The Friends of Joe Bowl

By the time this is posted, the West Virginia game with Marshall will be in the books. Likely it will be one more huge victory for the Mountaineers as they prepare for the challenging portion of their schedule beginning with Maryland.

A lot of WVU fans have formed very negative opinions of the governor as a result of this series between West Virginia University and Marshall. Basically the governor interfered in a process when he did not have to in order to score political touchdowns. What does Joe Manchin get from this game, you may ask?

Every year this game appears on television you can be sure that Joe Manchin's mug will be all over it. This year he will do almost everything except sing the national anthem, including read the starting lineups for ESPN. It's not often that a politician with national aspirations can gain free and positive national air time.

What does West Virginia University get from this game? Nothing. Absolutely nothing except a win over a rather bad college team. Due to the language of the Big East conference deal with ESPN, WVU gets no television money because it is an away game against a non-BCS school. Unlike Marshall and almost every big time college athletic program, WVU uses no money from the state or college to support its athletic program. It relies on revenues from football and men's basketball to support all of its teams, most of whom have enjoyed tremendous success over the past few years. They even pay for the athletic scholarships. You might say that WVU is one of the few capitalist college athletic programs, competing well in a world of state subsidized athletics.

Some argue that it is good for the state that the two teams play each other. They say that it keeps money in West Virginia. Certainly it does mean that money circulates from one part of the state to another. Would it not be better for the state if both teams hosted games that weekend and brought in dollars from outside the state?

As governor Joe Manchin has done some good in terms of inching the state closer towards having a better business climate. However it is stunts such as "Open for Business" and what WVU fans call "The Friends of Joe" Bowl that do tend to irritate people. Those that may be favorable to or at least neutral towards the governor have a reason to vote against him.