According to the Morale Entertainment Foundation's Mike Whalen, there is a 99 percent chance that the basketball game on Veterans Day between Michigan State and North Carolina will be held on the USS Carl Vinson. This ship is known best for briefly hosting the body of Osama bin Laden before it was buried at sea. Now it looks like it will host a basketball game on Nov. 11, 2011.
40 to 50 people involved in planning the game, including officials from the Navy, are planning on doing a site survey of the USS Carl Vinson on Monday and Tuesday. The ship just returned from deployment last Wednesday, and it is now back in San Diego.
It would be quite awesome for the first annual Carrier Classic to take place on the same ship that was involved in burying bin Laden, and this wasn't even the plan all along. In fact, the stars just aligned for this to potentially happen.
"It's strictly by schedule," Whalen said. "I know people don't think that. It's true. You can't make this stuff up. It's just the way it worked out."
The deck of whatever ship ends up hosting the game will be outfitted with a court and bleachers that will hold around 7,000 people. The makeshift basketball arena can be removed in 24 to 36 hours just in case the ship is needed elsewhere for more important matters.