Carrier Classic

At the moment, I am watching the Carrier Classic on ESPN, and I have to say this is one of the cooler basketball games that I have watched in a long time.  Not only are two great teams playing (North Carolina and Michigan State), and not only is the President of the United States in attendance, but the freaking game is being played on the deck of an aircraft carrier under the night sky!  Amazing!

I think this is a pretty cool idea for this game to be played like this on an aircraft carrier, especially on Veteran's Day.  Some of the coverage up to it has also been pretty exciting, as it has allowed the general public to get a glimpse of the daily routine on the aircraft carrier, which a lot of people have no idea about.  Of particular interest to me was watching the basketball players attempt to navigate the ship, and seeing how they struggled with stepping over and ducking under a wide assortment of things.  It was hilarious to watch some of the players try to fit into the beds as well - clearly a navy aircraft carrier was not made for seven foot tall personnel.

Another thing about the coverage of the game has been the opportunity to learn about how this aircraft carrier is in essence a floating city, with a wide variety of people, opportunity, and services.  Excellent idea.

Back to random thoughts on sports - at first I actually questioned the choice of teams for this event.  North Carolina made perfect sense, but I wasn't sure if Michigan State would be a worthy opponent.  However, somewhat surprisingly, after going down by 20 points Michigan State has closed the gap yet again and is keeping the game very interesting.

My pet peeve for this game, which continues to be my pet peeve for the majority of college sports lately, is the sponsorship visibility.  I am happy that Quicken Loans decided to sponsor this event, but the sticker at mid-court is a bit much.  Besides the audacious look, it is also quite dangerous for the players, and I do not understand why the NCAA still allows for this kind of advertising.  Everyone knows that it is dangerous, gets slippery, and could potentially result in a career-ending injury to a player, and yet we still see them all the time.  Let's get with the program NCAA - protect the players.

Speaking of sponsorships, apparently Cars.com decided that the fiasco at Penn State was a bit much.  So much so that they have pulled out of their sponsorship of football the next two weekends, at least as far as showing Penn State games is concerned.  I get where they are coming from, but once again you are punishing the athletes, alumni, and fans for something they had nothing to do with.  This is a poor move on Cars.com part, and they should have really given it some better thought.  After all, if the point of their sponsorship is visibility and brand awareness, I guarantee that very few games will have more eyes on them then Penn State versus Nebraska this weekend.

Last but not least, Wilson is still missing in Venezuela.  Poor guy.  I hope he is returned safely to his family, very, very soon.