Swamp soccer, anyone?

Local writer Peter Marsh (http://sea-to-summit.net) alerted the Ear to a recent New York Times article about the Finns’ penchant for weird sports (http://tinyurl.com/sportyfinns).

“Like what?” you might ask. How about swamp soccer? Created by the town of Hyrynsalmi to make a tourist attraction out of their vast swampland, more than 2,000 people showed up for the latest bout, as the team members (many of whom were drunk, apparently) slogged around in 50 acres of goo. “You play, you lose, you win — no one cares,” one player said. A swamp soccer photo is shown courtesy of @DiscoverFinland on Twitter.