Pesapallo

Kim, Madison and I went to our first Pesapallo game this week. Pesapallo is a Finnish form of baseball. Although, they use gloves, bats, bases, and balls like baseball, the rest of the rules are very different. Pesapallo is very fast-paced compared to baseball and there is more strategy involved. But, hitting seems fairly easy in Pesapallo, it is more about placement, then power. In fact, if you hit it too far in the air, it doesn't count as a hit. Some of the many strange rules include, i) you get to have 3 hits for every at bat and you get to choose when you want to keep your hit and run (but the runners on base can run with every hit), ii) if someone catches a fly ball, you are not out, simple "harmed" and have to miss the rest of your hitting turns, iii) everyone slides into the bases face first every time, iv) the distance between the different bases varies considerably, v) the pitcher stands beside the plate and also serves as the catcher, vi) the sausages you purchase in the bleachers come without buns, etc. Too many difference to list, but we enjoyed the game, it was very interesting and quite entertaining. Here are a couple links showing a few aspects of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_umyXoyXEkQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOySN9qT8cA&feature=related

Werdna, sreehc