NOMENCLATURE

I don't like competitions. Which is probably why I have no interest in sports, any sports. So I certainly have no interest in the Olympics, other than being amazed at the super-human abilities of Simone Biles. So I don't follow sports or Olympics, but unfortunately they follow me. One can hardly turn on the television without having to listen to some score or sports report. Today I was struck by the fact that Olympic competitors refer to their gold, silver, or bronze medals as hardware. This amazed me because "hardware" seems like such a pedestrian appellation for something they worked so hard to procure. (Would movie stars refer to their Academy Awards as hardware?) At any rate, I have read in the past about what a corrupt organization the Olympic committee is. And while I salute all the participating athletes, I couldn't care less which country came home with gold, silver, bronze or returned in complete defeat. Although it still thrills me that American Jesse Owens humiliated Adolf Hilter by being a four-time gold medalist at the 1936 Olympics.