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Yesterday, the Thunder’s Enes Kanter announced that his father had been arrested in Turkey, and posted this statement on his website. In it, he asserts that the arrest was due to his criticism of the Turkish government and its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This follows his odyssey in May, when his passport was revoked by Turkey and intervention was required to get him back to the United States.
Meanwhile, two weeks ago in Washington, Turkish security forces were involved in an assault on demonstrators at the Turkish embassy when Erdogan was in town and met with Donald Trump. I have an only basic understanding of what’s happening in Turkish politics; I’d love to hear from anyone with any expertise in the comments.
Elsewhere....
It’s a big day for soccer.
The Champions League final, featuring Real Madrid and Juventus is this afternoon at 1:45 Central. Fox has the TV.
Minnesota United is in Kansas City for a rematch; they beat Sporting KC 2-0 at home a few weeks ago in what may have been their best moment of the season. That’s at 4:00 pm on ESPN.
The USMNT has a friendly tonight against Venezuela in advance of two World Cup qualifiers. It’s a 9:00 pm start on FS1.
Finally, at 1:00 am Sunday the U.S. play a U20 World Cup quarterfinal against Venezuela. The U20s, despite missing several key players due to other commitments, have looked good in this tournament, and are coming off a rout of New Zealand in the first knock-out stage. Josh Sargent, who is on the squad even though he’s only 17 years old, is a guy to watch; he’s competing to be top scorer in the tournament and looks like a future star. The race will be on to sign him once he turns 18 in February; look for him to wind up in the Bundesliga.
There is basketball too! The Lynx are in action tonight at 8:00 pm against a Seattle Storm team that is off to a 4-1 start. This will be a real test for the Lynx, who are 6-0 and haven’t lost in May in years. That 6-0 was, however, against a very weak schedule. Tonight they play a team that has emerged early as a potential contender, and is should be interesting. Also, Sylvia Fowles, the Western Conference Player of the Month, is rampaging in the paint and it’s awesome.