Sotkamon Jymy’s credit joker is no longer seen in East-West, although he may be Superpesis’ best inside player.
Sotkamon Jymy’s 41-year-old joker friend Roope Korhonen summers became easier when former teammates became the selectors of East-West. A year ago, Idän chose the team Toni Kohonen46, and this summer Antti Hartikainen36.
– When I heard the name of this year’s selector, it was clear in two minutes. Antti knew after receiving the message that there was no point in calling back. When you have three children, a full-time job, would like to fish and could go golfing, a free weekend is great. I could still play East-West in Sotkamo, Korhonen grins.
Just like last year, Korhonen informed Jymy’s longtime roommate from his playing years that he would not be seeing Mr. Korhon in Tampere’s East-West after a week.
No one else has had to call after Korhonen for more than a decade. Jymy has achieved 20 SM medals in the 2000s. According to his passport, Mikko Robert Korhonen, officially named Mikko, owns them all.
– After the 2007 season, the idea was to go elsewhere. Kouvola (KPL) and Joensuu (JoMa) were more closely connected. Then the mistress got pregnant. When the support networks were in Sotkamo and Suomussalmi, the apartment block in the city would have been stuck, recalls Korhonen, who takes a nap on game days.
As a Joker, always in the role of the solver
There has been demand for Korhonen. I’m betting on the pennant Jukka-Pekka Vainionpää32, and ex-pennant of Mansen Perttu Ruuska, 21, are men of the same basket of jokers. The salary request for elite jokers starts at 50,000 euros. In addition to the trio, the main contenders for this season’s hitter king title are Hyvinkää’s Tahkon, who had to make room for Ruuska in Manse Juha Niemi33.
The most important of them for his team is Korhonen. He has hit 46 of Jymy’s runs (2+44). Aapo Komulainen has knocked 1+10 runs. The third most homers are five runs scored Aleksanteri Huotarilla and the joker Jere Heikkinen.
– When hitting as a joker or with the number four, you know that when you get to the handle of the racket, it’s a forced situation. It’s a run or you’re the last batter. Then it can be difficult game-wise if you don’t succeed and you can’t even catch up on successes in the outdoor game, Korhonen describes.
For years, Jymy’s cooper partner was two Mikko Korhos, although the other is known by the stage name Roope.
– I played the summer of 2015 with an ankle fit for surgery. Rehabilitation was easier to do just for Joker’s work. In the outfield, there would be extremist movements in many directions.
Civilian work fills the pension fund
Three Korhos in Jymy is enough, but Roope is its own chapter. He is the only player who negotiates his contract with the chairman of Superjymy Oy Juha Tanskanen with. Others are called CEO Mikko Kuosmanen up.
– No pension accrues from the player’s salary, but I have had a civilian job since 2006. However, you don’t get the same emotions there as on the field, emphasizes the 12-time Finnish champion, who has worked as a real estate agent for the past couple of years.
Konsta Kurikka left Jymy’s last season’s team for baseball. Korhosen is also familiar with the sport. An Americanized aunt visits Kainuu every year, thanks to whom Roope was already playing baseball in the backyard with his Yankee cousins at the age of two.
– Talking about baseball is pointless jaw-dropping. It has also been talked about that it would have been worthwhile for me or Hartikainen Antti to continue playing hockey, Korhonen smiles.