Two of the best teams in college basketball tip off on Friday night, but the venue is a place college basketball has never gone before. It will be played on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier.
Friday night’s game between North Carolina and Michigan State on the aircraft carrier in San Diego is the result of three years of planning and untold logistical obstacles to conquer. Seating for 7,000 people has been constructed on the flight deck, along with two large video boards and several hospitality tents at a cost of $2 million, paid by private donors and corporate sponsors.
Secret Service agents will arrive early Friday morning to sweep the ship because President Obama is expected to attend the 4 p.m. game and Magic Johnson and James Worthy will be the honorary captains for their alma maters, Michigan State and North Carolina.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said Friday's game is meant to honor service members and veterans, to show the nation on Veterans Day "how important sports is to the sailors and Marines out there as a way to connect to family and friends."
There is also the public relations value, Mabus said, of appealing to young men and women who might consider joining a branch of the armed services.
The Vinson was commissioned in 1982 and in 1986 became the first aircraft carrier to operate in the Bering Sea. On Oct. 7, 2001, became the first aircraft carrier deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom. It has conducted 4,200 combat missions as part of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, when the ship was en route home to San Diego, it was diverted to Haiti to assist in hurricane relief efforts. Earlier this year it was the ship to hold Osama bin Laden's body after he was killed.
No tickets will be sold. Each school received about 400 tickets, Quicken Loans, the title sponsor and State Farm, the secondary sponsor, received some and the rest went to men and women in the military.
Each team will wear specially designed uniforms resembling camouflage gear for the game, and an 86-pound trophy, a replica of the Carl Vinson, has been made.
"I hope it's a great game," Mabus said, "but more than that I hope this will bring some attention to our sailors and Marines, to all of our armed forces on Veterans Day. This is to thank them."
Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 7:52AM 
