SIMONE BILES AND CLEAN UNDERWEAR

She’s the best!  Speaks truth to power but the media don’t wanna let her stay on her glory ride.

Is it really news that Tevin Biles-Thomas, the brother of this awesome young lady, the fabulous Olympic gold medalist, has been arrested for murder and will be arraigned, September 13, at the Cuyahoga County Commons Pleas Court in Cleveland, Ohio?

Think about the many common folk who are arrested on a daily basis and how their stories don’t make headlines. Biles- Thomas can be thought of as a common folk.

First,  media outlets pumped up his arrest and then continued pumping the un-story by reporting that Simone had not commented on the criminal incident.

So WHAT!

Brother Tevin’s deeds have no more reflection on Simone then do her gymnastic fetes have a reflection on him.

Let’s call it what it is.  Well, I call it an attempt to smear the name of one of our best. What do you call it?

She  finally spoke. Perhaps to quell the invasive media frenzy.

In clear, concise, compassionate and measured words she tweeted, “My heart aches for everyone involved, especially for the victims and their families,”  She went on to say, “There is nothing that I can say that will heal anyone’s pain, but I do want to express my sincere condolences to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy.”

Simone Biles is the best and  the deeds of her brother do not belong tied to her.    

Daughter Peggy and Simone Biles

Two years ago, one of my daughters had a chance personal sighting of  the young gymnast.                   

You never know just who you’re gonna bump into. Well, don’t take me literally on this because, nowadays, “bump into” could mean that road rage occurrence on any one of our streets or highways.

My use of the phrase takes us back to the old days when mothers lectured their daughters about clean underwear because they might be in an accident and laid out on the sidewalk.

I suspect I used that nonsense lecture when raising my daughters. Now, whether or not they adhered to the warning is another story.

But clean underwear or not, not knowing who you might bump into, meaning when you don’t expect that to happen, it’s a good rule of thumb (ugh, another one of those old-time sayings) to look our best.

I didn’t ask my Colorado Springs daughter about her undergarments since she wasn’t in an accident and laid out on the sidewalk. Instead, I played it simple and asked how she came to take this selfie with gymnast Simone Biles, the five-time Olympic medalist.

“Well, look who that is sitting on the patio with friends at the ice cream shop,” Peggy said to her husband and teenage son as they strolled the main drag in downtown Springs.

“I was starstruck, I must admit,” Peggy told me, and she went on to explain that neither hubby or son were interested in the brief drama that was about to unfold.

“Nope, family members wouldn’t even snap the picture; hence the Selfie,” my daughter said, but was quick to claim, “It didn’t matter because my arm was long enough to support the opportunity.”

Simone Biles! Smiling, courteous and gracious were the words my daughter used to describe the very brief encounter.

Maybe she was in the “Springs” because that’s where the Olympic Training Center is. Maybe, maybe, maybe?”

But doing a quiz-down wasn’t part of gettin’ the Selfie.

“Even as I snapped the picture, after asking politely if she would do that, I still gave her personal space and only leaned toward her a little.”

So was Ms Peggy actually starstruck?  Well, she explained the excitement she experienced when spotting the young gymnast, “You see these people all over the big-screen TV right in your home, so you come to feel like you know them.”

Biles, had just celebrated her twentieth birthday and had appeared on Dancing with The Stars, but Colorado Springs daughter, unlike her pushy mother, wasn’t about to get into conversation about any of this.

“I’m not at all comfortable with these kind of things even though I approached her for the Selfie, but please remember I didn’t ask anything then so I’m not speculating on anything about her now.”

Okay.

Anyway, I still support clean underwear and just pray no one will ever know because none of my kids were in an accident laying out on a hard concrete sidewalk or on bumpy black asphalt street.

Oh, and I’m not putting a link here for you readers to read more about the un-news brother and his suspected criminal behavior.

Cheers for the “First Simone Biles” and you never know when you might run into her somewhere.