August 8, 2010

"The annual contest... had been held since 1999."

"It will never be held again...."

22 comments:

chickelit said...

Darwin Award material

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Not seeing the point.

The whole purpose of this exercise was to stay in a small, hot, room for longer than anyone else.

What did they think was going to happen?

When there is some competition where the participants seem to enjoy the danger, and then everyone freaks out when the danger turns out to be very real, I am left shaking my head.

I understand sports like NASCAR where the danger is acknowledged, but the show still goes on. I don't like it when people want the aura of danger but are surprised by the outcome.

If you want a sauna contest that doesn't kill people, change the rules. In any dangerous sport if you leave it up to the participants some of them will choose to die rather than lose.

Fred4Pres said...

That competition sounds a lot like the James Ray's medicine sweat lodge.

I used to go to the Russian steam bath in the East Village. Not a gay thing. Mostly old Eastern Europeans. Down in the deepest part of the basement was a stone steam room that was like the depths of hell. The old naked guys were in their beating themselves with oak branches.


Come to think of it, that sounds pretty darn gay.

Peter Hoh said...

Never get involved in a land war in Asia, and never try to outdo a Finn in a sauna.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

F4P-

Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Fred4Pres said...

Peter--good point!

I was in Leningrad just befire the coup. My hotel had Finns passed out all over the place. In the halls, elevators,lobby--all due to $1 a bottle vodka.

Russians however seem to be immune to the stuff.

So never out sauna a Finn. Never try to out drink a Russian.

Fred4Pres said...

James Ray Death Lodge

GMay said...

And yet we hear how stupid Americans are compared to our European betters.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I think people should be able to sauna if they want.

I don't see a controversy here.

Next time they will take some precautions, like lowering the temperature or whatever.

We have the polar bears club going for a swim in the ocean in the middle of winter here in NYC.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I'm trying to think of how this story ties into Hitchens dying.. I think it does in a way.

When Hitchens spoke of burning the candle at both ends .. and giving "a lovely light".

We don't necessarily need to be familiar with what in our view ails people.

Unknown said...

Did none of those people understand the physics of steamed clams?

Kensington said...

The contestants really should have been basted every 30 minutes or so to make sure they didn't dry out while they were cooking.

Clyde said...

In other news, the Finns and Russians have announced a joint space mission to land on the Sun. The rocket will be powered with burning birch wood and half a liter of water will be applied to the crew cabin every thirty seconds to keep the crew comfortable.

Opus One Media said...

Fred4Pres said...
"I was in Leningrad just befire the coup."

The Czar's?

"My hotel had Finns passed out all over the place. In the halls, elevators,lobby--all due to $1 a bottle vodka."

That seems a bit odd owing to the Finn's rather intense feeling about Russia... but I digress...

Saunas and drinking don't mix at all...was there any evidence these folks had been drinking...

I'm Full of Soup said...

Was this, perhaps, caused by global warming? Heh.

Third Coast said...

Rick Reilly wrote a funny piece on this tournament a year or so ago: http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=5201712

Scott said...

I work with a number of Russians. They are very macho -- even the women. This news article is totally unsurprising.

Fred4Pres said...

HDHouse said...
Fred4Pres said...
"I was in Leningrad just befire the coup."

The Czar's?

"My hotel had Finns passed out all over the place. In the halls, elevators,lobby--all due to $1 a bottle vodka."

That seems a bit odd owing to the Finn's rather intense feeling about Russia... but I digress...

Saunas and drinking don't mix at all...was there any evidence these folks had been drinking...


Funny. No not the Czars, I just wanted to see the Soviet Union before it fell. So I got a visa and went. It was amazing to see it then. Giant Parisian boulevards with hardly any cars (because beyond an elite few, no one had or could afford cars). Not even bikes like in Vietnam. Great old czarist buildings in disrepair.

Yes, I know the Finns are still upset with the Soviets (and rightly so) for stealing half of Finnland. But there were lots of Finns taking the train from Helsinki to Leningrad who were taking advantage of cheap vodka in Russia. A bottle back in Finnland must be over $100 with taxes. But in Russia it was $1.

That said, I saw plenty of Finns in Helsinki getting stone dead drunk on Friday nights in the summer.

Michael said...

I find it odd that the "reporters" did not report the length of time the contestants had been in the sauna. Odd.

I remember reading an article in Outside Magazine a few years ago about contestants in these events. I recall that they stayed in over two hours.

Wince said...

I've spent quite a few evenings with a Russian lady friend at a lakeside, wood-fired outdoor sauna run by a Finnish temperance organization.

The Finns and the Russians take sauna very seriously.

Very enjoyable. Afterward, the older lady members sell cakes and cookies they have baked for 50 cents.

traditionalguy said...

No one has mentioned the parable of a Frog in the pot of water being slowly heated until it is too late to hop out. That reminds me of a social order that thinks its laws cannot be based upon morality.

Fred4Pres said...

Finland, Suomi, my bad on spelling.