Me and Ali Sami Yen, A Surly Friend

My experience Ali Sami Yen stadium, a sort of run down, 2nd world palace of football -- with rickety seats, cracked covers over some sections, and dark passageways leading to the outside -- was nevertheless fun.

There I was squeezing through a dark tunnel up the stairs — along with 20,000 yellow and red clad friends.

I came to a security checkpoint, a dozen cops stood laughing and checking random people for contraband. One decided to stop me and pat me down. He smiled a greasy smile and asked me how I was. He felt around for my inside coat pocket and asked me if the lump was my wallet. Yes, I said. He asked me to take it out. H e opened the change purse and emptied about 3 lira in loose change and sent me on my way. A little bit of corruption, a little violation, nothing big, a sort of surcharge for just standing there “keeping the peace.” After all, he could have taken the 50tl note in the other wallet compartment, but didn’t.

So began my first experience attending a pro soccer match in Turkey.

I love live sporting events. I can get into anything. Seven years ago, my roommate in Ankara was a Galatasaray fan, so that’s the team that fate told me to root for. Back in the States, I lost track of the Turkish Super League, but since returning I have followed casually, hating Fenerbahce and sort of liking Besiktas, as prescribed for Galatasaray fans.

As best I could, I joined the fans jumping and fist pumping and chanting various chants professing love for GS . Perhaps the funnest part was watching the packed cheap seats perform their chants, hands waving, whistles whistling. It was a cold damp night, and both teams played gritty, slow and not particularly flashy. Galatasaray was very unlucky not to score in the first half, and Genclerbiligi (their opponent, from Ankara) was very lucky not to score in the second. The score was 0-0 after the first stanza, GS finally broke through midway through the second half with a nice three-man attack which resulted in a simple low ball to the back of the net.

The two men I went with I didn’t know, in fact I had only known the man who gave me my free ticket  for about 3 hours. He gave me and two of his business colleagues from Bursa tickets. So off we went. The only thing the man — who I befriended at a nearby cafe I frequent  — asked was that I give him English lessons after the new year.

More business for me, a free trip to a game. Sounds good to me.