Gerald Ford, center left jumping for the ball, is seen playing basketball on the light carrier Monterrey during World War II. (Navy)
Posted on 06/25/2011 11:42:38 AM PDT by Gumlegs
Whalen escorted his group and three local media members to the Carl Vinson for their first operational and planning session on the flight deck, where the game is scheduled to be played shortly after 4 p.m.
It could go off without a glitch. “For us, it’s fairly easy,” ESPN coordinating producer Dave Miller was saying.
It is not a logistic nightmare, and those involved have complete cooperation from the Navy. A temporary stadium seating 7,000 (my understanding is the crowd will be invitation-only) will be constructed around the basketball floor put down on the flight deck. Plenty of room.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
In case anyone is wondering why I'm posting this, I'm honored to be involved with this project.
They will probably keep the ship in port. I would like to see the games played at sea. If the college kids can’t play on a pitching deck with a crew that large there must be a few sailors that could show them how.
I know the UNC players are excited about the opportunity. They are a bit nervous as to how the different environment might or might not affect their game - but they hope to be able to get there a bit early and practice and get used to it.
Go Heels! National championship season on the horizon.
They have the chance to be very good - however they still have to play the games and a lot can happen between now and March. Having said that though - Go Heels!
Gerald Ford, center left jumping for the ball, is seen playing basketball on the light carrier Monterrey during World War II. (Navy)
Interesting idea, but the schools would never go for it -- check the article. Nick points out that an open air game on a carrier could play hob with their shooting averages.
My understanding is that the temporary arena will effectively stop the wind at court level, but that's speculation.
Dollars to donuts the Odumbo will be there.
Are they going to put to sea for this game? Basketball on a rolling deck would make the game more interesting.
WW2..I played on our Carrier team....USS San Jacinto,cvl30
played other Carriers on hangar deck when in port. the
elevator was used for volleyball. JK.
I bet you guys did your best not to take a tumble while playing. The Non-skid that covers those decks is like sandpaper. It would tear you up.
It certainly would, but my understanding is that the deck of a carrier never does that. Even in a storm at sea, the movement of the deck is very slow. Carriers are simply too big to bounce around.
I’ve seen some video of flight ops that sure made it look like the deck was moving several feet fairly quickly. I suppose it might be more up and down than pitch and yaw. A well timed jump by a short guy could make him look like quite the super star.
How about playing here (USS Monterey during typhoon Dec 1944)?
Wow! Maybe you could get rugby players out for a match on that deck. lol
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