Nikki Blue Writes Her Second Blog from Mersin, Turkey

As my Turkish adventure continues, every week I have experienced something exciting and new that I have documented in my personal journal. I told myself that every experience I encounter I would enjoy and never forget. One of my most interesting entries in that journal occurred about two weeks ago. The event that I am about to share with you, will definitely be bookmarked in my journal as one of the craziest moments in my journey.

Here in Turkey the fans are very passionate about their sports teams. Of course Futbol (soccer) is the primary sporting event which brings hundreds of thousands of spectators to the games. It is not uncommon for fights or small riots to break out occasionally in the stands between rival teams fans. Of course there are hundreds of police men there to enforce peace, but often the fans are too rowdy to be controlled. Basketball also attracts large crowds and Women's Basketball is especially a fan favorite. Recently my team played an away game about 20 miles east of Mersin to face our rival team Tarsus. On the Tarsus team are the Americans Roneeka Hodges of the Houston Comets and Shannon "Pee-wee" Johnson of the Detroit Shock, two great players on a good team. The game was an important match for both clubs and a "must win" situation for Tarsus so of course an intense game was expected. The entire gym was packed with rowdy Tarsus fans that chanted, screamed, and stood up the entire game. The atmosphere was a home team’s dream having such loyal and excited fans, and was a visiting team’s nightmare to be surrounded by ruthless hecklers in a high school sized gym. I knew from the roar of the crowd at jump ball that we were in for a show down with the opposing team!

The game was intense. Tarsus would lead, then we would catch up, steal the lead, maybe make a good run, then Tarsus was back on our heals again. By the middle of the 4th quarter the teams were neck-in- neck and it was impossible to predict the winner of the game. With the score tied 60-60 with 6 seconds left and the ball in Tarsus hands, with lots of physical contact (we might have gotten away with a foul or two), we managed to stop Tarsus from scoring and forced Overtime.  The gym was still packed with standing room only and the fans were extremely upset that a foul hadn't been called at the end of regulation. This is when things started to get a little scary.

In overtime my team managed to pull away from Tarsus, on the account of several crucial fouls called by the refs on the Tarsus home team. Of course like any loyal fan, the officials are always the enemy and every call against your team is the wrong call, and for Tarsus fans this was definitely the case. They criticized and badgered the refs until the final seconds counted down and the horn signifying the game's end rang. Five police immediately surrounded the two refs and rushed them off the court just in time for them to duck and dodge bottles and trash thrown at them by the spectators. I saw a few men try and come down the rafters and onto the court to yell and intimidate the officials. It was an unbelievable sight! The fans took the loss to an extreme level and became violent towards the referees!

I thought all the hype would die down with the referees safely off the court, but with the adrenaline still fueling the hundreds of hostile fans that haven't budged from their seats, the attention and anger was shifted from the officials to somewhere else; it was now on us... The twelve helpless women standing in the middle of the court surrounded by maniac fans.All eyes were on us! 

The Fans yelled and screamed at us for the entire time that we were on the floor after the game (less than 3 minutes).  I'm not sure if they were upset about the loss, or about the "bad refereeing", or if they just needed to vent some frustration out somewhere. All I realized is that we needed to get off the court immediately! Our coach screamed at us something in Turkish and it didn't take a translator for me to understand that he was yelling something on the accord of "Lets get the heck out of here now!" Like an orchestrated movie, the bottles and trash from the crowd started to fly at us as soon as he said that! Me, being the street savvy, hood-smart, woman that I am, I did what any 5'7 point guard would do.... I grabbed the tallest player on the team and ducked up under her!!!

Once we finally made it to the locker room I learned that only one player on our team got hit (thankfully not hurt) by a plastic bottle. We were escorted out of the gym and out of the city by the local police and returned back to Mersin unharmed. I was in shock the entire ride home. I actually had bottles thrown at me!!! This was something that the locals on the team didn't think was very unusual. They knew that how violent the opposing crowds could get but they also knew that its never to the point where their safety is jeopardized. The fans just love Basketball and most of all they love their team!

The reason why I am sharing this is not to put fear in anyone’s heart about playing overseas. There is no need to worry about getting hit with bottles, trash, or anything. I just wanted to share this experience because I have never been in a situation where fans have behaved in that manner. As hard as it was to enjoy this experience like the others on my journey, I realized that everything doesn't always go smoothly. This was a learning experience for me and it caused me to reflect and appreciate the greatness of the WNBA. We are very lucky every night to have fans that respect both the home and visiting teams, as well as the referees. This was just another chapter in my journey that I have learned and grown from. The thing I learned most, other than to always be aware of my surroundings, is to appreciate my teammates over 6 feet tall... they just might keep me safe from flying objects! 44 days down...23 to go!!!

Nikki Blue