Drake's Exit Opens Way for Kasich, Meyer        

President Michael Drake is stepping down at OSU next year and the search for his replacement is under way. Look no further than former Governor John Kasich as Drake's replacement, so says John Michael Spinelli, Ohio's leading independent reporter. Kasich has largely faded from the scene, having been vanquished by Donald Trump and reduced to writing nonsensical books and making obsequious comments on CNN. The OSU job would restore his visibility. Half of the OSU trustees owe Kasich a favor because he appointed them.

Meanwhile, Drake's imminent departure opens the door to a comeback by Urban Meyer as OSU football coach. Meyer quit after last season in part because he believed that the 3-game suspension imposed by Drake was excessive. New coach Ryan Day is going great guns at this writing, but big money from the pros could pull him away. Stranger things have happened.

How Convenient! The Chase Young Suspension           

Remember the Church Lady character on Saturday Night Live in the late 1980s?   Played by Dana Carvey, she would often mockingly shout "How convenient!"

The two-game suspension of Chase Young, Ohio State's standout linebacker, smacks of a "convenient" wrist-slap for the Buckeyes.

That Young had accepted an impermissible loan several months ago was not revealed until after the Wisconsin game when the undefeated Buckeyes faced a highly rated team with an outstanding running back. It is true that OSU won big and probably would have won without Young, but his suspension then would have made the game's outcome more in doubt.

Word of Young's wrong-doing came the week of the game with Big Ten doormat Maryland. He was held out of the game.

Ordinarily, the level of violation would bring a four-game suspension, but OSU succeeded in getting the NCAA to reduce it to two games. After all, OSU is one of the marque teams in college football and gets high TV ratings and has lots of free-spending fans to fatten the NCAA coffers.

Young was forced to miss the rout of double doormat Rutgers, too.

OSU was to play a very meaningful game against highly ranked Penn State Nov. 23 with Young back in uniform.

And the annual clash against highly ranked Michigan Nov. 30 was expected to find Young on the field.

The timing of Young's suspension minimized harm to the twin juggernauts of the NCAA and OSU. How convenient, indeed!

DispatchEditor Becoming Ohio Newspaper Czar

The big national newspaper merger has gone through and the new czar of its Ohio operations is none other than Columbus Dispatch Editor Alan D. Miller.

GateHouse, owner the Dispatch and 10 other Ohio dailies, has taken over Gannett, owner of 11 Ohio dailies, though the new company will keep the name Gannett.

Miller already had been named executive editor of the former GateHouse dailies and recently became interim general manager of the Dispatch when publisher Bradley Harmon resigned.

I predict that Miller will soon be named executive editor of the combined 22 Ohio dailies of the new Gannett operation.

This would make the Columbus area, already the most powerful and influential part of the state, even more in control as Miller's editorial dictates would be dispensed into the hinterland, already suffering from the political and economic primacy of the capital city.

Crew Owners' Losing Ways with Browns A Cautionary Tale

The central Ohio citizenry rose up and saved the Columbus Crew professional soccer team from being moved.

As a non-soccer fan, I was not affected, but as a Cleveland Browns fan I am still mad about the abrupt move to Baltimore two decades ago.

Under current owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, the Browns are 31-90-1 as of mid-November, an abysmal record.

I expect that as the losses mount, Crew fans will not be happy with the Haslams, the new majority owners of the Crew.

The Haslams are getting more than $100 million in government giveaways and who knows how much in tax breaks and favorable loan terms.

Meanwhile, the inner city of Columbus crumbles and its struggling residents could use that $100 million more than soccer fans.

Quickies

• In consider it dumb to make joking word plays about serious social and health issues. I consider it extraordinarily dumb to make joking word plays in an attempt to curb opioid abuse. The Ohio Opioid Educational Alliance's advertising campaign that created the mythical town of "Denial, OH" appears to be a gigantic waste of time and money despite a survey done to justify it. It reminds me of a laughable campaign years ago about getting a "free ride to jail" if caught driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Let us keep joking about serious stuff on our way to the stupidity farm.
• OPERS officials ignore reports of overspending, according to investigative journalist John Damschroder's column in the Fremont News-Messenger.
• He's over 70. He's a billionaire. Les Wexner for president.

(Please send your comments and suggestions for future columns to John K. Hartman, ColumbusMediaInsider@gmail.com)

(ColumbusMediaInsider, copyright, 2019, John K. Hartman, All Rights Reserved)