{"id":235879,"date":"2012-11-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/ncaa-teams-to-battle-it-out-on-midway-sunday\/"},"modified":"2012-11-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-09T08:00:00","slug":"ncaa-teams-to-battle-it-out-on-midway-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/ncaa-teams-to-battle-it-out-on-midway-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA teams to battle it out on Midway Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

SDSU and Syracuse will tip-off from aircraft carrier deck<\/p>\n

Morgan M. Hurley | Downtown Editor<\/p>\n

(Editor’s Note: This game has been postponed due to the chance of rain. New game day\/time is Sunday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the second time in as many years, San Diego will host a national college basketball game on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, just days before the nation pays homage to its veterans.<\/p>\n

Nearly 6,000 fans will flock to the USS Midway Museum on Friday, Nov. 9 to watch the San Diego State Aztecs take on worthy NCAA 1 opponent Syracuse Orange. The nearly sold out game is billed as \u201cThe Battle on Midway\u201d in a salute to the historic naval campaign over the Pacific\u2019s Midway Atoll during World War II.<\/p>\n

\"NCAA<\/a>
The USS Midway Museum, located at Navy Pier Downtown. (Photo courtesy USS Midway Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The USS Midway (CV-41) was named after that crusade when it was first commissioned in August of 1945.\u00a0 After nearly 50 years of war and peace time service, the Midway-class aircraft carrier (inspired by the Montana-class) was decommissioned in April of 1992 and has been a naval museum located Downtown at Navy Pier since 2004.<\/p>\n

Though this feat will be the third game of the Aztec\u2019s current schedule, this nationally televised game is considered the kick-off for the men\u2019s 2012-2013 NCAA season.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Carrier Classic took place on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson, an active nuclear-based aircraft carrier also homeported in San Diego. That game, between Michigan State and North Carolina, was held while the Vinson was docked at NAS North Island on Veterans\u2019 Day 2011 and became a media frenzy when it attracted President Obama and the First Lady.<\/p>\n

According to Scott McGaugh, founding marketing director of the USS Midway Museum, the Carrier Classic\u2019s organizers wanted the Midway for that historic game. \u201cWe weren\u2019t ready when they first approached us,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we have our sea-legs now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Midway has played host to over 2,000 public events per year since starting its life as a museum in 2004, this is the first-ever sporting event and McGaugh said the staff is \u201cover the top\u201d with excitement.<\/p>\n

Though there had been rumors that Vice President Biden \u2013 a Syracuse-alum \u2013 may attend the game, there has been no contact from Secret Service so it is no longer expected.<\/p>\n

Some may consider this just a basketball game, but to McGaugh, the museum\u2019s staff and its sea of volunteers, this is a \u201chuge, logistically complicated\u201d endeavor.\u00a0 He tips his hat to the value of the museum\u2019s 500 volunteer docents. \u201cThey donated 185,000 hours last year, alone and more than one million hours since day one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"NCAA<\/a>
Thousands of man-hours will be required to move equipment and prepare the naval museum for the big game. (Photo courtesy USS Midway Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the \u201cthousands of man-hours\u201d that will be required to get the ship ready, including clearing the flight deck of heavy equipment, installing the make-shift basketball court and stands, setting up all the satellite and broadcast media gear, managing crowd control and overall supervision of every aspect of the event, the museum will still be open until 1 p.m. on game day and back to its normal 10 a.m. \u2013 5 p.m. daily operations the next; it is the way things work at this museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur philosophy since we opened is to not close the museum for a private event,\u201d McGaugh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first priority is the family from Boone, Iowa who came here to see the Midway, and everything else takes a back seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGaugh, a career journalist and public relations executive before joining the Midway museum preparations crew in 1996, says that he makes reference to \u201cBoone, Iowa\u201d daily during most decisions he and his staff make, because it equates to \u201cclassic middle America.\u201d<\/p>\n

That formula must be working, since Midway is but one of approximately six naval museums \u2013 out of 100 in the nation \u2013 that are making a profit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never done anything more important and fulfilling \u2026 than preserving this legacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McGaugh, who said he \u201cnever served a day in his life,\u201d has written several books on the USS Midway.\u00a0 He considers the museum a \u201ccommunity resource\u201d and said hosting the basketball game is a great way to showcase the museum, but also San Diego State and the City of San Diego to a wide audience.<\/p>\n

Should the region see rain on November 9, organizers have booked Viejas Arena as \u201cPlan B,\u201d and but that decision won\u2019t be made the Tuesday prior to the game. Last year\u2019s game was played under menacing cloud cover and just missed a heavy downpour by a couple of hours. Regardless of the weather, McGaugh hopes this game is the first of many.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see the USS Midway Museum as a community resource,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope this becomes an annual event and this becomes the \u2018inaugural\u2019 Veteran\u2019s Day basketball game every year for the NCAA.\u201d\"Battle<\/a><\/p>\n

The museum recommends ticketholders use public transportation, including MTS bus routes, the trolley and even Amtrak, since parking will be limited due to construction and gridlock along Harbor Drive. \u00a0\u00a0Gates open at 2 p.m.\u00a0 For those without tickets, the game will be produced by Fox Sports and carried on local Cox Channel 56 & 1056 (HD) and DirectTV 684 & 684-1 (HD).<\/p>\n

For more information about the museum or the game, including a live webcam showing the court being built, visit midway.org<\/a> o battleonthemidway.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SDSU and Syracuse will tip-off from aircraft carrier deck Morgan M. Hurley | Downtown Editor (Editor’s Note: This game has been postponed due to the chance of rain. New game day\/time is Sunday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m.) For the second time in as many years, San Diego will host a national college basketball game […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":235880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"NCAA teams to battle it out on Midway Sunday","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}