After 16 wild hours that ended with a bipartisan college sports bill being punted in the middle of the night, President Donald Trump’s involvement was not enough to trigger votes on legislation he would like to add to his midterms and legacy sales pitches.
As senators and senior aides bickered and postured all day and night Friday into Saturday morning, the so-called Protect College Sports Act was part of a “global agreement” on which Senate Republican leaders hoped to lock in before leaving town until Sept. 14. By mid-afternoon Friday, it was out again, before making a comeback, until ultimately, the late rally from its authors, and even Trump, fell short.
In football terms, the bill’s growing number of skeptics had essentially won a wild shootout in double overtime by a score akin to something like 54-48.
It all conjured comparisons, for some longtime college sports observers like Sports Illustrated senior writer Pat Forde, to a Capitol Hill version of a college football phenomena known as “Pac-12 after dark.” That’s a reference to the previous incarnation of the largely West Coast collegiate conference. Its football games often would end after viewers on the East Coast had turned in — and with high scores and chaotic finishes.
