Were the Aircraft Carrier Games a Disappointment After all?

By:  Shane McCarthy

With the start of the college basketball season finally here, there was no doubt a lot of hype surrounding the three scheduled games to be played on aircraft carriers for the opening day of college basketball, especially given the overwhelming success of last year’s lone game.  Unfortunately, only 1 ½ of the games were played, as Mother Nature reminded everyone she is forever unpredictable and will always be undefeated. 

While fans of college basketball were unquestionably disappointed, this was not a lost cause by any means.  The point of these games is to honor our veterans and do something special for our active troops.  Even though the games weren’t able to be played, the players from each team were there for days leading up to the event to not only acclimate themselves to the foreign playing conditions, but to visit with the troops and volunteer in the community.  From the numerous live interviews conducted and other stories from similar events, you quickly understand how much these events mean to the service men and women. 

And even if these games were played, they’d be entertaining as they filled our craving for hoops, but they are no way to accurately determine the skill of each team.  There’s a reason why these games were scheduled to be played after dark - as looking into the sun doesn’t make for the most ideal playing conditions (as we saw in the Syracuse vs. San Diego St. game).  My guess is that playing conditions in Southern California would have been fine after the sun went down (the Cuse game was postponed due to rain), but on the east coast that meant a drop in the temperature and along with it, condensation on the floor.

Now given that two of the games were cancelled and the other was played under less than ideal conditions, there has been a strong call to do away with these games in the future.  But I don’t think that should be the case.  These games aren’t about the basketball being played; they are about honoring our service men and women and providing them with entertainment and somewhat of a distraction from their day-to-day duties.  A 'morale booster' of sorts is what was being used throughout the weekend.  And their commitment to honoring our country is why we get to live in freedom and have simple pleasures like college basketball.  The least we can do is give back in ways such as these events.  So maybe there should only be one game, and that one game should be played after dark in southern California, but I don’t think they should go away entirely.  They have their place, and those that serve our country will tell you that they should go on.  

Twitter:  @shane_t_mac