Anchors Aweigh: MSU-UNC, aircraft carrier, 11.11.11?

By foxsports
Published

Dave Dye
FOX Sports Detroit

Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis has wanted to schedule a basketball game on an aircraft carrier for several years as a way of honoring the military.

Security issues put those plans on hold, but the idea appears to be closer to reality.

In a text message Wednesday to the Lansing State Journal, Hollis wrote, "An announcement is forthcoming."

Speculation is the game will be held on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2011. That date, 11.11.11, has been painted in red, white and blue on Michigan State's home floor, the Breslin Center.

An aircraft carrier would be docked, possibly near Jacksonville, Fla., for the proposed college basketball doubleheader. Michigan State's opponent likely would be North Carolina with two service academies meeting in the other game.

Hollis is one of the great outside-the-box-thinking athletic directors in the country. He was also the mastermind of the "Cold War" outdoor hockey game at Spartan Stadium (crowd of 74,544 in a football stadium for Michigan State-Michigan in 2001), and the "Basketbowl" basketball game at Ford Field in Detroit (78,129 in a dome football stadium for Michigan State-Kentucky in 2003).

Both of those ideas have since taken off, with the NHL now playing an annual outdoor game and the NCAA switching its seating configuration to increase capacity for the Final Four.

Nov. 17, 2011