This week, Sami Hyypiä, the legendary former Liverpool FC and Finland defender announced his retirement from professional football – at the “advanced” age of 37.
I have a bit of a connection with Sami, you know...
A couple of summers ago, I “bumped” into Hyypiä three times in a short period of time: at Heathrow airport; in the restaurant Mamma Rosa in Helsinki’s Töölö district; and as he walked (possibly posing) past the terraces of the bars on Mikonkatu near Helsinki’s central railway station. As a matter of fact, I'm sure he was stalking me, but I guess he must have realised that his cover was blown, because I have not seen him since.
What can I say about these encounters? Err, not a lot really: I noticed that he is very tall, but has surprisingly normal-sized feet (considering his height, that is).
As an aside, for a long time, I believed Sami Hyypiä’s surname was really appropriate, as he always jumped high above the players of the opposing teams to header the ball. And then I discovered that, contrary to what I thought, the Finnish word for “jump” is not “hyypiä”, but “hyppiä”. Personally, I think those two words look very, very similar, but apparently no Finn would ever make the connection between them. So he is not “Sami Jump” after all. Not even remotely, it seems. Shame, I did like the idea.
Anyhow, I wish Sami Hyypiä an enjoyable retirement. I hope he finds something constructive to do so that he doesn’t start stalking me again.
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