Kristian Palotie: This is how the unique style was born

Kristian Palotie has risen to almost cult status in basketball circles. Timo Korhonen / AOP

“Lauri (Markkanen) remove (Stephen) Curry’s. Go away! What kind of two-time MVP is that?”

With such verbalism, the narrator Kristian Palotie caresses the basket people – and often does.

The balance of the 2021–22 season, which ended a few years ago, is stunning: 292 commented matches, 125 spoken podcast episodes.

– I have no mission to pull as much as possible, Palotie smiles.

– I like to explain and I also want to be hardworking. Of course, if the wife asks if I work too much, the answer is yes.

Cheers

Palotie was already playing with Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman as a little boy, but he felt the true passion of basketball in California at the turn of the millennium. Palotiet moved to Los Angeles in 1998, when both researcher parents were offered UCLA.

– I cheered perfectly Kobe (Bryant) and Shaq’s (O’Neal) to the Lakers dynasty, Palotie recalls.

– I watched every Lakers match. I also demanded that we purchase NBA TV, which showed a lot of old matches and documentaries.

Palotie breathed from the NBA basket.

– The thirst for information was huge. While the other children were reading The Lord of the RingsI chose biographies of basketball players and other sportsmen as well.

Pre-images

After high school, I didn’t want to find a direction. Palotie worked for Stockmann for a couple of years and toured Europe greedily watching top football.

– I thought, what if I made a profession out of mass consumption of sports.

In one year, the Helsinki Evangelical College’s sports editor line offered a way into the industry.

– I think that there are really good football commentators in Finland, but there could be an opportunity to get a foot in the door in Koris. The World Championships (2010) were conveniently coming up for Nelose at that time.

In addition to HEO lessons, Palotie drew from experts in the field.

– Maybe I’ve always had a narrator living in me. (Antero) The seashore I probably still know the MM95 reports by heart. A little later, I enjoyed listening to football commentators Mikko from Inna, Juha from Heaven and Tuomas Virkkusta.

The most important foreign role models have been Mike Breen (NBA) and Clive Tyldesley (football).

– Tyldesley may not be the best football commentator tactically, but he is an excellent catcher of big moments. I’m damn jealous of how he builds his narration with word pairs and elegant word choices, Palotie says.

– In the beginning, I directly translated into Finnish the expressions of quite a few English-speaking narrators. Through that, my own voice and style began to emerge.

Coach

Palotie is not only a merciless work animal and a clever wordsmith, but also a real expert. Shortly after starting the narration work, a good ten years ago, he started dedicating himself to coaching.

– I had thought a little about coaching. When Sykki (Helsinki’s special basketball club) then asked, I caught up, even though I didn’t really understand anything about coaching at that point.

by Daniel Jansson under Palotie got hold of the plot and immediately promoted Ura Basket from Kaarina to the Korisliiga.

– Coaching is my biggest passion in basketball, even beyond explaining, Palotie declares.

– I always try to keep up with the times when it comes to coaching – and when the right opportunity comes, then…

“Doesn’t come from the ears”

Can you enjoy basketball too much? Not really, Palotie laughs.

– The basket does not come from the ears, at least not very often. The NBA playoffs were busy and a bit heavy, but already a couple of weeks of rest was good.

Palotie doesn’t think his passion for the sport will ever fade.

– I’ve been addicted to the sport for so long, so I’m not even in my eighties yet.