I was very disheartened to hear about Home Depot stopping their sponsorship of American Olympians.  I recognize these are tough economic times, but I have always been enthralled with Home Depot’s TYPE of sponsorship — full time pay and benefits for part time work on a flexible schedule for our Olympians.  It just seemed so noble to me.

If you feel the same, I encourage you to send them a note..

I wanted to express my disappointment with the discontinuation of Home Depot’s relationship and sponsorship of American Olympians.

For many years, I have gone out of my way to shop at Home Depot – for all manner of product including the “little” things such as batteries or cleaning supplies – because of my great respect for Home Depot’s sponsorship of Olympic athletes.  It is something that I took great pride in and that I certainly told everyone in my circle of friends/family about — probably more times than they wanted to hear.

Allowing the Olympians to receive full-time pay/benefits for part time work seemed absolutely noble to me – especially as the corporate world has become more and more cynical.  It was something tangible.  Not just a “money sponsorship” – it was a personal sponsorship.

I hope that Home Depot will reconsider this decision and continue to support our Olympic athletes.

Thank you,

- Eric Parucki

watching the olympics.  again.  not shockingly, women’s beach volleyball is on right smack in primetime.

usa v. brazil

the top half of the brazillian women’s “uniform”…?  emblazoned with “BRA”.

yes, i know that stands for brazil, but you have to admit…  that’s a little funny, um, bra ha!!

while i was leaving the gym last night, i caught a few minutes of a men’s beach volleyball match.

and. i. saw. the. coolest. thing. ever.

a BEACH ZAMBONI!

actually, two of them — one on each side of the net.  they were about a third of the size of an ice zamboni and they leveled the sand after churning it.

i consider myself a relatively educated american — especially as relates to geography.

this consideration is usually stomped on every 2 years for either the summer or winter olympic games when i watch the parade of nations at the opening ceremony and inevitably see a country i have never heard of.

this year?  andorra.

that’s right.  there is a country between spain and france.  it caused me to doubletake twice on opening night and then prove myself again last night.

who knew…?

it occurred to me while watching olympic trap shooting this past weekend…

there were no americans in the final.

how can a nation that has the most recreational weapons in the world and seemingly prides itself on blind adherence to a certain amendment NOT HAVE ANYONE THAT CAN SHOOT WELL?

if i have to live through the NRA and sean hannity and some of my friends and, and…  ugh.  we cannot even shoot strait.

the dude that won, BTW, was from the czech republic and he went 25-25 in the last round.

i am also a big fan of “tradition” — applied to just about anything — but…  “trap shooting” is an activity.  not a sport.  no matter how long it has been an olympic event.