Mike Freeman

How anyone could have a problem with the Army forcing Detroit Lion Caleb Campbell into service, effectively removing him from the NFL, I don't know.

The government paid for his West Point education. The government spend tens of thousands preparing him to serve. No one forced Campbell to join. No one made him apply to West Point.

He'll have to do what many thousands of other West Point grads did: fulfill their military obligation.

And the problem with that is?

The war in Iraq will go down as one of the worst presidential blunders in history. I'm not so sure former Los Angeles county prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's argument in his best-selling book that Bush is treasonous is erroneous.

Still, Campbell knew what he was doing when he agreed to a legally binding contract.

Why should he be treated any differently from the many hundreds of thousands of other soldiers in Iraq? Soldiers who fulfilled their duty?

Because he can play football?

Thank you, David Stern, thank you.

Stern has his faults. He's stubborn and sometimes slow to act but there's a reason why he's the best commissioner in sports and what he just did is another example why.

The NBA announced that Stern appointed former United States Army Major General Ronal L. Johnson to the new position of Senior Vice President, Referee Operations.

As many NBA sources have told me over the past few months -- pleaded really -- the NBA needed a strong head to oversee its referee operations and hiring a former Army general certainly fits the bill.

It's clear this has long been needed. NBA officiating this year, in my opinion, was among the worst I've seen in professional basketball i the some 20 years I've been around the sport. Throw in the Tim Donaghy scandal and the NBA was long overdue for something like this.

"I'm thrilled," said Mark Cuban in an e-mail to me. "This is exactly what the NBA needed."

When you read Johnson's bio you cannot help but be impressed.

But what Stern did is more than appointing someone highly qualified. It's an admission, finally, by Stern, something needed to be done about his officials.

And I don't believe Johnson will be a "yes man." I think he'll have real, significant power and say.

So thank you, Stern, for doing the right thing.