OT-Carrier Classic

Submitted by g_reaper3 on
The wife works at Quicken Loans which enabled a free trip to San Diego to theCarrier Classic. Went to the official pre-party tonight. Pretty impressive event. Several Navy guys gave impressive speeches on all the operations going on. Really made me feel guilty about all they do without much gratitude. Also, while I almost hate to admit it, Izzo really seems like a class guy. Roy Williams as well. It would really be awesome if Michigan could get into this event in the future. Anyways, every should be thankful for our military tomorrow (and every day).

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

November 11th, 2011 at 1:22 PM ^

I have to admit I'm not 100% where you're going with that....but it doesn't sound much like you know what you're talking about.

See....the game is a massive interruption of business as usual because they are in port.  Normally you get to settle into a routine in port.  Every day of the year, ships have a list a mile long of maintenance and training that has to be done.  For the Vinson, instead, the sailors have probably been run ragged making every inch of the place sparkle, since the president is coming.  The force protection people are going apeshit.  Whenever anyone visits a ship who outranks the CO, it's basically an inconvenience that effs up the whole day, and preparations occupy a few days beforehand.  This?  It's probably like a month's worth of inconvenience at a minimum.  Probably the only consolation is they probably haven't gone underway for a while and get to stay in port, but even then, there are people pissed off about that.  And they just got back this summer from deployment and now they've had to spend a month getting ready for this.

Fortunately, the huge size of the crew means carriers are usually equipped to handle something like this.  Still, you know there's some poor junior officers or some poor division of sailors that had their workload doubled and then some for this event.  It's awfully hard to believe people when they give speeches about military appreciation and all these commercials to "salute the troops" when your ass had to paint the same goddamn thing three times in a week so there wouldn't be any rust in any TV spots.

And just as a PSA, sailors at sea aren't battling boredom when people come out to entertain.  They're battling overwork.

MGoChippewa

November 11th, 2011 at 11:36 AM ^

I think David Mayo's story for MLive sums up the game perfectly....

"It's on a ship, but Michigan State-UNC is a basketball game at it's core"

Good god this has been a bad week for sports reporters.

PeterKlima

November 11th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^

MSU helped put this together and it probably doesn't get done without Dan Gilbert (MSU grad) sponsoring the game.

MSU wants publicity and for this to be remembered.

But, looking at the game, it looks like MSU was the "easy" team scheduled for the #1 team in the country.  To most people the game is about #1 and college bllueblood UNC playing on an aircraft carrier.  If it is a blow-out as predicted, then "who did UNC beat on the aircraft carrier" may be forgetten by most fans.

ambamb

November 11th, 2011 at 2:02 PM ^

Actually, it was Mark Hollis' idea, and MSU reached out to UNC. Original idea was two games in 2006 against service academies, but war prevented that. Hollis knows what he is doing - he came up with the idea of outdoor hockey that everyone is copying. Also, the event is planned to be continued, and MSU will be playing in 2013.

Game is definitley bringing tons of publicity. MSU and NC all over the news, ESPN, and national coverage.

PeterKlima

November 11th, 2011 at 4:25 PM ^

But, I think most people will associate it with the better team, not MSU.  That is just how it happens.  People forget who played the National Championship game, just who won it.

Assuming UNC wins, if you polled 100 people a year or two from now, more would refer to UNC than MSU....even though it was "MSU's idea."

Take outdoor hockey, who beside MSU fans think it was something MSU "started" and when they find out...are they impressed by who started it or the outdoor games involving the best teams (like the red Wings).

You know Princeton wore winged helmets first, but who made them famous?

MSU screwed up by scheduling themselves as the tomato can in this game.

True Blue Grit

November 11th, 2011 at 2:05 PM ^

It's more a publicity stunt for both schools and the Navy.  But, you have to appreciate the huge amount of planning and work that's gone into organizing this.  It has to be a security nightmare for the Navy people as North Island Naval Air Station (where the Vinson is moored) has a lot of highly sensitive areas where they don't want civilians around.  I had a stint working there as a civilian on one of the aircraft carriers and I can attest they take security seriously.   Most of the ship will be closed off I'd imagine.   It IS a beautiful spot though with a gorgeous view of San Diego across the bay. 

On the OP - I'll take John Beilein from a classy viewpoint any day of the week over Izzo.  Izzo can be real charming when he's calm and not on the court.  But, he really loses his cool too much for me.