Jay Greeson: Olympics a five-ringed circus, making the best of snow day, M&M's appropriate shoe wear, obit observation

Jay Greeson, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.
·3 min read

Jan. 22—We are less than two weeks from the opening ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Here's a thought — perhaps we should close them before they ever get going.

Sure, the never-ending effects of COVID-19 are keeping fans from attending in person and international travel parties light. And boy, if you ever doubted competing for your country is a lifelong dream for these athletes, the sacrifice of heading to the home country of the coronavirus to do some figure skating is undeniable.

But beyond COVID-19, the warnings from human rights groups that athletes use throwaway cellphones and refrain from speaking out about the atrocities committed by the Chinese government should be a red flag. In fact, if international travel preparations include the purchase of untraceable burner phones, then shouldn't that travel plan be reviewed ASAP?

A clear winner

Now for some positive sports-related news.

Meet Brian DeLallo, the head football coach at Bethel Park High School in Pennsylvania. Over the weekend, DeLallo announced Monday's morning weightlifting session was canceled.

But the Bethel Park players were not getting the day completely off.

"Due to expected severe weather, Monday's weightlifting workout has been canceled. Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don't accept any money — that's our Monday workout," DeLallo Tweeted to his team.

So more than 40 able-bodied high school football players helped their community uncover from the 6-plus inches of snow that fell on Bethel Park on Sunday night.

That's a win-win-win, regardless of who's keeping score.

Sweet buckets

So, now M&Ms are worried about appearances. That's right, the melts-in-your-mouth-not-in-your-hands chocolate candymaker is concerned that one of the talking M&Ms need a shoe change.

That's right — the Green M&M will now wear white sneakers rather than the knee-high boots she had been wearing.

Mars Wrigley, the folks who make M&Ms, announced its mascots have been redesigned to "reflect a world where everyone feels they belong, and society is more inclusive."

Well, peace among all fellow chocolate treats can't be far behind. Unless those dreadful Three Musketeers have a say in things.

Those cads.

Obit observation

I've been saving this obit observation since I saw it last month.

Sun Hwan Chu died Dec. 17. He was 79.

His all-too-short obit read like a one-page movie pitch, and Chu's biopic would have certainly been almost too hard to believe, even in Hollywood.

Born in Japanese-occupied Korea in the early 1940s, Chu survived the Korean War and was brought to America and adopted by the Army officer whose life Chu saved in the war.

He was educated at McCallie School and spent two decades at the Tennessee Valley Authority as a nuclear fuel economist. (Yeah, I don't know what that job does either, but it sounds pretty important, right?)

A car accident at the age of 42 left Chu a quadriplegic, so after he was laid off from TVA, he returned to school to earn master's and doctoral degrees and open a practice as a rehabilitative therapist.

His obit said he was "the quintessential survivor," and here's betting no one would argue that.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.