So let's talk a little football shall we? There are two Turkish blogs in English that focus on the noble game: The Round Ball in Ankara [1] and Gulay, Galatasaray and the Dogs [2]. Of course they are not the only ones writing about soccer and the World Cup, Erkan's Field Diary [3] is another blog this week that has covered that same subject.
Erkan's Field Diary posted an interesting piece about FIFA announcing a campaign to discourage racism at World Cup games [4], he also provides some great links about various aspects of the game [5], and gives a great link to a site called Bloggers Ball [6], which has a lot of info on blogging the World Cup.
The Round Ball in Ankara, while watching a bit on the tipsy side [7], has taken a very interesting poll on what their readers think which teams that were knocked out of the World Cup in the pre-qualifying rounds should be there [8]. As expected Turkey is running a high showing but is tied with Scotland….but I haven't voted yet, and my vote goes for Turkey all the way.
Gulay, Galatasaray and the Dogs has had a bit more of a sombre approach [9] to her World Cup coverage, offering game by game analysis while waiting (rather humoredly) for Oz Kanka (of Round Ball in Ankara) to sober up and blog [10].
In other Turkish sports news, Amerikan Turk [11] has been bicycle racing this week [12], and although he didn't do as well as he wished he still looks fabulous [13].
Lastly, several Turkish bloggers have rallied on the web [14] to help one of their own. A young Turkish man named Gokhan Gurcuoglu was severely injured in a car accident in February. Due to problems with his insurance in the United States his family needed to arrange to have him sent home to his native country of Turkey to be taken care of, the Turkish community created a website and have managed to raise enough money for Gokhan's family to bring him home [15]. I think that this is a wonderful example of what an internet community can be capable of.
Have a great week!