Don’t Scratch This Flattop
(images via: Unathletic and New York Times)
Aircraft carriers used to have wooden flight decks so temporarily converting one into a floating basketball court isn’t really such a stretch. Such was the case on Friday, November 11th, 2011 when UNC met Michigan State in the first ever Carrier Classic on board the USS Carl Vinson moored off Coronado, CA.
(image via: Carolina Connection)
President Obama was among the crowd of 8,111 privileged to see the event live aboard the 95,000-ton, Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and luckily for all concerned, the weather was fair and the sea was gentle. The top-ranked Tar Heels ended up victorious by a 67-55 score though all things considered, the game itself was somewhat of an anticlimax.
Nothing But Nets
(image via: xtnsgo)
Flickr user xtnsgo has captured the awesomely ethereal beauty of the basketball court at Angels Gate Park in San Pedro, California – it’s truly exquisite in its post-apocalyptic isolation. Well, not “quite” deserted as the family enjoying an oceanside picnic illustrates. Maybe they brought a ball to help work off some of those lunchtime calories.
Light Lines
(images via: Sportsflooring.co.uk and Hoops All Day and Wired)
A revolutionary new sports flooring system from Germany’s ASB Systembau GMBH is a gamechanger – literally. Utilizing lighting elements mounted on an aluminum substructure, remote programmers can flip through a number of game floor permutations which, when locked in, show through translucent ceramic glass panels in the floor. The effect is similar to the electroluminescent-style backlighting from the 1982 film Tron. Wonder if they have jai alai?
(image via: Sportsflooring.co.uk)
The ASB GlassFloor will certainly offer an exceptional degree of flexibility to arena owners and operators though more versatility needs to be injected into the lighting systems or games played will resemble Tron all day, every day… and 1982 isn’t quite as futuristic as it used to be.
