From the blog: Regionals Highlights

Paivo Kinnunen

Nickname: Ankku

Päivö Kinnunan may seem the atypical Finn, being a student in the U.S. that resembles neither a dorsal nor the Finnish Maiden.  Just try to challenge the man’s “Finnishness,” though.   The name, Päivö, first appears in the Finland’s national epic, Kalevala, about a young boy hunter that used a sharpened disc to rise to power and eventually rid his homeland of the warring Swedish factions from the West.  The boy was also a great Kantele player, and was believed to have invented sound.  What were the first sounds ever heard by mankind?  While purely theoretical, given the windy tendencies of the Finnish lowlands (where historic Päivö is believed to have been born) and the density of air particles clustered near the Bay of Oulu, one can assume that a rough version of “The Victors” was played upon formerly deaf ears.  Modern day, University of Michigan-style Päivö learned the sport of Ultimate while Nordic Walking (a sport first popularized in Finland).  His father taught him the art of the forehand after using his puukko to carve a disc out of the ribs and tanned hides of a herd of caribou.  This occasion is celebrated by Päivö and his family every year on February 11 by eating Mustamakkara and drinking Sahti from this first disc.  Päivö’s “Finnishness” is expected to help him return magnUM to glory through a Regional Crown and and a midnight train to Boulder.