Last night when I finally made it back to my lojman I flipped my television on because I knew that Turkey was playing in the quarterfinals of the European Cup against Croatia. I thought that as it was nearing midnight I might just be able to catch the final score before I headed off to bed. It turns out that while I did miss the first 89 minutes of the game, I did manage to watch the most exciting 40 minutes of the game. Yes, it was tied 0-0 at the end of regulation play and so went on to overtime. During the overtime period Croatia scored and I almost turned of the TV, but there was only 2 minutes left so I thought I might as well hang on a few more minutes. Good thing I did, as Turkey managed to pull of yet another late game score (their pattern all tournament) to tie up the game again. So on to penalty kicks and a win for Turkey! I hadn’t realized that I was that invested in the spirit of football here, but I guess I have been caught up in some of the nationalistic pride that is accompanying the Turkish national football team on their tournament play. A unifying force that is sorely needed in the country right now as a counterpart to all the other political tensions that exist. I had to laugh as I headed to bed and heard car horns blaring and shots being fired in the air. Yep, Turkey is celebrating their win loudly!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Euro 2008
Last night when I finally made it back to my lojman I flipped my television on because I knew that Turkey was playing in the quarterfinals of the European Cup against Croatia. I thought that as it was nearing midnight I might just be able to catch the final score before I headed off to bed. It turns out that while I did miss the first 89 minutes of the game, I did manage to watch the most exciting 40 minutes of the game. Yes, it was tied 0-0 at the end of regulation play and so went on to overtime. During the overtime period Croatia scored and I almost turned of the TV, but there was only 2 minutes left so I thought I might as well hang on a few more minutes. Good thing I did, as Turkey managed to pull of yet another late game score (their pattern all tournament) to tie up the game again. So on to penalty kicks and a win for Turkey! I hadn’t realized that I was that invested in the spirit of football here, but I guess I have been caught up in some of the nationalistic pride that is accompanying the Turkish national football team on their tournament play. A unifying force that is sorely needed in the country right now as a counterpart to all the other political tensions that exist. I had to laugh as I headed to bed and heard car horns blaring and shots being fired in the air. Yep, Turkey is celebrating their win loudly!
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