Say what you will about revisionist history (and yes, before last night's Marquette-Ohio State and Georgetown-Florida cancellations, literally no one was saying the Carrier Classics were a bad idea, especially in lieu of last year's President Obama christened Michigan State-North Carolina contest), but if there's any proof that playing the 2012 Carrier Classic would've been a potential injury nightmare, check out the video above.
Just imagine if the likes of a Deshaun Thomas, Aaron Craft, or Jamil Wilson pulled or tore something and missed significant time (or even the entire season). While it sucks for the service men (who being perfectly blunt, probably thought "they're unwilling to put themselves in harm's way over a little water?) who invested so much time and resources (one Navy officer told a member of the media the Classic was to be "one of the highlights of his Navy career") and deserved the distraction from the demanding grind of their day-to-day routine and certainly for the fans of both schools (and all four when you look beyond to the other game was cancelled at half time), at least the players got to meet a lot of veterans and active duty service man and money was raised for a good cause.
Ohio State will now open the 2012 season against Albany on Sunday (who defeated Duquense last night) while Marquette will play host to Colgate (who lost their opener to Illinois Friday).