budlitebrad Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 From Rotoworld: The U.S. Army has ordered Lions seventh-round pick Caleb Campbell to serve out his military service time. He will not play football in 2008. It is unclear if Campbell will keep his signing bonus; he signed a three year deal on Tuesday. The Army originally said Campbell could serve out his military obligations in Michigan if he made the team. He won't be eligible for the NFL until 2010. Campbell was the first former Army Black Knight drafted since the Packers made QB Ronnie McAda Mr. Irrelevant in 1997. Bummer. Kinda BS to go back on their original statement. Hopefully he'll come back safely from wherever he serves our country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheShiznit Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 From Rotoworld: Bummer. Kinda BS to go back on their original statement. Hopefully he'll come back safely from wherever he serves our country. Why did they get this kids hopes up...and the lions possibly...only to change their mind...feel bad for the kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peepinmofo Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 (edited) Football or no football, the kid deserves a hugh ETA - As does everyone in the military. Edited July 24, 2008 by peepinmofo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 With all the bad press over who knows how many players this year alone, Farve and the Packers, now the Army piles on. What garbage, and I'm sure that will help recruit more kids. We'll keep our word, not. Would have been nice to see one positive this year for someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swiss Cheezhead Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 What garbage, and I'm sure that will help recruit more kids. We'll keep our word, not. I actually figured that part alone would force the Army, from a PR standpoint, to let him play. Now, it certainly does appear they're reneging on a promise. Surprising. At the same time, I hope none of you actually feel "sorry" for Caleb Campbell. He certainly won't be feeling sorry for himself when he's serving his country in war. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I actually figured that part alone would force the Army, from a PR standpoint, to let him play. Now, it certainly does appear they're reneging on a promise. Surprising. At the same time, I hope none of you actually feel "sorry" for Caleb Campbell. He certainly won't be feeling sorry for himself when he's serving his country in war. I agree, however, to dangle a kids dream in front of him, then take it away when training camp is going to begin is garbage. Ok son, you can take the car out Saturday, then sell it Friday, oops. Feel for the kid in that aspect, but hope he stays safe in wherever he ends up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheikYerbuti Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 The Army could have used this kid as the face of the armed services: what hard work and determination can get you in life, how the best and the brighest choose to serve their country, etc, etc and all that crap. Instead they have just another drone, and they look like a bunch of liars. Classy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 The army didnt want the bad press that comes along with being a Lion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piratesownninjas Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 That's the military for ya. He should sue, assuming he had something in writing or at least a prove-able verbal contract, cuz they made a big deal about how he could play -and- serve locally at the same time. I'm not sure suing the United States military is the best of ideas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchico Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 The army didnt want the bad press that comes along with being a Lion Hey now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeR Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 That's the military for ya.Exactly. He should sue, assuming he had something in writing or at least a prove-able verbal contract, cuz they made a big deal about how he could play -and- serve locally at the same time. lol @ a soldier sueing the Army. Good luck w/that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wirehairman Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I guess I'll take the bait and play the devil's advocate. What if the administration at West Point tried to get his obligation modified or waived and got overruled? If they let him out of his obligation to play football, what kind of precedent would that set and how many other guys would use it as the basis of a lawsuit to get out of service for other reasons? As for previous precedent, David Robinson had to serve a stint with the Navy before heading to the NBA. At the same time, what makes being a football player more important than graduating from West Point as an engineer, a teacher, or any other profession? Those guys/gals have to serve out their commitment before assuming a profession in the civilian ranks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubfoothead Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 He got a good education so he needs to go serve his time. The Army screwed him but even more so the Lions who wasted a draft pick. Nothing shocking there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I guess I'll take the bait and play the devil's advocate. What if the administration at West Point tried to get his obligation modified or waived and got overruled? If they let him out of his obligation to play football, what kind of precedent would that set and how many other guys would use it as the basis of a lawsuit to get out of service for other reasons? As for previous precedent, David Robinson had to serve a stint with the Navy before heading to the NBA. At the same time, what makes being a football player more important than graduating from West Point as an engineer, a teacher, or any other profession? Those guys/gals have to serve out their commitment before assuming a profession in the civilian ranks. Good stuff here. I agree that it's BS in terms of the Army going back on it's word. Of course, I think it's BS that the Army would waive his service requirement to begin with. Don't we idolize pro sports players too much as it is? Doing this implies that playing pro football is the most important thing you could ever do. Sorry, Mr. engineer, the best we could ever hope for out of you is that you discover some alternative way of fueling our country, off to the front lines! Now you, you can run really fast and hit people hard. No need to waste that sort of talent in war. Props to him, BTW, for not putting up one iota of a fuss about this. Suing the US, as was suggested, is about the lamest thing he could have done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 Umm, he's going to be involved in recruiting and football for the academy. He's not actually going to do anything. What does that have to do with the fact that people think the Army should let a guy out of his service so he can go play pro ball but not so he can go do any other profession? Oh, and don't get me wrong. I understand the PR advantage of having a serviceman in a high profile profession like pro sports. Of course, I'm not sure how "high profile" dude would have been running down on kick offs because, unlike David Robinson, it's not like he was some blue chip talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I heard on the Dan Patrick show that Caleb will be involved with football for the military. WTH? He was on Sirius NFL Radio just a bit ago. He's going to be coaching with the West Point team. He sounded like a great kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTen Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 The army didnt want the bad press that comes along with being a Lion The sad thing is, you may be right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 What does other people's opinions matter? Caleb didn't ask to be released and if he played, he'd still be required to serve. Ironically, he'd be serving in the same exact capacity -- he's going to be involved in football and recruiting either way you look at it. Many professions in the military overlap with civilian projects, this ain't new. Sorry, I still don't see how anything you've said has anything to do with my point. Once again, quite simply. I am not of the opinion that the Army should make some special allowances in terms of not having to fulfill obligations associated with going to West Point for a guy who gets drafted by a pro sports team. That's pretty much it. It appears as if the kid in question shares that opinion and is handling this like an upstanding adult. If you feel that playing pro ball is somehow more important than doing any other job and thus deserves such a waiver, then I'd love to hear your argument. However, in the meantime, I don't really see what you're arguing with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 People act like this is a first. There have been far better players than this kid, who went to service academies, and had to fulfill their obligation prior to entering the NFL. Chad Hennings was the Outland Trophy Winner, at the Air Force Academy, and served four years behind the stick of a A-10 Thunderbolt flying and flew 45 missions over Norther Iraq between 1988 and 1992. Roger Staubach won the freaking Heisman at the Naval Academy, is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, and served 5 years in the Navy. He wound up being a pretty decent player in the NFL after he served. I have to agree with detlef, the guy made a commitment, and should have to live up to it. I realize that he isn't asking out, and I applaud him for that. I just don't see why this is story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wirehairman Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 The army didnt want the bad press that comes along with being a Lion There may be some truth to this. Does the fact that Campbell got drafted but will coach at West Point benefit the Army's image more than if he didn't even make the Lions team or got relegated to special teams or practice squad obscurity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 Listen closely... there are two possibilities for him right now:-- play for the Lions and work at a local recruiting office. -or- -- coach football at West Point and work at a local recruiting office. Which do you think benefits the army more? The Army spent, what, a $1mil on in advertising on some stupid NASCAR car, yeah? As long as the army is happy with any soldier's contributions, why would you care? The army wants him coaching ball, so that's the end of it, but if they wanted him playing pro ball, why does it matter? Well, for starters, why I care is because I pay taxes so I helped pay to send this kid to school. The deal, along with the deal that every other kid who went to West Point was that we'd pay for them to go to school, and then they go into the military. Last I checked, we were at war, so this might be a good time to make those who willingly signed up for this deal to make good on it (which, I completely understand is fine with Campbell). Now, I understand my tax dollars also go to helping other kids go to school. However, I would also expect them to be held to whatever deal they signed up for to get that jack as well. What I think is the lamest thing of all is that he's being required to fulfill his obligation to the Armed Forces by doing something that any citizen could do. Quite frankly, West Point, Annapolis, etc are not here so we can train football coaches. They're here so we can train officers in the military. That the army considers coaching at West Point as serving his country only reinforces the inanely skewed priorities we seem to have. I'm actually 100% in agreement with wirehairman here in terms of why they backed out on the deal. The army needs some good PR. This kid looked like he might get them some, so they let him enter the draft. Then they realized that he was picked at a point in the draft where he might not even make a team, let alone get any face time at all. That's a pretty bad pay-off. So they backed out of the deal. Of course, it would be too obvious if the Army said, we'll let you go into the league if it looks like you're going to be a starter but not if you're going to run down on kick-offs. BTW Opie, it is possible to understand why the Army would want to let a guy go play pro ball and still think it illustrates a very unfortunate set of values that we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 The fact he was drafted, and allowed to enter the draft, made this a story. If he wasn't, no story. Had he made the team, regardless where, would have been more PR for the Army instead of the negative image they now recieved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeR Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 (edited) I guess I'll take the bait and play the devil's advocate. What if the administration at West Point tried to get his obligation modified or waived and got overruled? If they let him out of his obligation to play football, what kind of precedent would that set and how many other guys would use it as the basis of a lawsuit to get out of service for other reasons? As for previous precedent, David Robinson had to serve a stint with the Navy before heading to the NBA. At the same time, what makes being a football player more important than graduating from West Point as an engineer, a teacher, or any other profession? Those guys/gals have to serve out their commitment before assuming a profession in the civilian ranks. Who cares about setting precedents or serving a commitment or playing favorites or giving him a cush job? It's good PR! Good stuff here. I agree that it's BS in terms of the Army going back on it's word. Of course, I think it's BS that the Army would waive his service requirement to begin with. Don't we idolize pro sports players too much as it is? Doing this implies that playing pro football is the most important thing you could ever do. Sorry, Mr. engineer, the best we could ever hope for out of you is that you discover some alternative way of fueling our country, off to the front lines! Now you, you can run really fast and hit people hard. No need to waste that sort of talent in war. Props to him, BTW, for not putting up one iota of a fuss about this. Suing the US, as was suggested, is about the lamest thing he could have done. Exactly on all counts. (PS nice try on the other replies but I would hope by now you know the answer to your last question) Edited July 25, 2008 by BeeR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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