Stupid NCAA
Don’t expect me to use a lot of sports terminology, but the NCAA is a bunch of hand-wringing pussies for not allowing 5-year Marine Corps veteran Steven Rhodes play his freshman year at Middle Tennessee State University because he played for his unit while he was in the Marines. From Fox News;
According to The Daily News Journal, the rule essentially says student-athletes who do not enroll in college within a year of graduating high school will be charged one year of collegiate eligibility for every academic year they participate in organized competition.
By NCAA standards, Steven Rhodes’ play at the Marine base counted as “organized competition” because there were game officials, team uniforms and the score was kept.
But the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Marine sergeant said the recreational league was nothing close to organized.
“Man, it was like intramurals for us,” said the 24-year-old. “There were guys out there anywhere from 18 to 40-something years old. The games were spread out. We once went six weeks between games.”
From the Daily New Journal;
“This is extremely frustrating. I think it’s unfair, highly unfair,” Rhodes said. “I just got out of the Marine Corps, and I wanted to play. For (the NCAA) to say, ‘No, you can’t play right now,’ I just don’t understand the logic in that.”
The NCAA says that they don’t want to red-shirt Rhodes, but that they have to. It sounds pretty arbitrary to me. I saw some dingus Twitter to Fox News that Rhodes is a Marine so he should understand rules and just sit down and take it. To that guy, I send a hearty F-you!.
Category: Dumbass Bullshit
D-League, I get. Minor league baseball, I get.
Intramurals? Seriously? What’s next? “Hey, you guys played a pickup game during Spring Break, that’s a violation. You’re now on probation, loss of bowl games, and loss of scholarships.”
The NCAA is out of control.
This is bad.
I would not be surprised if this was overturned due to public backlash.
The NCAA is on shaky ground as is.
I was Infantry, so this might not apply across the board, but I cannot name one guy from one unit that did not play some type or form of intramural sports.
Just plain silliness.
They’re like the homeowners *ass*ociation of Sports.
Also $$$$$$$$$
You played ultimate fisbee during your Brigade org day, so no NCAA for you.
The stoopid runs deep in the NCAA. We played football, and baseball, and basketball…it was a part of PT!
He could Challange under the SSRA- stating that he was under Title 10 and the NCAA will just have to grab their ankles over it.
So that would disqualify any High School Senior that graduates and plays on some sort of travel team the summer before entering college…. Well done NCAA….
@6.
If “he” was a “she” and this was something other than Football, the “we” would not be hearing about this because the NCAA would not care.
Just goes to show you how fluid their organization is.
Sucks.
This is what happens when fewer than .01% of the population has any military experience.
The NCAA is a giant ball of stupid and the essay “The Shame of College Sports” lays out the case that the organization is pretty corrupt as well. Nothing they do surprises me.
Well, a Marine who played football on base is just like the many players who took money to shave points and to throw games. It’s also just like the many college players who get hired to work jobs like jerk-off artist at $1, 000 per week in the offseason or whose parents, w/o two nickles to rub together, suddenly go on a vacation to Hawaii or are seen driving a nice new Navigator. Hey this is the NCAA where they punish future teams for the transgressions of past teams. Sounds about right to me.
Come again? What rule is it that is being violated??
Oh, yeah, that organized play thing. Yeah, I would have to agree that the Marines are a pretty organized group, but I would hardly call what they do “play.”
This is too rich. According to the NCAA, “Most college-bound student-athletes who complete the amateurism certification process are certified. Less than 1 percent of student-athletes seeking amateur certification receive any sort of amateurism-related penalty.” Less than 1%. Gee, what a coincidence. The NCAA also says that, “ College-bound student-athletes may participate in amateur sports clubs as long as they do not receive expenses in excess of travel, lodging or equipment for practice or competition.” I guess a Marine’s travel and lodging violate the rules too.
Unreal….My summer hockey league is full of college players just trying to get some ice time and stay in shape for their season. During the fall, before their season starts if they are home for a visit they sub on the league too. We wear uniforms, have referee’s, and an organized schedule. Probably more organized than what this Marine played and these kids don’t lose eligibility. Most of them try to keep it from the coaches because the coaches don’t want them taking a chance of getting hurt playing with us beer leaguers…
I think NCAA is simply being racist.
USA Today article gives some clarity….
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/cusa/2013/08/18/middle-tennessee-steven-rhodes-marines-ncaa-eligibility-fight/2668727/
“I played at Antioch years after him, and I didn’t even know he played there until he introduced himself to me the other day,” MTSU sophomore defensive end Alexandro Antoine said. “I don’t know all about his situation, but it’s kind of crazy. The man already did his service, so the least you could do is reward the man by letting him play right now.
“Those (military) guys are good to have around the team. They are mentally tougher than the rest of us, and so you want them playing beside you. We are all football players. But that man is a Marine.”
That young sophomore team mate of Rhodes understands the situation rather well, let’s hope the NCAA can figure it out and do the right thing as well.
Young Mr. Rhodes played for fun with his military colleagues, this was in no way organized like a serious athletic competition and playoff system.
Let him play, there’s no danger there is a plot to subvert the amateur athletic nature of football at Middle Tennessee State University….
The part about losing 2 years of eligibility is ludicrous too, saying that because 2 games were in the winter and the rest spread out through summer and fall, like the military runs on a semester schedule or something.
These people need to experience life outside of academics, their perspective on real life is skewed.
NCAA dumbasses reversed their decision yay; just announced it on the news:
http://www.wsmv.com/story/23167445/marine-appealing-ncaa-rule-stopping-him-from-play
@19, COOL!! Looks like it took just a little spotlighting of the NCAA’s stupidity to make them change their minds!!
There was a guy who got out of the marines a few years ago and went straight to the nfl.
By that stupid ass standard anyone that plays an inter-mural unit sport with MWR would be ineligible for the NCAA.
I’ve seen these games, most of the football games were 8 man with less then 30 people watching, on a PT field.
@22,
“By that stupid ass standard anyone that plays an inter-mural unit sport with MWR would be ineligible for the NCAA.”
Military.com has a long story about it, but essentially yes. It used to be exempt in the NCAA bylaws 20 years ago, but somehow during subsequent rewrites, that clause dropped off inadvertently.
NCAA…an organization that hosted sports rules for educational draft deferments (some say dodgers instead of deferments)during the Vietnam War. I know this statement might be a stretch of connecting the dots…but the disconnect from society to today’s military is evident. Especially in this case.
At this point it looks completely unintentional. Bureaucracy at its finest. Stop making a tempest in a tea cup. MTSU appealed and won. The former Marine will be eligible for all four years and won’t have to “red shirt”. Next review of the NCAA bylaws will probably include a fix.
Self-important douchebags…