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President Obama at Carrier Classic (UNC matches up with Michigan State)

StillBallin75

StillBallin75

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President Barack Obama salutes troops before Carrier Classic - ESPN

CORONADO, Calif. -- Soaking in one of the most spectacular settings of his time in office, President Barack Obama pledged an unwavering commitment to veterans Friday from the deck of an aircraft carrier doubling, for one night, as a gleaming basketball court.


The president's patriotic message to the military crowd, while welcomed, was secondary to the scene itself. The players from two storied basketball programs, No. 1 North Carolina and Michigan State, competed aboard the USS Carl Vinson in the open air, in the dusk of a perfect San Diego evening.


Basketball star power was on hand in the form of Magic Johnson and James Worthy, former teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers and alums of Michigan State and North Carolina, respectively.


The first-ever Carrier Classic gave Obama a chance to honor troops and pay tribute on the 95,000-ton Navy warship that buried Osama bin Laden's body at sea. For the hoops-loving president, topping it all off with a college basketball game played outside and on water was surely unforgettable.
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This is ****ing awesome. Represents the intersection of two of my greatest interests, basketball and the military. Great opportunity for the Navy to showcase itself.

Some pics from the event:
UNC, Michigan State play Carrier Classic abroad USS Carl Vinson - The Washington Post

For the mods: since this isn't purely a sports story, I chose not to put it in that forum, feel free to move it if you guys feel its warranted.
 
Weren't there better things to do with that aircraft carrier than host a basketball game? How much did that cost us?
 
I thought it was very cool. Would have been even cooler if they did it on the high seas. Raise the degree of difficulty a bit playing on a court that's rockin' and rollin'.
 
AdamT said:
I thought it was very cool. Would have been even cooler if they did it on the high seas. Raise the degree of difficulty a bit playing on a court that's rockin' and rollin'.
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It's too bad that Navy personnel can't actually do stuff like this when they're on deployment. I know that they sometimes improvise and play basketball in the aircraft hangars though.
 
Tremendous event visually. Not so much on the court though.
 
Ikari said:
Weren't there better things to do with that aircraft carrier than host a basketball game? How much did that cost us?
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Those things have to return to port after deployments, It was probably going to be there anyways and since it is in port, the aircraft were off of it. True, there were additional travel and security costs, but as far as a better use for it, maybe, but if it has to sit there anyways.


Doing this was just a PR stunt by BO. After twice gaffing by saying that active duty and veterans should pay for their own Health Care Insurance, he has to try to win back at least some support from those groups.
 
DVSentinel said:
Doing this was just a PR stunt by BO. After twice gaffing by saying that active duty and veterans should pay for their own Health Care Insurance, he has to try to win back at least some support from those groups.
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I doubt it. The President is a well known college basketball fan and a huge UNC having played with the team before.
 
DVSentinel said:
Those things have to return to port after deployments, It was probably going to be there anyways and since it is in port, the aircraft were off of it. True, there were additional travel and security costs, but as far as a better use for it, maybe, but if it has to sit there anyways.


Doing this was just a PR stunt by BO. After twice gaffing by saying that active duty and veterans should pay for their own Health Care Insurance, he has to try to win back at least some support from those groups.
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He never actually said that. But don't let the facts get in your way of your Obama-bashing, I suppose.

FactCheck.org : Would Obama Have Soldiers Pay for Own War Injuries?
 
Ikari said:
Weren't there better things to do with that aircraft carrier than host a basketball game? How much did that cost us?
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When sitting in port, the deck is not being used for much of anything,and you have a workforce of about 3k who are just doing training and random jobs.
 
StillBallin75 said:
It's too bad that Navy personnel can't actually do stuff like this when they're on deployment. I know that they sometimes improvise and play basketball in the aircraft hangars though.
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When I was deployed we had a concert by some country music singer I never heard of but was popular ondeck. Was broadcast live on the country music TV station as well.

On carriers, baskeball in the hangerdeck happens daily.
 
StillBallin75 said:
He never actually said that. But don't let the facts get in your way of your Obama-bashing, I suppose.

FactCheck.org : Would Obama Have Soldiers Pay for Own War Injuries?
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actually, it is romney who is now proposing to provide watered down healthcare to veterans - in an attempt to privatize what is now being found as excellent medical assistance:
... he prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published a study that compared veterans health facilities on 11 measures of quality with fee-for-service Medicare. On all 11 measures, the quality of care in veterans facilities proved to be 'significantly better.' ...
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Daily Kos: Mitt Romney floats private vouchers for veterans' health care


back to the topic and the criticism that the carrier was misused for this purpose
the military sponsors NASCAR teams to get its image in front of the demographic it seeks to recruit
this uniquely located game by America's #1 team (go tarheels!) was sure to capture that demographic
would be interested to see if there is any spike in naval recruitment following this game
 
Ikari said:
Weren't there better things to do with that aircraft carrier than host a basketball game? How much did that cost us?
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Good grief, toss them a bone for crying out loud. Often life in the military is so boring. You are away from family and friends. The friends you do have are just like you either living in a barracks or ship without the comfort you have right now sitting in your computer chair in a nice den or living room.

Don't you remember, if you are old enough, how excited the GIs were when Bob Hope used to bring his tour to their outposts?
 
Crosscheck said:
Good grief, toss them a bone for crying out loud. Often life in the military is so boring. You are away from family and friends. The friends you do have are just like you either living in a barracks or ship without the comfort you have right now sitting in your computer chair in a nice den or living room.

Don't you remember, if you are old enough, how excited the GIs were when Bob Hope used to bring his tour to their outposts?
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We're broke. We ain't got money to waste on useless displays of PR like this. Maybe in better times.
 
Ikari said:
We're broke. We ain't got money to waste on useless displays of PR like this. Maybe in better times.
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I'm sure the NCAA paid for all the arrangements, and presumably the carrier was due to be in port anyway. Don't be such a Scrooge.
 
Ikari said:
We're broke. We ain't got money to waste on useless displays of PR like this. Maybe in better times.
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You should ask one of the sailors if they thought it was a useless display of PR.

Everything a president does can be considered a PR stunt I suppose. But I give them a pass for events like this.
Am not a fan of George Bush at all but I give him high points the day he did the chest bump with the Air Force Academy Grad. It was totally spontaneous and maybe it was a great photo op for Bush but I thought it was awesome.
 
Ikari said:
Weren't there better things to do with that aircraft carrier than host a basketball game? How much did that cost us?
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First of all, great idea. Secondly, the president being there alienates approx. half of the viewers. Thirdly, it depends. If the ship was already docked, probably nothing. Then count in any tickets sold for the game and if the schools paid for the court to be set up, it could have actually came out in the positive.
 
Crosscheck said:
Good grief, toss them a bone for crying out loud. Often life in the military is so boring. You are away from family and friends. The friends you do have are just like you either living in a barracks or ship without the comfort you have right now sitting in your computer chair in a nice den or living room.

Don't you remember, if you are old enough, how excited the GIs were when Bob Hope used to bring his tour to their outposts?
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I am and I got about one foot away from shaking his hand when he went to South Korea. What a thrill it was to see his show.
 
DashingAmerican said:
First of all, great idea. Secondly, the president being there alienates approx. half of the viewers. Thirdly, it depends. If the ship was already docked, probably nothing. Then count in any tickets sold for the game and if the schools paid for the court to be set up, it could have actually came out in the positive.
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How in the hell do you know this?
 
pbrauer said:
They don't think Obama is their president, because he's not Republican... oh never mind.
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hahaha I think he's the president of the united states, but I certainly didn't vote for him.
 
DashingAmerican said:
First of all, great idea. Secondly, the president being there alienates approx. half of the viewers. Thirdly, it depends. If the ship was already docked, probably nothing. Then count in any tickets sold for the game and if the schools paid for the court to be set up, it could have actually came out in the positive.
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I'm not sure, I think there are plenty of folks who are willing to put politics aside to just watch a good matchup in a cool venue.

And for the record, I'm sure the NCAA and sponsors like QuickenLoans organized the event, but no tix were sold to the public.
 
StillBallin75 said:
I'm not sure, I think there are plenty of folks who are willing to put politics aside to just watch a good matchup in a cool venue.

And for the record, I'm sure the NCAA and sponsors like QuickenLoans organized the event, but no tix were sold to the public.
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It depends on how much time was spent on him, IMO. That being said, I don't like basketball anyway.
 
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