By: Freaknick/@euro_adventures

So apparently FIBA is letting anybody into the party. The e-mail went a little something like this:

Dear Mr. Ms. Gibson,

We are pleased to inform you that your request for media accreditation for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey has been approved.

Name:Gibson Nicholas
Organisation: Euroleague Adventures
Function: Creator and Editor;Sports

You are requested to pick up your personalised media accreditation card at the Accreditation Desk in the venue of the city of ISTANBUL Prelim

After checking the nether regions to make sure the whole ‘Mr. Ms.’ thing was merely a FIBA oversight, I ran outside, put Mel Gibson’s Braveheart bellow to shame and chucked my half-eaten apple into the air. Half an hour later after making the requisite calls (mother, father, Hamed Haddadi), my thoughts slowed enough for me to isolate three of them:

1. I’m going to Istanbul. As in Turkey. Woah.

and…

2. I shouldn’t have wasted that apple. It was a Fuji. Those are my favorite. Damnit.

Awesome, all of this certainly is. But, pressure it does now put on ELA. (Slam’s out of town so Yoda’s joining me as a guest editor). Since this Turkey is opening its wings to me I need to sharpen my act and do ELA proud. Maybe bring Tiago on as a blogger or shoot a music video with Wang ZhiZhi. Either way (crossing my fingers for Wang), we’ve got a summer of preparation ahead of us, and for our first trick we’ll unveil the FIBA 2010 tab in the upper lefthand corner of the homepage, allowing you to sift through teams, check out the rosters, and read or listen to everything we have to say about the biggest party in international hoops. If you’re reading this within minutes of postage, check back in a couple hours and it’ll be up. If you’re late to the party, just look directly underneath the ‘L’ in our sexy new logo.

For a quick refresher, the teams involved this summer will be: Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Lithuania, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia, the hosts Turkey and the good ol’ United States of America.

We’ve got 51 days people. ELA plans on making them count.

Thanks,

The Management