Basketball On the Water

This Friday night the college basketball season gets underway and for the first time ever a college basketball game will be played on a United State Ship CVN 70 The Carl Vincent air craft carrier.  It is part of the Veterans Day observance.  Tip off time is set for 7.15pm on ESPN.

I am glad to say the ten thousand seat arena  which has been built on the flight deck of the Vincent  is paid for by private sources.  Just in case it rains a 7,000 seat arena is being built below deck.  They cannot build the exact stadium below deck due to the height needed.  President Obama  will among the ten thousand.  Yes there will be a few fans from Carolina and Michigan State but for the most part the crowd will be service men both present and former.

The Vincent is anchored in San Diego Bay at North Island Navel Station  which from down town San Diego is visible.  There will be plenty of adjustments having to be made but really all of us at one time or another have played basketball outside with wind and rain.  Just for safety only the game will be shifted down under if it rains.

Guess what, the weather forecast right now? There is a weather system from out in the Pacific Ocean to hit San Diego about 4.15 Friday which is game time.  The decision to play on the deck or under the deck will be made at 7am San Diego time Friday.

If the game is shifted who will be the three thousand who won't see the game.  You can bet President Obama  will be there and will see it.  I am sure the 300 or so Carolina and Michigan State fans who will make the trip with their teams will be there so that leaves only the service men who are being honored on this Veteran Day to be on the cut list.

The USS Carl Vincent  just earlier this year was the the ship that buried Bin Laden.   How ironic that the military ship mostly identified as President Barack Obama's greatest moment as President with the burial  of Bin Laden will have the President at the game.

When we watch the game we must remember that CVN is a war machine.  During it's last deployment to the Indian Ocean the Vincent sent aircraft to both Iraq and Afghanistan.  More than 1,600 sorties were flown on the Vincent during it's last deployment.  17,000 pounds of Ordnance was dropped in Iraq and Afghanistan.  2,900 rounds of 20 millimeter ammunition was fire.  All of that and in the seven months at sea the Vincent traveled 60,206 miles before returning to San Diego.

Yes a basketball game will be played to start the college basketball season but let's remember why.  11-11-11 is in the United States the day we honor our hero's.  Veteran's Day.  We have what we have in life due to the fact that others answered the call to serve whether it was in 1776, 1863, 1917,1943, 1951,1969, 1991 or 2011.  We claim to be a free nation and because of that we can protest on Wall Street  or even vote on election day.   Let's honor our hero's past and present.  Shake their hand or give them a salute.  They deserve it.

Let's hope that it doesn't rain on Friday so all of those hero's invited can see the game.