Silver Stars Media Services Manager Leigh Anne Gullett has jet set halfway across the globe to catch up with Silver Stars players Chantelle Anderson, Vickie Johnson and Sophia Young in Turkey.

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Sunday was a big day for us. Galatasaray had a Turkish League game against Besiktas (the team Vanessa Hayden and Stacy Lovelace play for). Anyway, we kind of had a little fender bender on the way to the game. I'll let Sophia give you the details (she was driving and decided it definitely was a blog-worthy happening). So, be on the lookout for that blog from her. For my story, let's just say we were uninjured and late to the gym, but still in time for pre-game.

As far as I can tell, the three major clubs here are Galatasaray, Besiktas and Fenerbahce (Cappie Pondexter's team). Galatasaray and Fenerbahce have a HUGE rivalry, but it gets pretty heated with Besiktas too. While Americans were gearing up for Super Bowl Sunday, here in Turkey there was a big football (soccer) match between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. As a result, the gym was mostly filled with Besiktas football fans at loose ends. A rowdy bunch, they sang songs I'm told contained lots of bad words and stayed on their feet most of the time. Someone threw a coin on the court and a few players said fans spit on them. But it wasn't outrageously hostile.

The agent of one of the Galatasaray players told me the foul language was a huge no-no at women's basketball games and the Besiktas club would be fined for their fans' behavior. As for the game itself, well, I know some of the rules are different than they are in the states, so I'm not always sure if I have reason to complain. I'll just say at times the officiating was unique. Anyway, we lost by three in overtime.

At least we could still go home and watch the Super Bowl (we have a Fox Sports channel on our TV). When the game finally kicked off a little after 1 a.m., we discovered that our broadcast not only didn't include any of the Super Bowl commercials, but the commentary was in Turkish. In fact, all we really got was the game itself... no bells and whistles. They just pan out to an aerial shot of the stadium when they would normally show other stuff or take a commercial break. Sophia was knocked out before Tom Petty started Free Fallin' at halftime. I want to say I made it through, but it's almost 5 a.m. now and the game still isn't over.

Random happenings... We had no Super Bowl snacks and it was partly my fault. Before I left the states the girls sent me a list of things to bring from home. A few random items from their list: basketball tights, shower curtain, hooks, tortilla chips, salsa, queso and Laffy Taffy. Somehow I arrived in Turkey with a shower curtain, but no hooks to hang it; salsa and queso, but not chips to dip in them... and about 10 pairs of basketball tights. Who packed this bag? Sophia, of course, has managed daily to say, "Man, some chips and salsa sure would be good right now."

Saturday night Chan was in her room on the computer and I walked back there to say something to her. I stepped in the room and Sophia's dog, Kade, tried to follow me. He and Chan's dog, Caj, fight a lot, so I shooed Kade out of the room and shut the door, before turning to finish my conversation with Chan. She said, "You know you just locked us in here?" Turns out, the handle on her door is broken and you can't open it from the inside, which would explain why she never shuts it all the way. We spent a good five or six minutes banging on the door and yelling before Sophia finally came and let us out.