Opinion: A star-studded county mayor field, Mannings making moves, obit observations

Jay Greeson cropped
Jay Greeson cropped

For too long, too many of our important national elections have forced too many of us to hold our noses at the ballot box.

We were voting against someone more often than voting for someone, and that's not a process to deliver the best as much as an exercise to avoid the worst.

Well, in what is shaping up to be a star-studded who's who of names to replace outgoing Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger, that is assuredly not the case.

With Hamilton County Commission Chairwoman Sabrena Smedley joining Weston Wamp and Matt Hullander in the GOP primary, there are quality options for voters. Each brings solid qualities to the table.

And friends, regardless of who you ultimately support - and who knows who else may join the fray - voting for the best is a way better scenario than avoiding the wretched.

Mannings among boys

OK, the numbers are in.

And the Peyton and Eli simulcast on Monday Night Football on ESPN2 is a home run.

How about this? In a format that ESPN has to be exploring every possible way to expand, the Mannings hold the top seven spots in viewership of ESPN alternate broadcasts. Yes, the top seven.

Last Monday's Bills-Patriots game had more than 1.6 million viewers of the Mannings. ESPN's three-channel coverage - proper, 2 and Deportes - drew 14.97 million viewers total.

It also allowed ESPN to post its highest week 13 number since 2013.

As for the Mannings, it's clear the format works. And I don't know about you, but even as first-year-in-game broadcasters struggle through, the chemistry and the content earns the highest praise you can pay a broadcaster.

I watch that channel because of them. And that quality is off-the-charts valuable in TV sports. Tony Romo has it. Charles Barkley too. Phil Mickelson will have it.

And the Mannings have it. Big time.

And it will pay off big time, too.

In fact, just this week, a charismatic former Peyton teammate - punter Pat McAfee - with nowhere near the name recognition signed to provide a daily sports talk show with online betting outlet FanDuel at the tidy price of approximately $30 million a year.

If Pat and his brood could get $30 million per year, what could Peyton and his brother get?

Obit observation

Diane Mason was not the oldest person included in the Times Free Press obits this week. She was 80 when she died late last month.

The oldest I saw was 102-year-old Catherine Cross.

But Mason's reach was far beyond her immediate family or even those 80 years. Much farther.

The matriarch of Kandy Kastle Daycare, which started with four students in her parents' basement almost 50 years ago, Mason, according to her obit, grew a local child care enterprise to five locations with 300 staff members.

In her 44 years working with Kandy Kastle, Mason enrolled more than 5,000 students. Five thousand, at an impressionable age when school is both scary and surreal.

And she walked them to their next chapter.

Rest easy, Diane. You helped shape the young ones of your community.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.

View other columns by Jay Greeson

photo Jay Greeson

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