The U.S. Senate is hard at work

West Virginia thought it was headed to the Big 12 Conference. So did many of us outside the Mountain State.

But this is the Big 12, where what goes up must come down, spinning wheel got to go round.

And this is America, where United States senators never miss a chance to try to curry favor with voters.

This story by Pete Thamel of the New York Times informs us a pair of members of the Senate are battling on behalf of their constituents, at least those who want their schools to escape the Big East in exchange for a spot in the Big 12.

Thamel wrote that Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Louisville graduate, has lobbied University of Oklahoma President David Boren and Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance to consider adding Louisville to their league instead of, say, West Virginia. Boren is a former U.S. Senator. Hance once served in the House of Representatives. You never hear of an ex-congressman or senator who becomes a fry cook or dry cleaner, do you?

So, as soon as he heard Louisville had some skin in the Big 12 game, here came one of West Virginia's senators with a counter. This is precious:

“If a United States senator has done anything inappropriate or unethical to interfere with a decision that the Big 12 had already made, then I believe that there should be an investigation in the U.S. Senate, and I will fight to get the truth,” Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, said in a statement. “West Virginians and the American people deserve to know exactly what is going on and whether politics is interfering with our college sports.”

West Virginia's other senator, Jay Rockefeller, threw his two cents in to agree with Manchin.

But you want precious? How about this passage from Thamel's story:

Hance said he understood that West Virginia offered greater television appeal than Louisville, but said that Texas Tech was concerned about travel difficulties.

“The opposition to West Virginia had to do with the distance,” he said. He added, “All this TV stuff is important, but it's not as important as the student-athlete.”

Hahahahahahaha. Sure, the distance is the problem. Morgantown, W. Va., is a whopping 1,463 miles from Lubbock, Texas, while Louisville is a mere 1,110 miles from Lubbock.

If Hance is worried about all those miles his student-athletes would have to face by usurping a Big East member, how about reaching out to, say, SMU or Houston from the little old state of Texas? That wouldn't be such a fur piece from west Texas, now would it, Chancellor?

This is wonderful. As if these conference-realignment stories couldn't get much seamier, here come politicians from both sides of the aisle to stir it up.

Meanwhile, West Virginia Athletic Director Oliver Luck stirred up something else earlier this month when he said this to the Big East Network early this month (and no, I didn't know a Big East Network even existed):

“In fact, I would trade Air Force or Navy for Syracuse every day of the week in terms of the quality of the football program. No disrespect, but that's just an observation I think most would agree with who understand football.”

That was three weeks before Syracuse defeated West Virginia in football, 49-23. It was also shortly after Syracuse announced it was leaving the Big East for the ACC. Not that Luck was bitter or anything. Or all that devoted to the Big East, for that matter. Because West Virginia sure seems as ready as Syracuse when it comes to trying to grab a golden parachute.

At any rate, I'd be curious what Oklahoma's Boren has to say about all this West Virginia-Louisville scuttlebutt, not to mention the inevitability of Missouri leaving the Big 12. Because Oklahoma pretty much forced out Dan Beebe as the Big 12's commissioner, and interim commish Chuck Neinas not only failed to sway Texas A&M to change its mind about bolting for the SEC (he never had a chance), but Missouri apparently isn't buying whatever Neinas is selling.

Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman, whom the Hlog would vote for if given the chance, wrote this column on the Big 12's latest round of insanity. An excerpt:

Let this be a lesson learned, Mountaineers. If you get into Conference Chaos, sleep with one eye open.

I think West Virginia will get in, eventually. That's what the networks want. Louisville-Texas Tech doesn't attract many eyeballs. West Virginia-Oklahoma State does. At some point, the Big 12 has to listen to the networks - Fox, which just shelled out that huge contract to make the Big 12 feel good about itself, and ESPN, which figures to do the same in a few years.

But to embarrass the Mountaineers like this is unforgivable. I have no idea who to blame. I think Neinas is the least likely suspect. This kind of madness was going on before he arrived and this kind of madness was going on after Beebe was beheaded. So the common denominators are the leaders at the schools.

One question remains in my mind. Louisville? When have you ever heard someone say they must hurry home because a Louisville football game is on television?

But, hey, Louisville is only 1,110 miles from Texas Tech.