[terry]

I don't think this shows contempt for the military. There doesn't seem to be any malice here. I think the NCAA has a legitimate reason for this rule. It's designed to deal with athletes who participate on effectively professional teams such as the old Soviet military teams. The rule just doesn't anticipate this situation and there's not an exception that covers it, even though an exception seems warranted. Actually, it appears that there used to be an exception in a prior version of the rule, but the exception was accidentally deleted at some point. Probably nobody noticed until now because it doesn't come up very often.

Reading between the lines, it seems that the NCAA would like to do the right thing, but it feels reluctant to disregard its own rules, which is understandable. I wouldn't be surprised if the NCAA eventually figures out a way to grant a waiver here.

[terry]

I don't think this shows contempt for the military. There doesn't seem to be any malice here. I think the NCAA has a legitimate reason for this rule. It's designed to deal with athletes who participate on effectively professional teams such as the old Soviet military teams. The rule just doesn't anticipate this situation and there's not an exception that covers it, even though an exception seems warranted. Actually, it appears that there used to be an exception in a prior version of the rule, but the exception was accidentally deleted at some point. Probably nobody noticed until now because it doesn't come up very often.

Reading between the lines, it seems that the NCAA would like to do the right thing, but it feels reluctant to disregard its own rules, which is understandable. I wouldn't be surprised if the NCAA eventually figures out a way to grant a waiver here.