Saturday, January 27, 2007

Good start

Well the stadium was empty but the result was not. A good if somewhat uninspiring victory over Ankaraspor 2-0 was a reasonable start to the second half of the season. With the result from Erciyes last night that cuts the points difference to 5 now at the top. I guess the nerves will be jangling in Kadikoy now as a repeat of last season looks like it might be happening.

As I said it was rather uninspiring but we will take the win. The first goal was by Hakan and was deserved, the second a gift from Ankara keeper. Goalies should not try to play in their own area in my opinion but I am glad he did in this case so Sabri could roll the ball in quite easily.

The best part of the game for me was the Romarioesque attempt by Umit to backheel the ball in from a cross by Ilic. Unfortunately Umit is not Romario so the outcome was never really in doubt.....that is he missed.

Otherwise Galatasaray looked solid if a touch unimaginative.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Does anyone care

The Husband has been busy over at Amerikan Turk, I am sure it their love of rubber.....on wheels!!!!

Anyway here is the Husband's comments to a variety of posts. Does anyone care to comment?

Murat, its very very tempting but work will not allow. In the process of bidding three contract worth $1.5bn and I am the package manager for them all...for my sins. I am not still commuting but am riding every weekend, snow or not on the mountain bike or road depending how I feel!!

Peacemaker and bolsa hey: I never said I agreed with liquidation just that people should be punished. Mass killing is not to be condoned by anyone. However you make an interesting point that those who commit treason should be punished directly. However when its a particular ethnicity what are you to do with their families etc. behind your lines. I agree that killing them is not the answer and in todays PC climate morally reprehensible, so lets say internment to ensure that the relatives of the people who commit treason do not now undermine your efforts to repel the invading army. But what do you do when its over, let a group of people back into your society who can create tension?, pretend nothing happened, please tell me what? Assimilation? Look at the Balkans for how successful that is. I don't know, do you?

And yes I agree the Brits have a less than perfect record, remember we invented the concentration camp during the Boer War long before the Germans in WWII. However I cannot agree with you regarding the Americans. Even a cursory reading will reveal that the original reaction to the uprising led by Washington was perceived as "free born Englishmen (who happened to be living in the American Colonies) standing up for the rights against a tyrant (King George III) who happened to be their own King. Most of the books written (by Americans) about the War of Independence make that point so it would have been rather difficult for the Brits to wipe out the......Brits and be accused of genocide. As a good example try 1776 by David McCullough or The First American, biography of Franklin if you doubt my word.

It is very easy to look back with perfect 20/20 hinsight and criticize with our highly evolved morals. But I feel that to understand events you have to consider the morals or ethics of the time. The events we are talking about happened in let's say the 1920's. Go back about 100 years and what can we find in the history of warfare. The battle of Talavera and the Peninsula campaign thats what. What happened there is that after a siege the British Army stormed the town and once inside the town was subjected to 3 days of sacking and looting where a large number of civilians were killed. Why you ask, well the rules of warfare at that time permitted three days of sacking if the local population had helped the army defending the town which is what happened at Talavera. In this instance it was the British Army but read any book about that period and you will see the same story repeated by any army you care to mention. By today's standards we would haul those troops up as they were in breach of the Geneva Convention but that did not exits, or as in Iraq troops would be accused of murder but by the standards of that period it was accepted. Was it genocide? Was it right, please feel free to judge people and events over whom you have no influence because i can't. Or seeing as you raise the Hutus and Tutsis what about the Zulu mefecane that slaughtered thousands in Southern Africa in the 1800's. Basically if Shaka Zulu turned up outside your town you either had to surrender or die. Genocide? Please enlighten me with your modern sensibilities if you feel qualified to judge a people, culture and set of morals you or I cannot possibly understand.

Oh and who ever said I was civilized? Can you not make comments without a personal attack?

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Do you feel let down

because I do. By the Government of my country especially. Not because I think they should have been represented at Dinks funeral although I believe their presence would have sen a more powerful message than all the cheap and meaningless words they spouted but because of the lack of accountability and responsibility. After all the words spoken this was followed up by no actions. IN almost any other country the people responsible for security of a major city which includes people who are clearly at risk, such people such as Dink and most other conscientious journalists and thinkers who chose not o blindly follow the party line, would already have been relieved of their positions and sent to Bumfuck, Ohio or similar. However all I see are grinning faces of incompetent lick arse lackies who are in their positions probably because of who they bribed rather than competence. Do they have no shame and no sense of pride. Resign, just get your large mustaches out of my tv screen and let someone who wants to take the job seriously do it and make the country a better place.

I also find it incomprehensible (A Contrarian View on Hrant Dink's Murder - Turkish Torque) that anyone can defend Article 301 or anyone tat says we have duty to prosecute because it exist. So inform on your neighbors when they dont pay tax, when they break the speed limit, when they beat their wife why is there so much attention in a subjectve concept such as Article 301 and who appointed these people as the watchdog of Turkishness. Personally I believe that the actions of the so called Nationalist Lawyers are damaging and insulting to Turkishness, or at least my view of it, so should I launch a prosecution?

Monday, January 22, 2007

Murat goes to the dogs...

Taking heed of the criticism in the last edition of Amerikan Turks Hitch Hikers Guide to Turkish Blogs, I decided that I should post about dogs. That is the furry, 4 legged versions as my previous post was about the other type.....

The weather in New Jersey has turned wintry at last. It snowed Friday for the first time this winter so officially winter is now here although it has been cold for a couple of weeks now. Well when I say snowed there was about 2 inches of the stuff Friday morning and more came down Friday evening.

Of course when this happens the Town send out its grit and salt trucks and they spread a thick layer of crushed rock salt and sand on the roads. Now if any of you have dogs you will know that dogs paws and rock salt do not mix too well. So Saturday morning was the first time I had to deal with that this year and I spent most of the walk sorting out Kimi and Lucky's paws so they would stop limping like bad actors!!

Sunday morning dawned cold and blue sky so off to the local forest/park. The nearest place for us is a park that is based around an old rail road trail. This means that there is a nice flat path for the lazy and then there are lots of side trails that are clearly waymarked to take you up in to the surrounding hills. The Husband uses this area for mountain biking so you get the idea.

Anyway we followed a couple of the side trails and the dogs got some fresh air, without seeing any bears!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

What the f........

So Galatasaray finally managed to win a game, 2-1 against Denizlispor with Umit and Hasan Kabze scoring.

However this is completely overshadowed by the events in Istanbul. Why oh why do we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot!!!!! I read the comments by Erdogan and other members of the government but the tears they cry seem like crocodile tears. I see almost every journalist in Turkey suddenly became Dink's friend. Having said that alot of what they say is absolutely true about the effect this senseless act will have on Turkeys relationship with the EU and USA. I see the Armenian Speaker of Parliament is saying Turkey should not even dream of entering the EU, well whet the fuck does it have with that piece of shit.

I have to be honest and say that I have no sympathy for the Armenians based on what I have read about that period in history, yes a lot of them died but so did alot of other Ottoman subjects, especially muslims in Thrace where the Greeks and Bulgarians carried out wholesale slaughter. In Anatolia from what I have read in (non-Turkish) authored books the Armenian troops defected to the invading Russian from the Ottoman units. This is simple its treason so why are they so fucking upset about what happened to them. I wonder whether these losers would be so accommodating or moaning so much of the Russians had won. But they did not, you gambled, you lost FUCKING LIVE WITH IT YOU SHIT HEADS.

If Armenians want compensation for being traitors and losing their gamble then fine, take the Ottoman Sultan to court but why oh why should the current Turkish Government apologize for something that happened before the Republic of Turkey even came into existence.

Did a lot of Armenians die, yes, did a lot of Ottoman Muslims die yes, can I as a descendant of a family from Antep that was almost wiped out by Armenian thugs and French troops request compensation from the Armenian Government or the Frogs, I doubt it so why the fuck should I care about shit from across the border.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

A winning run......not!

Great performance by the lads in yellow and red tonight, losing 1-0 to Hertha Berlin. Guess who scored.......Yildiray!!!!!

Here are the last five results before tonight:

Galatasaray 3-1 Bursaspor
Galatasaray 1-0 Kayserispor (Fortis Türkiye Kupası)
K. Erciyesspor 4-1 Galatasaray (Fortis Türkiye Kupası)
Galatasaray 1-2 Feyenoord (Efes Pilsen Cup 6)
Galatasaray 1-1 Beşiktaş (penaltılarla 6-7) (Efes Pilsen 6)


What a tremendous, inspiring, warm fuzzy feeling making sequence of results that is........or maybe not. Its ridiculous and somewhat pathetic and should in normal circumstances result in Gerets being put in a sack and sunk of Seraglio Point. The fact there appears to be no wailing and gnashing of teeth also worries me as it means that the club, the management and the team may appears to have accepted this mediocrity and that we simply cannot catch the all conquering juggernaut of footballing excellence that is Kadikoy.

Of course I may be wrong and this seeming indifference is merely a cover for a cunning plan.......I know the club will not pay the players causing them to strike and win the Lig... that has to be the answer.

I may also have been taking mind altering drugs to make me feel better about the situation.

And all this just before the end of the winter break when the snow will start and games be cancelled, TFF and organisation.....please!!!!

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Comings and goings

It all seems horribly quiet on the transfer scene at the moment. Hardly anyone sems to be moving in the Turkish League although it looks like Alex has decided that money beats loyalty every time and has entered a bidding war with Besiktas. What a classy player!!!

As for Galatsaray, it looks like Ilic will be leaving for Monaco. This I think would be a blow especially after losing Saidou last summer and letting Volkan leave. Ayhan is not getting any younger so who will play in midfield? As for Altintop joining, why would he leave the German leagues to play in the SuperLig, I mean really. It would be great of he did but he probably does not want to lower his standards so much!

What CimBom really need is a defender to help Tomas and Song, a midfiled enforcer and a striker becasue none of the ones currently at the club are consistent enough. We should get rid of Hasan Sas who is living on past glories,get rid of Okan for the same reasons and Emre Asik as well. All these old players eating salary for what?????

Gerets should trust the youth team players, look at Arda who I hope we do not sell yet, and some of the others who are playing well and can make it at the senior level. It would be good to win the Lig again but of we can at least finish second with a good new crop of younger players then the future is bright and we wont have to rely on a sugar daddy with long pockets buying new players all the time!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

This says everything

You know when you have won an argument when people start swearing and being insulting. I support Galatasaray and as Murat says diss and generally have a go at Fenerbahce, its players, management and supporters. This rivalry and I would say that most of my comments are normal and natural for a supporter of the most successful team in Turkey to make about the next most successful team. I also criticize my own team and the players when its deserved, which is most of the time at the moment!!!!!

So I was a bit put out but not very surprized when I got this comment about a recent post. Apologies for the language but it is not mine!

"Hey Gulay bitch, have you ever tasted Sukru Saracoglu atmosphere? 52500 full erected cocks waitin for u! GS tastes it every year and never get fulls, wants more and more and more.. Your wide cunt will like also it! Try sometime ;)"

All this because I put a picture of a crying Rustu on my post. Of course this was posted by Anonymous.

How brave you are posting garbage like this, I guess you have a severe personality disorder and maybe were rejected by a girl because of your inadequacies, that is supporting a losing team, and probably have a very small penis. If you were a man at all you would put your name to your comments.

And by the way Galatasaray won the league last year even we lost at that cesspool in Kadikoy because its all about consistency not just beating one team. Also we have to play there every year because thats the rule of the league. By the way did you forget the Turkish Cup final result 5-1 I think it was, but obviously with such a small brain you cant remember things like this.

If there are any intelligent Fenerbahce fans out there that can engage in debate bring it on but otherwise I have to assume all are like this!

Anyway enough about that.

Great game today in the EPL, Newcastle -Tottenham. I thought it was a very, very exciting and great game. Why do we never get games like this in the SuperLig? Why is the standard so average?

Anyway thats all for now

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Blast from the past

Just when you thought you had got rid of someone, what happens they pop up again to make your life a misery! So it was in the last two games.

First against Feyernoord there was van Hooijdonk and then tonight against Besiktas it was Nobhead scoring in the last minute!!! Typical two ex Kadikoy guys influencing the results for tow new clubs........

So not a very successful campaign for CimBom at the Efes Cup, maybe they were using the sponsors products too much!!! I don't think so as whilst they might not be the best in the world, they are professional players and they are not English.

I think thats enough said about the Efes Cup for now, next up is Hertha Berlin and lets hope for a more convincing display....and some transfers please!

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Be of good cheer

Found this picture the other day by going to Google images and searching for Galatasaray.


Oh dear, what can the matter be?????

Certainly cheered me up, lets hope there is a repeat this season.

Anyway I was wrong with my previous post. The next SuperLig match is on January 28th at home to Ankaragucu which strikes me as a nice warm up 3 pointer for the rest of the season.

In between there is the small matter of the Efes Pilsen Cup in Antalya. CimBom will be taking on Feyernoord on January 9th and then the winner of Besiktas-Werder Bremen on January 11th. After that there is a warm up match against Hertha Berlin where I am sure we will give Yildiray and his mates a good seeing to.

So far not too much information on the transfer situation but I am sure Galatasaray's management will be scouring the bottom of various barrels to pick up a bargain or two.

Nice to see Henrik Larsson back and in good form at 35 scoring on his debut for Man Utd!!

Anyway bye for now......

Friday, January 05, 2007

Addiction depletion......

You know how it is with addictions, the loss of your regular fix does not seem to bad at first but after a few days the real withdrawl symptoms start. Headaches, sweating, cramps etc. etc.

Well in this case with the ongoing winter break in the Super Lig I am beginning to suffer those symptoms as the league only starts again on 14th January.

Well thats normal you say. Actually no.

The symptoms are because of the thought of what will be coming back on January 14th rather than the fact I am missing it. Having spent Christmas and New Year watching as many EPL games as I could the thought of going back to the average standard dross on offer in Turkey does not enthuse me. I mean really who are we kidding, the standard is poor, the refereeing is poor, the stadiums are poor, the players are poor quality, media coverage is poor and the TFF is a joke.

Apart from that, no worries mate!!!!!

I cannot wait.......

Monday, January 01, 2007

New Year....again,

So thats another year done and dusted. A year older but not necessarily wiser!!!!!!

Here in New Jersey it was a mild of damp New Years eve. The Husband and I decided not to go out as the roads are crawling with cops and even if you don't have a drink there are too many other headcases out there who may have and think they can drive! So we stayed at home and watched a couple of movies, the new Pirates of the Caribbean and a classic, the Magnificent Seven. Its the first time I had seen the Magnificent Seven as I am not that keen on westerns but the Husband persuaded me and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. Yul Bryner was certainly a charismatic man!!!!

Then around midnight we watched the neighbors letting of fireworks and trying to burn themselves. There are some very stupid people around I have to say!! Of course the dogs got a bit frightened from the fireworks so we then spent an hour calming them down.

I once spent New Year in London at Trafalgar Square but I have to say that these days the thought of going to Times Square or similar leaves me cold! I mean, you cant a get a drink, you cant get a toilet, you get your bag snatched and all to do what? Count down from 10!!!! Big deal.

Great post from Murat over at AmerikanTurk about the numbers of people who ended up in hospital as a result of injuries incurred in murdering animals in Turkey for the Kurban Bayram. Idiots! I wonder what will happen to such displays of tasetlessness if Turkey reaches the EU?

Anyway thats a whole post with no mention of football as according to Sinan over at Turkish Soccer Have a Take I have no right to talk about that game, why because I am a woman?

Anyway back to the Liverpool-Bolton match!