1.Golf
2.Baseball
3.American football
4.Snooker
5.Formula 1

And this blog will be about no 5: Formula 1.

Why do i write a blog about it, if it�s that boring? Because it�s coming to İstanbul and because it�s a nice example of what you can do with marketing
strategies.

Ok so what�s the appeal of F1, fast cars right? Right, but how can you say that a car is fast when you see it on tv with nothing else to compare. Yes, every now and then two cars come real close in the race but lets face it, all you see is two cars going at almost the same pace. Apart from the little sign which says “215 kmp/h� down on your screen there is no way to say how fast they are.

They could be racing at 60 kmp/h for all i know. So long for fast cars eh?

So maybe you like seeing weird shaped hyper-aerodynamic cars passing eachother, i got news for you mate, it only happens 5 or 6 times every race and it doesn�t really happen between any flashy teams. Suckers get passed and we all smile, thinking what a great guy Michael Schumacher is. By the way he�s probably the best driver in the history but there is really really no way to tell it since his car is always way better than the others.

But then they say that a billion viewers are watching every GP from their tv�s and there are another 100 thousand on the stands (haha, stands, that�s another funny idea, they pay 50 euros to see car passing by so fast that you can�t say which one it is). I don�t want to analyze the marketing strategies and stuff(and i don�t think i�d be able to do it too) but there is definetly something wrong with it. The single most unwatchable sport, being the most watched sport ever.

Anyway if you are still interested F1 İstanbul Grand Prix will be here on August, 21st.

Please come to Turkey, stay at a hotel, buy the ticket and make us rich.

The boat on the left is called Vapur and it’s probably the best public transportation option available in İstanbul. The view is great, the wind blows and if you are infected by romantic literature there are places where you can hold hands and exchange cliches.
Speaking of public transportation, if there are people out there who wants to come to İstanbul, they should know that our public transportation has one main principle: Total chaos. Most of the time it’s like a quantum universe with infinite alternatives. Reading Cosmic Banditos may help but if you are loaded i�d suggest travelling by taxi (please don�t rent a car, the traffic is bad as it is).

Now look 3 cm’s right and you’ll see a big dome with 6 minarets. What you see is the Blue Mosque, one of the land marks of Ottoman Architechture. They say that the minarets form a perfect line which means that when you face one of them head on, you can�t see the others behind it. That�s the kind of precision you get when you face the danger of being beheaded if you screw up. And no, i never tested it as i am not a tourist.

Right next to it there is the Topkapı Palace, if it didn’t ring a bell, don’t worry just wait for the word: HAREM. Now you got it don’t you, you dirty hedonist. And yes i know, each and everyone of us needs one.

Now look right till you see another four minarets, that’s Hagia Sophia, the lifetime ambition of emperor Justinian. The construction costed so much that there are stories saying there is gold in every centimeter of it, even in the foundations. There is also another story which involves Mehmet the Conqueror, and it goes like this:
After he conquoered Constantinople he did as he promised and gave his army two days for the loot (it was both a tradition and a neccesity, thousands of men do not follow you for nothing). At the end of the second day he comes into the city and sees a man who’s trying to break the marble stairs of Hagia Sophia, asks the men what he’s doing exactly, doesn’t like the answer, says “the stairs of this city belongs to me” and cuts the mans head, nice and easy.
The minarets were gifts of the Ottoman Empire to the building and i agree that they don�t look good on it.

Well, i know that you feel like you�ve almost seen the place in person, nice blogs does that to people.
One last thing, please don�t call this beautiful city Constantinople, it�s as corny as calling New York, New Amsterdam. And always remember if you have a date in Constantinople, she�ll be waiting in İstanbul.