Spent the day captivated by LeBron James leading the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals after winning a nailbiting Game 7 against the Boston Celtics.
Afterwards I watched Philippe Petit and his merry band achieve the impossible in 'Man on Wire'. The documentary detailing the unbelievable coup to tightrope walk across the Twin Towers was the film of the week for my local library's movie club.
I was the youngest person in attendance as most were at least double my age.
Both stories are about people finding immortality through a defining moment.
Comedian Daniel Kitson says 'Everything in life is impossible until its inevitable'. The documentary and LeBron's torturous path to coronation are stories of certainty that tease us with the dance of uncertainty.
As I write this, I'm in the dark as to what happened in the Manny Pacquiao fight.
VIDEO: The BIG game 7 in South Beach!
VIDEO: Philippe Petit: One Man Show - Philosophy on Life
PHILIPPE PETIT: Personally I don't believe you are born the greatest... in the world... I think to become the greatest at something you have to be passionate... If you are passionate about something... you're going to want to do it day and night... You're going to be tenacious and relentless... not taking No for a answer, even your own No.
Dwyane Wade: I think now is the perfect time for you to get angry.
Lebron James: That's my secret Cap, I'm always angry.
Still pushing the Avengers analogy. This 45 point, 15 rebound effort will go down as one of Lebron's legacy games. Much like Jordan's "Flu Game", Game 6 will forever be remembered as the "Anger Game".
When it comes to sports, basketball and wrestling are my twin passions. Whilst I spent 2011 looking to find a basketball experience in each country, I also had the pleasure of experiencing wrestling in several regions. I was a fan of wrestling growing up but my passion for it has remained, maturing over time. I've written essays about wrestling for university, dedicated blogs to the subject and have gone on excursions seeking it. I described my love during my time in England thusly:
Coolspotting: Nerding out in England - Comics, CosPlay, Video Games and Wrestling
I often get asked why I like wrestling, my standard response is that it speaks to me intellectually. I enjoy the charisma, psychology and manipulation. Experiencing the show live, I realised I'd overlooked its obvious appeal - watching wrestling makes me feel like a kid again...
Below are the times I enjoyed wrestling during my EuroTrip. At each event I was able to create some unique experiences, such as stumbling onto free tickets for UFC 138, making Spanish connections in Barcelona and nerding out with ROH superstar Eddie Edwards over his #12 Boston Celtics jersey
Pro Wrestling in Europe 2011
Live sports results: Barcelona, March 2011 • SWA Super Wrestling Alliance (Barcelona, Spain)
Coolspotting: Nerding out in England - Comics, CosPlay, Video Games and Wrestling • FWA Frontier Wrestling Alliance (London, England) • WWE Smackdown (Birmingham, England) • UFC 138 (Birmingham, England) • WWE Raw (Nottingham, England)
Boston Celtics inspired tee for Hometown boy John Cena
You'll find my NBA to-do list has plenty of wrestling on the agenda. WrestleMania 29 in New York, the biggest show on earth being the obvious highlight. As 'Live Audio Wrestling' is my news source for all things in the fight game it would be a blast socialising with the gang for their 'WWE Raw' viewing parties in Toronto.
a) Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone in WCW
b) Shaquille O'Neal VS The 'Big Show'
c) The World Champion Detroit Pistons
You'd be surprised to find there is a considerable overlap between basketball and wrestling. Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone after colliding in the NBA finals extended their rivalry with confrontations on the set of Jay Leno and WCW programming. I got the chance to see Rodman fight in Sydney headlining for 'i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling' with the late Curt Hennig. Shaquille O'Neal has appeared on WWE programming having feuded with the Big Show. Not to mention Sheed and the Detroit Pistons rocking Championship belts during their title defence.
VIDEO: Jerry The King Lawler Piledrives a fan &
Charles Barkley talks Brock Lesnar/Cena
While in the States I hope to explore as many indy feds as possible and I imagine I'll be finding plenty of MMA which continues to grow. But wrestling is my first love, it taps into an Americana I'm fascinated by and brings out my inner child.
Interestingly when I was speaking to the coach of the GB men's team enroute to Vilnius for EuroBasket. He remarked why he favoured the European style of play over the American. "The NBA is a different type of basketball. It's more like WWE", in reference to the showmanship and emphasis on the individual. I replied, "that's great for me because I love wrestling"
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WrestleMania 29 and the LAW meetups appear on my Atlantic Division wishlist of the 30 Home Games mission.
Explore my to-do list for the States of the Eastern Conference
1) Central Division
Illinois | Indiana | Michigan | Ohio | Wisconsin
2) Southeast Division
Florida | Georgia | North Carolina | Washington DC
Update: 2013 Over a full year after the Heat as Avengers meme, Miami have embodied it fully with dominant victories after each loss of the 2013 playoffs
My mood definitely shifted, I became suspicious of everybody. I even began questioning the authenticity of my hostel roommate, a down-on-his-luck Canadian traveler borrowing money from newly made running mates. I knew I had to find a way to get out of this mental funk. Attention is a double-edged sword. Being a traveler, a lot of possibilities were opened because people were curious and drawn to me as an outsider. I was welcomed into homes and friend circles, now this attention was being used against me. I was afraid to go out, the simplest chores would be interrupted by the constant initiation of conversation. I imagine this is the reality celebrities and hotties live in every day.
My running mate who escaped the scam unscathed was someone I befriended on the trip from Goreme to Istanbul. We bonded over our love of basketball, he was a diehard Laker fan and former intern for the team. We played a game with locals at the courts in the Nike Beyoğlu store the morning after his ordeal as he briefed me on what happened. I had my epiphany, I would convert scammer invitations into a game of hoops. It dovetailed with my 30 Home Games mission, my quest for a Basketball experience in each Country. He was skeptical, it was asking for trouble.
The genius of these scams are that they're only asking for your time. Its essentially rapport building through good conversation, a few shared drinks which sets the table for the manipulation to take place. Its only when the betrayal happens at the Clip-joint that one begins to question everything. A fellow traveler equated it to a relationship break up, especially one dissolved through infidelity. We start tracing its history, which parts were real? Was any of it genuine? Then we start looking inward, was it my fault for believing? I figured I could entice them to a game of basketball during what they thought was the "real" part.
The following few days I was upbeat, returning to my old self. Instead of shooing people away grumpily, I was looking forward to interactions but surprisingly the attention had waned. I can't pinpoint whether it was my change in energy, my familiarity or random chance. Interestingly I had begun to mutually greet one of the scammers like Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog would in the cartoons. He was a fellow in a blue/green puffer jacket I would regularly cross paths with, usually alongside a new Asian tourist. Our original encounter he tried to open me at Sultanahmet with the line "Hey you look like Michael Jackson".
In the closing days of my fortnight in Istanbul I did manage to find a genuine connection, befriending young artists at a Jazz bar. Over several days we hit the town, was welcomed into homes for dinner and tea and got to crash at a few places. The locals were understandably removed from this reality, they explained that some Current affair shows had shed some light on the scams in Istanbul. As it was a crime of opportunity, Turks from the east unfamiliar with the big city were also being scammed. Most attention was paid to non-Turks because they were ideal targets, distinct, lucrative and crucially - naive.
The charming person I spent most of the time with mindblowingly did her major thesis on 'Hyperreality' - a pet topic of mine. On my final day I was welcomed into her friend's apartment, we discussed scamming and reality as we smoked and drank in their attic. Their roommate, a Syrian revolutionary taking refuge in Turkey arrived late into the evening. He began in the front lines for the cause but decided his powers were best served in media relations. He weighed in on the conversation by showing videos he'd filmed that day presenting two versions of reality for the same event, one for dissemination now and the other truth to be released after the revolution was won.
It was a memorable way to close my experience in Turkey and it gave me a sobering take on the scamming experience. I've always been fascinated by the power of charisma and the bending of reality but this underlined for me that its ultimately playing with fire. My running mate who escaped the scam had himself conceded, "As bad as it could have turned out, it'll likely go down as the most interesting that happens on this trip".
During this time creating genuine experiences with amazing new friends, the basketball mouse trap was the furthest thing from my mind. I never did get to hoop it up with a scammer, I didn't even come close to as invitations had dried up. I'm still intrigued by the prospect of holding court with a scammer but the idea served its purpose as it shifted my mood and I found the genuine experience I was searching for. I'll file it as 'Incomplete' and still hope to achieve it if I ever return to Istanbul. If someone is able to execute it on my behalf I would love to hear your story.
After a great evening capping off my time and saying my goodbyes the morning after, I had one final rude awakening. As I checked in at Atatürk International Airport the teller informed I wasn't in the system for any flights that day. I scanned my ticket, checked my phone everything seemed fine. It was then I realised that my Calendar settings were set to 2011. My Turkish friend had borrowed my phone 5 days earlier to use her SIM, I must've mistakenly applied the wrong settings when I turned it back on so the dates corresponded to the wrong days. I had been operating a day in advance this whole time, my flight was actually for tomorrow.
Everything is real until the moment it isn't.
