My home state of West Virginia took a few shots on the national stage last week, after more than 40 percent of those voting in the Democratic primary voted for an incarcerated felon instead of the sitting President.
So here’s an effort to turn that around. A little.
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, along with Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), have proposed a bill that would create a commemorative coin honoring the Pro Football Hall of Fame, according to the Beckley Register-Herald.
“The Hall of Fame is pretty special to West Virginians,” Manchin said. “We have six Hall of Famers from our little state, including two who came from my very own hometown of Farmington. Imagine this: we’re a little mining town of less than 500 people. Nearby, we have a coal mine, called the No. 9 coal mine, and at its peak, no more than 100 people lived in the community. And we have two men — Frank Gatski and Sam Huff — who came from coal mining families in the area and grew up just about a street apart.”
Manchin said that the proposal ultimately will cost taxpayers nothing.
“Sports have given so much back to our communities, and this coin will help us support the legacy that the Hall of Fame preserves,” Manchin said. “The Hall of Fame truly shows us that if you have a little bit of God-given talent and you have the determination to succeed, you can be anything that you want to be.”
At a time when the anti-football crowd is seizing on the perceived concussion crisis and hoping for the greatest game in the world to either diminish or disappear, it’s a great effort, and we encourage every NFL fan to support it.