title: How do I set up a kind of "belongs_to :through" association without a direct belongs_to?
body: <p>I know that "belongs_to :through" is not valid. It's just my attempt to express what I want to achieve. Just bear with me for a sec...</p>
  
  <p>This is what I have:</p>
  
  <pre><code>class League
    has_many :divisions
  end
  
  class Division
    belongs_to :league
    has_many :teams
  end
  
  class Team
    belongs_to :division
    has_many :players
  end
  
  class Player
    belongs_to :team
  end
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now, in order to make a "baseball card" view form, I need:</p>
  
  <pre><code>name
  team.name
  team.division.name
  team.division.league.name
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So, is there a way to set up a "belongs_to :through" association to directly access 'division.name' from 'players_controller' without the 'team.' prefix?? I have to access a lot of columns from 'player' to 'division', so I'm looking for a way to get "direct" access to those columns.</p>
  
  <p>One option is to include a 'division_id' column in the 'players' table, but I've been told that it would kinda break the relational data model, since it would allow for inconsistency if the data selection functionality is not properly handled (e.g. player A is on team A which is in division A, but player A has its division_id column set to division B).</p>
  
  <p>Is it possible to make a "symbolic link", e.g. 'division' now refers to 'team.division', and 'league' now refers to 'team.division.league'??</p>
  
  <p>Or, is the only true option to use the full path each time??</p>
  
  <p>Hope someone can help.</p>