FanHouse Navy

Sports talk and message boards have been abuzz about the Army reversing their decision to let West Point graduate, Caleb Campbell play safety for the Detroit Lions. The Detroit News "Behind the Scenes" columnists contend that it was pressure from the service academies that caused this change:

The feeling at the United States Military Academy in West Point is that higherups and other branches of the service -- the Navy, in particular -- were jealous of the favorable publicity Campbell has generated for the Army since the Lions drafted him on the seventh round in April.
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Campbell, who graduated from West Point on May 31, was eligible to play pro football under the "alternative service option" available to graduates of the service academies. The Navy and Air Force required two years of active duty before exercising the option. The Army allowed it immediately after graduation.

The Dept. of Defense has ordered the Army to comply with the policy as implemented by the Navy and Air Force.

So Navy wants to be able to keep beating Army and that's why they changed the policy? Maybe if Campbell went to the Washington Redskins instead of the Detroit Lions, maybe the Washington-based DoD people would have held off in making this policy change.

Was firing driver Shane Huffman Tony Eury Sr.'s first order of duty for JR Motorsports? Effective immediately, Huffman is out of the Busch Series #88 NAVY Chevrolet:

Dale Earnhardt Jr.:

"Upon a midseason evaluation of the performance of this race team, we decided we needed to make a change, and right now we have a window to do that. Because of the short notice, I am going to drive the Navy car Friday night at Daytona. It's a big race for us. We are carrying a special Navy SEALs paint scheme on the car, so we want to make sure we give it a good run for the Navy and all our sponsors and employees."

A mid-season replacement will be named in the near future.

So, was Huffman's termination strictly performance related as implied in the statement? Highly unlikely.