel square. Vesa Parviainen
Sunday, May 7, 1995 is remembered for the Lions’ first world championship. In addition to the cover, 16 pages of Monday’s newspaper were reserved for the historic victory.
We got the main part of the savota taken care of with Jalonen and still made it to Sergeli market: the Swedes made a wonderful gesture and offered Leijon the stage built for Tre Kronor’s golden celebration.
The word had also spread among Finnish race tourists and Swedish-Finns, and the team was able to perform in front of more than 10,000 ecstatic supporters.
We were waiting on the edge of the stage for the players’ comments, when the orderly came to ask what men and for what purpose? Finsk press, we answered, and the jerk suddenly pushed us onto the stage.
After all, we didn’t join the hand-to-neck dancing, but the view from behind the players was amazing: a sea of blue cross flags in the center of Stockholm!
Finland lost the World Cup -96 quarter-final against Russia in Ottawa. I was told to come up with more story topics in North America when I was there once.
Jari Kurri had moved to Anaheim with Teemu Selänte and Kai Nurminen to Los Angeles, so I decided to go there with them.
There was only cash. It was enough for a one-way plane ticket and a few hotel nights.
Due to the 10-hour time difference in Anaheim, the trip home had to be arranged in the wee hours of the morning, but the first ticket of the Montreal–Zürich–Helsinki return flight could not be changed to LA–Zürich even with compensation. So I had to get to Montreal somehow.
The last advice from the travel agent was to call the Swissair office in Losin during the day and pray that they will help.
Well, no prayer or anything – until the next morning there was a note shoved under the door saying that our secretary had bought me plane tickets via Chicago to Montreal. And that I could find them at information desks.
Good job. Except that for some reason the respa had not returned the call to me at night and now the working day in Finland had ended. It was three hours until the plane left, but which airport?
That information was not on the sheet, and there are five domestic fields in the metropolitan area.
One was right next door – I was staying at the John Wayne Field hotel – but I didn’t have time to call the different stations. We had to put everything on one card: quick taxi to LAX! And duh, not too much of a queue at the counter, the ticket was found and I made it to the plane.
So far so good. But the ticket was only to Chicago, with less than an hour change of plane. And O’Hare is one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. “Somewhat” guessed whether I would find the right counter, ticket and departure gate.
Miraculously, I made it. There was no longer a rush in Montreal and Zurich, when the changeover was 7–8 hours in both.
Basketball star Karl Malone talked with Paul Kariya and Teemu Selänte. VESA PARVIAINEN
In November -98, Karl Malone had to attack me.
The NBA was on lockout, and the Utah Jazz superstar was watching the NHL game in Anaheim. After that, he chatted in the booth corridor with Selänte and Paul Kariya.
I took a picture from five meters away. The basket chimney fell apart, jumped two steps in front of my nose and screamed at the top of its lungs What the fuck are you doing?
I just took a photoI sopers, and a grumbling Malone returned to the players.
The local journalists were sorry for me when “The Mailman” didn’t get a hold of me even though it was supposed to.
In the Yankees’ jurisprudence, compensation is proportional to the ability to pay. The only time getting rich has been close.
After Malone left, Teemu wondered what happened to it: “I was already coming in between, but I didn’t dare when there was such a shockingly big guy.”
Iceland-England gathered a huge audience in front of the giant screen in Reykjavik. Vesa Parviainen
In Midsummer 2016, I accidentally went to a speaking gig in Iceland.
The NHL draft was held in Buffalo, where Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujärvi and Olli Juolevi were booked among the first five.
The second flight home left New York an hour late, and the transfer time in Keflavik was the same. I quickly found the right gate, but the plane had already backed out of the tube.
It was five in the morning. The airline booked me on its next flight to Helsinki, but it didn’t leave until midnight. I rented a car and drove 50 kilometers to Reykjavík amid moonscapes.
The European football championships were underway, and Iceland was the super sensation of the tournament. Contrary to all expectations, the Arctic island had advanced from the first group, and in the playoffs they faced England, the mother country of the sport. At the edge of the city center, a huge sea of people were excited for the match by the giant screen.
Wayne Rooney gives England the lead, but then Sigurdsson and Sigthorsson strike. Iceland wins 2-1 and knocks out England!
Brexit! Rockets into the air! The mass of the audience claps their hands to the rhythm of the Hú viking shouts. The atmosphere is intoxicating. The streets and bars are filled with rejoicing people.
I’m sending a little story and a few pictures: Reykjavik got mixed up – IL there! Someone might have thought that they knew how to anticipate.
A wonderful journey of more than 36 years at Iltalehti is behind us and the retirement days are ahead. It’s time to thank you, our dear readers. Stay tuned!
