The distinguished gentleman from Utah isn't only taking the fight to the pages of Sports Illustrated. As promised, Capitol Hill is not finished with the Bowl Championship Series on its own turf: The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings next Tuesday in the subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights.

Hatch, the subcommittee's top Republican and vigilant guard against the BCS' insidious attack on American values, said earlier this month he was hoping to wrangle a hearing before July 9, the day the Series finalizes its lucrative contract with ESPN, so this inquisition is right on schedule.

It's not clear who'll be appearing before the committee, or how it will differ from the go-round in the House last month, much less the Series' last appearance in front of the antirust, competition policy and consumer rights subcommittee, in 2003, when Hatch cracked wise about his aborted football career -- "BYU already had a half-back, and I couldn't seem to go to my left. Well, some things never change. I still don't go to the left." -- and expounded on the patriotic roots of his crusade:

I am pleased that the Judiciary Committee is examining the competitive effects of the BCS because the notion of basic fairness is called into question by the current BCS system. I believe there is value to ensuring fairness in our society whenever we can. And while life may not be fair, the moment that we stop caring that it isn't, we chip away at the American dream.

Let me just say that many sports fans in Utah and all across the nation have strong feelings about the BCS. Almost without exception, these fans make the same two points: First, the current system is unfair. Second, they care deeply that it isn't. And I think it is worth a couple hours of this Committee's time to consider the matter.

And then, six years later, to consider it again. It's the least they can do, for the American Dream.