The North Carolina Tar Heels practice on the USS Carl Vinson on Thursday.
November 11th, 2011
No water from the sky means there will be college basketball on the water Friday evening in San Diego.
Well, technically not on the water but several stories above it on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.
Organizers said Thursday that rain moving toward the San Diego area would not come until Saturday, meaning the Quicken Loans Carrier Classic, pitting the North Carolina Tar Heels against the Michigan State Spartans, could be played on a court constructed on the carrier's flight deck.
"Right now, everything is all go for up here on the flight deck," Bob Mazza, an organizer of the event, said in
a report on CNN-affliate KFMB-TV.
A 7,000-seat arena has been built on the flight deck for the invited spectators, mostly members of the military.
President Obama is also expected to attend. The general public will have to be content with watching on ESPN, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
Teams practiced on the court Thursday, and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo wasn't concerned about the weather,
according to an ESPN.com report.
“We’re playing here. It will be this nice. It’s beautiful," Izzo said of the setting dockside at the San Diego Naval Base.
Just in case Mother Nature has a change of heart, a 2,000-seat backup court was set up in the carrier's hangar deck.
The game is being put on at no cost to taxpayers by the Morale Entertainment Foundation, which "brings the 'Best of America' overseas to lift the spirits of our brave men and women who are fighting for our freedoms downrange," according to its website.
Of course, while the game may be a morale booster for some of the 7,000 who get to watch it in person, the Navy reaps another benefit, too - two-plus hours of prime-time exposure of one of its elite warships.
Mike Whalen of Morale Entertainment told SignOnSanDiego.com that he wants to make the game an annual Veterans Day event.
“Veterans Day, for me, always has been an orphan holiday. You don’t really know what to do. Some of you get a day off. Some of you watch a politician lay a wreath. We’re looking at this to be a little different, a celebration of service,” he is quoted as saying.
It will be the second time for the Vinson to make big news this year. It was the ship from which Osama bin Laden's body was buried at sea after he was killed in a raid by Navy SEALs in Pakistan in May.
College Hoops Set To Tip Off On Carrier
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