A freelancer is always pitching stories or he’ll be out of business. Or, he’ll slide into a business he really doesn’t want to be in.
Pitching stories is actually a lot of fun. It can be stimulating on many levels. One part Sherlock Holmes, one part Stephen King, two parts Home Shopping Network spokesperson.
First you need the idea.
The Hockey News has identified the “glue guys” in each NHL team. You know, the guys that may not be the biggest stars, but who are important to the team and hold it together. Two of the thirty glue guys were Finns.
Jere Lehtinen was the other one.
Whoah! I went deep into the archives, and see what I found! This profile on Jarmo Kekäläinen, St. Louis Blues’ assistant GM.
Here’s a pdf but that’s mostly just for looks. 
Click below to get to the story without the photos. (Although, Susanne’s photos are pretty sweet).
Thank you for all your emails and comments regarding my liveblogging day on Thursday. It was a lot of fun to do so I’ll do it again in about two weeks. However, here are some answers to the questions you sent my way.
Why did you do it?
At first it was really just a test to see what that does to the traffic. But once I hit the road and started to write and update the blog, it became a way to record the trip for future generations. In 50 years, that entry – this entry – may be used as an example in a classroom somewhere, to show how people communicated in the old days, and what Helsinki looked and feeled like back in circa 2010. Thirdly, it was a way to send secret, coded messages to my wife stuck in her cubicle somewhere.
Alpo’s the word of the week. Here’s something I wrote for the IIHF.com.
While he’s worried about Finnish hockey – “we have truly professional organisations only in two cities” and “how could the Finnish league be one of the best ones in the world with 200 of our best players are playing in other leagues” – he’s not just shooting his mouth off at the sidelines. He’s back in the saddle in Pori, and he was recently elected to the Finnish hockey association’s coaching committee.
More here.
Today, Finland just leaped over the day part completely and went from the evening of the January 17th straight to the evening of the 18th.
I think.
This is what it looked like in downtown Helsinki at noon.
Tough.
I’m about to hit the road, going on a quick trip to the old country. I thought I’d update this blog as I go, so .. stay tuned.
12.25: “No, I don’t live in Sweden,” I said to her. Not that there’s anything wrong with it – naturally. I just didn’t want to hear her pitch about the benefits of having an American Express card.
I had one, a long time ago. I think I used it once.
Just got off the phone with Alpo Suhonen, Finnish hockey coach, and a free thinker. I’m working on a piece about him – soon, soon – but I know already that I’m going to use parts of the interview in several occasions. His every sentence held an insight, and I kid you not.
Speaking of kids, Alpo compared himself to the kid who was standing by the road when the Emperor came wearing his new clothes that were made of a magical fabric that you couldn’t see if you were stupid or unfit for your job.
You know, Keiserens nye Klæder
Alpo has a lot to say about a lot of things, and he’s never been afraid to speak his mind or do whatever he thought was the right thing to do.
But you know what the last line of the story is?
[The emperor] carried himself even more proudly, and the chamberlains walked along behind carrying the train that wasn’t there.
Good luck, kid.
I’m puzzled. Confused, even.
See, I’ve got these two friends. On Facebook, that is. On the same day that I connected – on Facebook – with one of them, let’s call him “Austin Powers” (why not?), the other (Dr. Evil) had joined a group called “Send “Austin Powers” to Siberia.”
Do I need to do anything? What’s the code of conduct in a case like this? Should I tell Dr. Evil to back off or leave the group? Unfriend him? Should I care?
What would I do in real life? Yeah. We’d laugh and laugh and laugh. Austin and I.
Back in the 20th century, I worked at a hockey pant factory in Canada for one summer. Or, right next to the factory, because I, being a business graduate, almost, I was sitting in the office. I also happened to be boarding with the boss.
One afternoon, the boss packed his extended family, that being his wife, two kids and myself, into their van, and drove up to the cottage country in northern Ontario to meet up with the company lawyer in a casual setting.