Guy Seeks Pregnancy Waiver

Eric Butler is a defensive tackle for Kansas University. He'd like to be, anyway. He's been declared ineligible to play this year because of the NCAA's "five-year rule," which gives athletes five years to participate in four years of a sport. But he's suing the NCAA, and I like the angle he's taking.

In the lawsuit he filed Monday, he claims it's unfair for the NCAA to grant an extra year of eligibility to pregnant female athletes, and not to male athletes who father children. Butler took a year off after the birth of his daughter in 2001, and he wants a pregnancy waiver. I think he should have it.

Of course, if the NCAA were to establish such a precedent, it wouldn't be long until some programs started abusing it. Would guys be able to keep getting extra years, the more kids they had? I can envision some SEC schools instructing their quarterback recruits to keep fathering children, and keep getting extra years of eligibility, until we're eventually seeing 33-year-old quarterbacks with 9 children.

And hey, those 9 children come with athletic genes and a built-in recruiting advantage. Everyone wins.

Butler's eligibility saga continues [LJWorld.com]