Some of the big news going around the world of sports this week is not the SEC Media Days, but rather the United States Army’s decision to not let Caleb Campbell, the 7th round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers, play in the NFL. The army decided at the 11th hour (1 day before training camp started for the Lions) that Campbell would no longer be eligible to use what was essentially a loophole for cadets to somewhat forego their active duty time and instead serve as a recruiter in the market in which he was playing.

The Army got great publicity when Campbell was drafted in the 7th round, no doubt sparking interest in West Point and the Army in general.  theI suppose, as the initial burst of interest waned, the Army decided that they would need one more warm body to go… I don’t know, march somewhere or something.  Apparently the recall doesn’t even really affect the ranks of the active duty personnel because Campbell will be serving his time as a Graduate Assistant for football at West Point.  That’s a great allocation of resources there guys.

The thing being that for any of the positive publicity the Army might have gotten from Campbell being drafted, they’re no doubt going to get oodles of noodles of bad publicity in the form of news outlets and little inconsequential blogs writing about how the Army dropped the ball with Campbell, and lose any of the credibility and publicity they may have gained in the first place.

Here’s hoping the Army does the right thing and changes their mind, because it’s not only unfair to Campbell, but also the Lions who used a draft pick on this kid.  Now, I know several people who were in the Army, and they’re all very upstanding people, but from what I can gather, the management office might not always be doing things for the right reasons.  So, I’ll lay it out to you like this, Army.  If you don’t let this kid play football, I’m not joining.  If you do let him play, I’m not joining either, but if you don’t let him play, I’m really not joining.  Eat that.