Sports (9/13)

One of the great things about countries besides the U.S. You can always find a soccer game on T.V. For the past four years it's been clips during SportsCenter in the mornings and walking through the weight room after school that has totalled as my soccer intake. Already a week here and i've been brought into the fold of Besiktas (Beshektas) my whole host family here decided that for me on the second night when they played. If anyone asks you who do you root for, your answer is Besiktas. Another thing that has been going on here that I think is being totally overshadowed by the NFL premiere is the FIBA Basketball World Championships. They are being held in Istanbul (of course the one week I'm on vacation outside Istanbul) but Turkey has been doing quite well so every other night is another game. If no one saw it they should Youtube Turkey vs. Serbia Semifinal. The ending was one of the most spectacular i've ever seen in a basketball game. This placed Turkey in the Final vs. none other then the U.S. Now recognizing the company that I was in I did not make any comments on how I thought the game would turn out. My host dad went out and got an American and Turk Flag and we laid them out before the game. Well predictably the U.S. almost effortlessly won by 20 something points. Again I wasn't too boastful in my countries victory. Basketball seems to be the second most popular sport here in Turkey. I have a suspicion that I will be watching a lot of NBA basketball this winter. Soccer and basketball are big here, and wouldn't you know I'm a 6'2" American. I think it's going to be my "IN" card.