Tuesday, October 12, 2010 

ESPN is reporting that Alan Iverson is in "serious negotiations" with Turkish basketball team Beşiktaş.

Wow—this is big news, people. First of all, I lived in Beşiktaş [which is a district of Istanbul and also a municipality ] for five years—it's a rocking place. Well actually, the specific name of the two-block neighborhood that I lived on was Muradiye, but literally nobody outside of those two blocks can tell you that. Culturally, this was Beşiktaş ["Besh-eek-tash"].


While technically I lived in Muradiye, culturally this was Beşiktaş

Beşiktaş [which means "cradle-stone," by the way] is actually better known for soccer than for basketball. People in Turkey always ask me what my favorite Turkish soccer team is. Now I tell them that I don't like soccer because I think it's boring, but I used to just say I wasn't sure. On the one hand, I vaguely liked Fenerbahce because their colors were blue and yellow, just like the University of Michigan. However, I later started to vaguely pull for for Beşiktaş because that was, after all, the part of town that I lived in.

I started to support Beşiktaş even more after I started teaching one of their ex-soccer players, who was now being groomed for a management position. Kadir had played for the team in the 1980s and early 90s, and since retiring had been given a job which involved making travel reservations for the team when they traveled in Turkey and abroad. Kadir didn't know English, however, which made things difficult on the international side, and which is where I came in.


The "Black Eagles" of Beşiktaş will make a nice home for the Answer

Kadir and I worked together for about nine months or so, before I left for a summer of traveling. By the end of our time together he had gotten to a point where he could speak pretty basic English in an understandable way, which was good enough for both of us!

Anyway, Kadir was a good guy. He was my student when my parents visited me in Turkey, and when he found out we were going to Izmir he got us a 50% discount at the Buyuk Efes Hotel in Izmir—pretty hot stuff, back in the day. 


Thanks again, Kadir! 


Kadir's mustache can now be found in the team's museum

Anyway, if Iverson ends up playing for this team it will be really great. And it would certainly put the Turkish league—which gave the world both Hedo Turkoglu and former Piston legend Mehmet Okur—on the map.


Cevap, mahalleye gelir mi? Gelmez mi, tabi ki gelir, tam mahalle çocuğu işte.........

Meanwhile, there are interesting things that people can learn about the Turkish basketball league. One of the best Turkish teams, Efes, is sponsored by a beer company. Another team, Ulker, is sponsored by a chocolate company with reportedly shady ties to the ruling political party. These are things  that people would get the chance to know more about if Iverson moves to the big city that could, aka Istanbul.


Ay-ver-son, are you ready for Istanbul?

And I still love Beşiktaş. You can buy just about anything there, it's well-connected transport-wise, and there are millions of food options. Beşiktaş may not be a destination district unless your looking for a cheap trousers-lahmacun-toilet brush combo, but that doesn't make it feel any less like home.


Welcome to the mahalle, Allen

So I think Iverson will fit in just great in Beşiktaş. Ahmet Abi, the bakkal who narrowly lost the vote for muhtar to "smile loving" Aylin in 1999, will be looking for support from someone who appreciates veteran savvy. Of course, Emin Abi, my old landlord and reputedly still a powerbroker of sorts in the neighborhood, might disapprove of the Answer's partying ways (he certainly tried to shut me down), but ultimately the progressive outlook of the former NBA point guard will no doubt win out the neighborhood and (still) oldest current resident, Necati Bey.
 
In any case, even if Iverson is washed up maybe the team could still use him as Kadir's English teacher.