Cultural Post 4: Sports--Basketball in Turkey

[Samuel Benjamin Washburne]

Basketball in Turkey is huge.  Soccer is still the main sport of choice in Turkey, but I did not expect basketball to carry the amount of weight that it does.  Having played basketball in the State for a good part of my life, it was an integral part of my learning experience in Turkey.  I went to the gym about 2-3 times a week to play and that is where I made some of my best friendships as well as some progress with my language skills.  Knowing sports terminology is always important when you wanna hang out with some Turkish bros.  Although a lot of the sports terms in Turkish are simple, it's the slang ones that show you know what you're talking about.  This is pretty much true in any language.  If I was to say, "Man, he ripped that shot", a foreigner not familiar with the language may think that the person literally ripped the shot in half and become incredibly puzzled as to how that would be possible.  Sports slang is even hard for native speakers to learn sometimes.  Anyways, basketball, an American sport, is starting to have more and more influence on Turks.  Allen Iverson, a former top NBA star, signed with Beshiktash, a Turkish club team based in Istanbul, as part of a two year contract.  Turkish airlines, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, signed a two year advertisement deal with superstar Kobe Bryant.  Turkey's national basketball team even made it to the World Championships of basketball only to lose to, guess who? The United States.  I had a fantastic time playing basketball in Turkey and it was interesting to see how popular it had become in the Turkish culture.  As it's influence continues to grow, so too will the American influence it carries with it.  It will be interesting to see what kind of effect this has on Turkish athletes and fans in the future.