Please, Mr. Governor, Stay Out of Football Scheduling

When times are bad, one of the worst things an elected leader can indulge in is frivolity. It opens him or her up to charges that their eye is not on the ball. Governor Manchin's name in a Mitch Vingle article once again surfaced. The Charleston Gazette sports reporter claimed that Manchin remained "on standby" in case negotiations failed between West Virginia and Marshall to schedule a football series.

In pure football terms, this is a series neither school really wants. Marshall is tired of getting pounded every season and needs to alter its schedule to assure its participation in the post season. West Virginia is tired of playing a team that has littl epositive impact on its strength of schedule.

In pure political terms, Manchin's association at this point is silly. He wants to project himself as a firm hand on the economic wheel as economic storms batter the state. We have done well thus far, but attacks by the federal government on our economy have proven disastrous. How do we counter the EPA? How do we keep our pension funds solvent? How do we reduce unemployment? Manchin has so many questions to address; he hardly needs to waste his time forcing a football game on two reluctant schools.

Advocates of the game say "it's good for the state." How so? If West Virginia and Marshall both host teams from outside the state that weekend, we get an influx of outside money spent in both Huntington and Morgantown. Regardless, Marshall's move from the Mid American Conference to Conference USA deprived it of thousands of fans per game (since most schools are within driving distance.) This reduced the amount of money spent by outsiders in the state. If we have been looking at football as an economic development opportunity (desperate days indeed!) then Manchin should have nixed this conference jump in the first place.

Finally, the national media has poked fun at the governor's penchant for interfering in college football a couple of times in the past. If he wants to be seen around the country as a serious political leader, maybe a contender for the vice presidency at some point, he needs to stop fooling around in trivial affairs like football games.