Scarbinsky: The SEC goes to Washington, but where are the real players?

This is an opinion column.

It was quite a day Wednesday for our federal government in action. Wait. Should that be two words or one? Either way, there’s nothing like the threat of college athletes sharing fairly in the vast sums of money they generate to trigger a march on Washington by sideline VIPs.

Some people called it SEC Day in our nation’s capital, with Commissioner Greg Sankey, university presidents, athletic directors and head coaches from across the conference fanning out to beg Congress to save major college athletics from the alleged evils of Name, Image and Likeness.

Nowhere in the 11-state conference footprint does the business of college sports mean more than it does here, and there was plenty of photographic evidence added to the record in the last 48 hours to support that proposition. Twitter was all aflutter during and after this school colors suit-and-tie summit. Judging from all the gripping and grinning in all the feel-good photos, so were Alabama’s elected federal officials.

Mike Rogers, the Republican representative from Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District, scored and shared photos with members of both the Alabama and Auburn contingents on the Hill, including Nick Saban and Hugh Freeze. Rogers called it “Iron Bowl week here in DC – only slightly less fun than the one in November!”

Terri Sewell, our state’s lone Democratic representative, shared a group photo with her clearly thrilled staff and Saban.